When You Get the Customer, You Get the Business

In selling anything--a product, a service, a candidate or an idea--you need to speak to how people see themselves. What are their dreams, their goals, their aspirations? What do they secretly want in life? What are their frustrations?

So, how do you find out what people really want in life? Here's an example. Ask them what they do for a living. I then ask them, putting all practical considerations aside, what would you really like to do? More often than not (in fact way more often), it's something distinctly different from the way they currently earn a living. Invariably, the dream job is something that is doable; hardly out of the realm of possibility. Few people have ever said that their real fantasy occupation is to the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys or co-star in a movie with Brad Pitt.

My curiosity asks, what's stopping them? The answer is a window into their dreams, aspirations and frustrations.

People and companies that speak to the frustrations of people in an empathetic way usually wind up getting the business.

People want to be heard and understood. Those who get the customer, get the business.

That does not mean being phony or disingenuous. It means understanding life from their perspective.