What’s flying got to do with it?
I travelled to the UK recently for a couple of days BNI training with my team. As I was walking through London’s Heathrow Airport looking for the taxi driver who was due to pick us all up, an airline representative came up to me and asked me “Can I help you? Are you one of our customers?”
I knew that I wasn’t one of his customers no matter which airline he was with as I wasn’t checking into a flight, however I still wanted to see who’s customer he thought I was, so I looked over to see that he was from Virgin Atlantic. I thanked him and told him that on this occasion I wasn’t one of their customers and his response really surprized me. “Well, you certainly look like one of our customers,” he said with a big smile. Now I wasn’t sure whether to take this as a compliment, even though he was hanging out near the upper class check in desk, however I decided to take it as such.
Picture your Customer
It got me thinking, do you know what your customer looks like? Can you picture them? Bear with me those of you who know you can sell your product to… ‘ANYONE’. (Incidentally, I have never met a person with that name).
If you were to picture your typical or ideal customer, can you answer these simple questions?
- How old are they?
- Are they male or female?
- Where do they live?
- What do they like to do? (Other than buying your product or service?)
- Where do they spend their time?
- Who do they like to spend time with?
How can you help your network?
If you can answer these questions it is easier, quicker and more cost effective to find your customers. When you have a great network around you, with referral partners working on your behalf on your word-of-mouth, you make this process run even more smoothly. Why? Because you help your network to recognise opportunities for you instantly, and if they know how to open a conversation about you then your word of mouth is spreading fast.
In the airport that airline representative reached out to me, even though he didn’t know if he could help me or if indeed I was one of his customers – he was willing to make the first move!
How are you reaching out to your customers?
Sandra runs BNI(Business Network International) in 19 counties of Ireland. BNI is Ireland’s leading business referral organisation, she is also BNI’s Director of European Affairs