The Secret to Uncovering Your Customer’s Business Outcomes

Ensure you really understand what their business does. First do your research by reviewing recent Google News posts, their website, social media and other industry information. Then let the client helo you fill in the missing information.

• For example, What are the unique elements of your product/services and how do they compare to the competition?
• Which competitors do you follow closely?
• Ask them what their different revenue streams are.

Next, focus on their customers. Ask which customers that purchase from them do they value the most. Why?

When you learn more about their customers and what is important to them, you uncover their priorities and what is essential to their business.

Understand the challenges that your customers are facing. They may be growing too quickly or may have a product defect.

Ask your customers what their top customer complaints are. Ask them how the complaints have changed over time. Consider asking follow-up questions to understand the root causes of those complaints.

Once you've gone through the 3C's, you're more likely to have earned the right to probe deeper into their business outcomes.

There are two types of probing questions you can use to understand what success means to your clients:

• Impact questions reveal the impact these challenges have on your client. "How much time do you waste using manual processes?"
• Value questions clarity the benefits the client could achieve by helping to solve their difficulties. "If we could reduce the manual tasks your team does by 10%, how would that benefit you?"