Along with my mom, Rick Springfield was famous for saying “don’t talk to strangers.” I’m here to tell you this is completely bad advice – in the business world. If you don’t talk to (and ultimately get to know) your customers, you’re basically telling the world you aren’t interested in getting more sales.
Let’s say you operate a pack and ship store in a small New Jersey town. A woman comes in to ship some items. Through conversation you learn that she’s an administrator at a nearby school. After she leaves you then ask yourself how you can market your shipping services to ALL of the nearby schools. You create some email marketing campaigns and even leverage PR to get written about in an educator’s trade journal. You even take an extra step to provide supplies for an upcoming PTA meeting so you can do some guerrilla marketing. Six months later you realize that your business to schools has increased 80 percent.
All of this was possible because you got to know someone that came in your store six months earlier. You didn’t become best friends. But you took the time to ask a few questions to better understand who your customers are. We are here to help you better understand marketing. But understanding your customers is on your list of things to do.
Don’t listen to Rick Springfield or your mom. Talk to a few strangers today.
Ok, maybe you should still listen to your mom about everything else.
