Saying “know your customer” seems pretty basic, right? 

Well it’s not always so simple.

Let me tell you about a time I had a real estate agency owner as a client.  And he didn’t have a clue who his customer really was.

I was hired by a local real estate agency to review their marketing & customer service processes.  You see, they were suffering from massive customer churn in their property management area. They were losing both landlords & tenants at a rate Superman couldn’t keep up with.  

Landlords were staying for a contract or sometimes two (so a year or two max) then leaving to go to another property management business.

Tenants, the majority of them, were only seeing out one or two terms in their property, staying only 6-12 months.  

The cost of constantly having to find new rental stock, landlords and tenants was taking a toll, and eating into the profitability of the agency.  Property Managers weren’t staying and the agency owner was currently managing the property rentals himself.

During my review process I asked the real estate owner, who is your customer?

He replied “the owners”.

I asked, “what about the tenants? Are they not your customers too?”.

He quite literally laughed in my face!  

I explained that the tenants were just as much his customer as the landlords. That if he had more “tenant friendly” processes in place, that tenants would stay for longer terms; landlords would be happy with the consistent income & his business would have consistent revenue.

I recommended the following to him:

1. Offer past owners a financial incentive to come back to the agency (we included a newly crafted customer service charter, promising them a better experience)

2. Reward good tenants with lengthened times between inspections (ALL tenants got a routine inspection every 12 weeks, which yes, caught the bad tenants…. but it frustrated the good tenants).

3. Adjusted lease conditions to be more customer oriented (this owner was known for handing out breach notices for those 3m-removable-type wall hooks!).  I advised that the more a tenant could feel like this was their “home”, the longer they would likely stay. So it made sense to allow them to do small things that would personalise the home for them.

What does this have to do with a health-related business you ask?

Everything!

Knowing your customer (or client) in whatever industry you’re in, is key to your business success.  Knowing your customer means:

– knowing their needs, desires & pain points

– understanding what they require from you

– what are their goals?

– their fears?

Then crafting a solution that meets these needs. (learn more about how your business is selling SOLUTIONS  

Cass xo