Are You Providing Value?

What is your business? Who are your clients? What do you sell and they buy? Is your marketing compelling, intriguing and persuasive? How do you get that message out to your public? And do you believe that anyone is your ideal client, or do you have an understanding of just who wants what you sell?

It's not easy to answer this questions; you have to really sit down and spend time figuring out your mission and your vision. I was watching an episode of Kitchen Nightmares this morning where a mom and her two sons were running an Italian restaurant is small town Pennsylvania. The one son had a dream to be a chef, had spent time in Italy learning from chefs there and had then come back where mom bought him a restaurant. His dream had been fulfilled. Right? Well ---- the story continues.

Mom was adamant that they only served fresh ingredients: yet, Chef Ramsey found bag after bag and box on top of box of frozen food in the freezer. But, mom argued, it was fresh when we froze it. So, when they cooked it, it was using fresh ingredients. Ok. I guess there's some reasoning here!!?!? Yet, they couldn't understand why nobody was coming into the restaurant. It was definitely NOT the food; it had to be the community didn't understand the difference between fresh and not fresh. What?

The point of this story for me is that the owner was totally unaware of her customer, her message and how it was being portrayed. Rather than understanding that she was saying something and providing something totally different was not only a turn off but to the people of the community a dishonest restaurateur who was pulling the wool over their eyes and making fun of them. I wouldn't go into that place would you?

So, I'm back again to asking you, who do you serve and what do you sell? This mom thought she was selling fresh, reminder of home, the ability to travel to Italy without having to leave their home. A great experience. She wasn't selling food. Does that make sense? And her target market was someone who wanted to taste the true cooking of Italy. Someone who wanted to have a good meal that they didn't have to cook themselves. Someone who was willing to pay for the experience without complaint or negative emotion. Was she getting that customer? No, but that wasn't the customer's fault. It was her's. 

What does that mean for the business owner reading this blog? I ask the question again, Who is your ideal customer? What is it that you sell? Are you providing the value that the customer is looking for? If you want help figuring this all out, YOU are my ideal customer. What value do I provide? Increased revenues, happy customers, dreams fulfilled, and more success in your business. Are you ready to provide your customers with the value they are looking for? Give me a call, or check out my website at Executive Coaching - Business Success Unlimited.