Weekly Tip: Asking customers why they buy from you won’t help you sell new customers

The reason that a customer made his or her original purchase is very different from why they continued to buy. The customer experience that you and your company provide is never fully understood until AFTER the prospect becomes a customer. When you survey customers why they buy from you, they are actually answering the question of why they stay and grow their business with you.

If you want to do a better job of reaching prospects and crafting your message to turn them into customers, ask customers different questions:

• What was the problem you were having when you decided to hire us?
• What about what we were offering moved you from “interested” to “purchasing?”
• What was your biggest concern about giving your business to us when we first got started?
• Was there anything in your past history with another company that you were watching us for when we first started?

These questions will give you a better sense of the reasons that prospects buy from you and what they are most concerned about when they make that first purchase.