Know Your Customer

By Michael Melissinos

You actually have to care about the people that buy your product. They, the human being, matter more than your quotas or financial metrics.

Learn their values. Their risk tolerance. Interests. What irritates them. Find out what they know about your product and what they “know” that just isn’t so. Fill in the holes. Repair the damaged ones. Get to know them so you can, ya know, help them make the best decision possible that benefits both of you.

Ask questions. Sometimes your product is the answer. Sometimes not. But trying to force your the square-peg into the round hole because you’re only focused on what YOU want isn’t the healthy long-term answer.

When you prioritize your customer, the human that has bills to pay, a family and similar problems you have, your desire to close this particular sale melts away. You become driven not by your financial goals, but by respect, collaboration and interdependence. You see your product as a solution, not a weapon to bludgeon over their head.

This…

“None of these people get it! They need us!”

Becomes this…

“Given Mike’s situation, our product isn’t a fit right now. That’s OK. We pointed him in another direction for the time being that will address his current needs. Hopefully one day we do business together, but we did the right by him.”

My friend sent me a pitching video of Paul Skenes the other day. JV and I have known each other since we were five or six years old. We played T-ball together. Little league and high school too. He knows I nerd out on pitching mechanics.

Paul Skenes was the #1 overall pick in the 2023 draft and is mowing down the league through his first 12 career starts. He was the NL starting pitcher in this year’s All-Star game. Just look at his stats so far.

Full statistics page

A post shared by @coachblanc

He knew sending me this would get my juices flowing. Sure, we’re friends. He’s not trying to sell me anything. There is no business being done. But he knows me and what I like. So, being the great friend he is, he sent me something with ME in mind.

And that’s the point — to think of other person.

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