“Just Talk To Your Customers” And Other Travesties

I’ll admit: I’m being cheeky with this title. 

Talking to your customers is far from a travesty. Truly knowing your customers–what prompts them to make a purchase, knowing what their day-to-day challenges are, and what they’re looking for in a solution–is not only marketing kryptonite, but a gift to your entire organization. Every team needs customer feedback. Full stop. 

The travesty shows up when we don’t plan for these conversations in a specific and intentional way. When we get time with our customers, we often get mired in generalities. Or, we get so caught up with wanting to make sure everything’s going okay–and that we’re fulfilling all of their needs–that we don’t ask the deeper questions in the first place. 

Of course, it’s good to know what your clients think and feel about your partnership. But if we dig in a bit more, we can uncover insights across many client conversations to answer the business questions that are keeping us up at night. Queries that can not only help us solve our own challenges but ultimately improve what we’re offering to better serve ideal prospects and current customers. 

It’s not enough just to “talk to your customers”–it’s about asking the right questions. So, how can we level up and start having more impactful conversations with customers that truly benefit us as business owners?

Solving The Problem “Before the Problem”

If I were to ask you about your current marketing challenges, you might say, “I need more revenue. I need to onboard more clients. I need more potential customers in my sales pipeline.” And while those are certainly challenges, I’m going to push back.

What you’re really looking to solve is what I call “the problem before the problem.” Sure, you’re going to be laser-focused on revenue–I’d be worried if you weren’t. But these challenges are directly related to other specific actions–the development of your products and services, the ease of your sales process, and the quality of your client communications, to name a few. 

When you don’t have insights into these types of actions, it’s tough to solve the bigger problems of revenue, clients, or pipeline. You don’t know where to improve–and that’s when you can start spinning your wheels and relying on random acts of marketing. 

Starting with Sales Calls & Glowing Reviews

In my experience, most organizations tend to have two types of customer conversations. These are a great start, but both have limitations:

The first is the “Sales Call Sit-In.” This is where marketers will get invited to sit on sales conversations with potential customers. While these calls maintain a pulse on what’s important to prospective clients–and what their challenges and needs are–it doesn’t scratch the entire itch. 

For one thing, this is only one audience we’re talking to–and that’s one who isn’t yet using our brand’s products and services. We might know their challenges, but we aren’t able to assess if our product is actually helping them, as we haven’t sealed the deal. It’s all hypothetical.

The second is the “Glowing Review.” These are the conversations you’ll typically have with the customers who love you, your product, and your team–and the feeling is mutual. They might agree to give you some sort of social proof to make it official, like a case study or a testimonial. 

The challenge with these conversations is that they feel good, so we put on blinders. We might not ask the hard questions–we see they’re happy with us, so why keep the book open for any additional discussion or prodding that would cause them to change their minds? 

To use a relationship analogy, it’s the difference between going on a third date and being married to someone for three years. When you first start out, this person checks all the boxes. Three years in, there’s still love–but there are key differences that are now known. It’s important to know these differences with your customers–but many of us still want to be in that stage where it’s new and everything’s perfect. I've been married a lot longer than that, so I thoroughly understand....

The goal is to get beyond these hypothetical and general conversations that can illuminate broader intelligence about how you run your business; whether you have products that answer the right questions, and how you can better serve the current customer relationship–or your future ones. 

Cultivating Better Customer Conversations

The key to customer conversations that can actually get you to the questions keeping you up at night sounds simple: be exact. Being specific ensures you’re:

• Getting the information you need to develop strong marketing based on real thoughts and feelings–not guesswork.
• Gathering insights that improve all aspects of the customer relationship as a whole. As you’ll see from some of my sample customer questions below, these conversations aren’t just for your marketing team.
• Being a true partner. Your customers are just as busy as you are–if not more so–and asking distinct questions shows you value their time and expertise.

A good place to begin is with a small group of customers who have indicated they’d be happy to give you unfiltered feedback and make arrangements to talk to them at a specific time–potentially Q4 when you’ll be able to take their insights and incorporate them into next year’s plans.

Here’s what some of these detailed questions might look like, depending on the topic:

Initial Project Scope:

• Did the scope we agreed upon fit the reality of your business?
• Was there anything missing in the scope, and how can we fix it now–or avoid these issues with future customers? 
• Is there anything in the initial scope that needs to be more clearly defined?

Onboarding:

• How was your onboarding process? Was there anything that was missing or rushed?
• Was there a difference between what our sales team promised you and what your internal operations team was able to deliver? If so, how can we narrow that gap in the future? 

Working Relationship:

• Now that we’ve been working together for a bit, is there any place in our contract where you wish there was more flexibility?
• How is our level of “hand-holding”? Do you want us to be more or less hands-on?
• Is our senior management engaged enough with your C-suite or decision-makers?
• How well does our account team understand your business needs?

Product & Service Usage:

• How integrated are our tools in your day-to-day operations? How are you using them?
• What gaps are you seeing in our product or service?
• Are reports actually read and processed on your side? 

Communication:

• How is our communication cadence? Is there too much communication, or too little?
• Is our mechanism for reporting (email vs. meetings vs. Zoom calls) right for your business?
• How important is in-person vs. Zoom for our monthly or quarterly check-ins?

Market Trends & Conditions:

• Are there industry or market dynamics keeping you up at night? 

These are very specific asks, but they all serve a purpose. They can inform new products, or identify warning signs about the competition. They can help you create better onboard processes and avoid attrition due to lack of usage or frustration. They can streamline communication, and help you concentrate on the right things.

There’s another advantage: as your business grows and evolves, these conversations give you an opportunity to surprise and delight by offering a front-row seat to what you’re working on–the new platform you’re rolling out, the advanced features planned on next year’s roadmap, and the value-ads you’re building into your platform.

Better Conversations = Better Everything

Having these kinds of intentional conversations makes your marketing easier, but that’s not the only magic they uncover. They also unlock a portal of trust–trust that leads to higher NPS scores, and more opportunities to obtain that sometimes-elusive social proof. 

Actions that, when combined, lead to you solving your initial challenge: a stronger sales pipeline, more customers, and increased revenue. And that’s no travesty. 

Next Up: “To Bot, Or Not To Bot“

About Ilene Rosenthal

As a fractional CMO, I help ambitious leadership teams say bye-bye to the waste and risk inherent in most marketing plans.

My clients are ambitious B2B CEOs who have marketing and sales teams in place but are still frustrated with the return on their marketing investment.

I also run the Marketing Strategy Lab for small businesses.  

After 16 years in leadership roles on enterprise brands at Y&R, I’m the CEO of White Space Marketing Group, a marketing strategy consultancy established in 2012.

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White Space Marketing Group