If you want your business to be successful you have to stop giving your customers what they want and start giving them what they need. We have been conditioned to believe that the customer is always right and while there is a certain amount of truth in that statement, there is also a certain amount of error in it.
Let’s say that you own a lawn equipment store and a customer wants to buy a 21-inch, push lawn mower to maintain his 9 acre tract of land. You could easily sell him the mower he wants and be done with it. After all, he is the customer. Unfortunately, doing so would not only be a disservice to him, but would also negatively affect your business when he tells people about the salesman that sold him a 21-inch mower to maintain his 9 acres ? regardless of the fact that it was his choice to do so.
As business owners, consultants and advisors, it is our job to ensure that our customers are getting what they need, not just what they want. It may be more difficult at first, but in the long run, your customers will remember that you chose a more difficult path to help them rather than the path of least resistance to help yourself.
