What Are Your Customers Buying?

Hot Melbourne

It’s been really hot the past few days in Melbourne. And, I don’t mean 30C, I mean stinking hot… 40C+. I work from home and I don’t have air-conditioning. I do have a trusty fan and a cold shower. And, sometimes that’s not enough.

Anyway, I decided it was too hot to work at home. And, I had a meeting in the afternoon, so I thought I’d pack up my laptop and head to the library near my meeting location. Great plan! My car has AC. It was a cool drive. I found a park under a tree one block from the library. I walked slowly to my destination, found a free table, unpacked my laptop and got to work. About five minutes I noticed that I was sweating.

The library was not cool. And I’m not talking about the decor. They either didn’t have AC, it wasn’t working or it was set too high.

I instantly packed up and left to go to a nearby cafe. I walked to my local favourite and when I got there I got an even bigger shock. The door was wide open and the windows had been peeled back. It was stinking hot inside! They had no AC either.

A Basic Business Question

This got me thinking about a rather basic business question… We usually ask:

What are you selling?

However, I think we should be asking:

What is your customer buying?

As my example shows, the cafe was selling food and drinks. I was prepared to buy that to get what I really wanted: cool. How does this apply to your business? What are you selling? And, what is your customer really buying?

Why You Need a Product

Previously, I wrote about 15 reasons to create products. A couple of days later I realised that the biggest reason for me to create products was not on my own list! Go figure.

I do create my products because I love creating things. (That wasn’t on my list either). After that I want the cash flow. And, the reason I want the cash flow is that my product plan is also my retirement plan. By creating and selling products I create my future lifestyle by the income I receive along the way.

Clearly, there are many reasons to create a product – obviously more than 15… The big challenge is to focus in on the big ones for your audience.

Your Marketing Strategy

Here’s how to apply this thinking to your business:

1. Create a list of all the reasons that people buy from you.
2. Then start to have conversations with your customers about what really matters.
3. Refine your list to your top two or three.
4. And, then build your promotional campaign and your content marketing around this.