What Women Want

By David On September 16, 2009 Under Featured News, Uncategorized

Mel Gibson starred in a movie back in 2000 called, “What Women Want”. As a result of an accident, Mel’s character could read women’s thoughts. Even though it was a funny movie, it revealed that men had no clue want women are thinking.

Same is true today in the business world. This morning I was browsing a contractors website. They’re business was building barns for equine lovers.

Tucked in this contractor’s website was a page named, “Testimonies”. I began reading what his customers had to say about him and his business.

About half way through the page, I came to a lady’s lengthy testimony about her entire experience with this small company. She outlined specifically why she chose this particular contractor to build her horse barn.

Please pay careful attention, because here we have the rare opportunity to to look into the mind of a customer.

This is her first reason:

Moderate Cost - I wasn’t looking for the lowest price builder, however, I had a budget to stick to and needed someone who would fit in that range. Of the six I looked at, you were situated in the middle of the price range and within my budget.

Notice first she wasn’t looking for the cheapest price. I’ve found in my experience, most customers aren’t. You don’t have to be the cheapest on the block, you only need to be competitive. Secondly, she had a budget in mind. Most customers have a budget and I’ve found more times than not, if you ask what they’re budget is, they’ll tell you. Thirdly, our favored contractor was in the middle of the six that gave her quotes. Like I said, all you have to be is competitive.

Second reason she purchased from this specific contractor:

Quality of Construction - Based on the photos and references I reviewed, it appeared that you were a top quality builder. I discussed your reputation with some of your competitors, and was pleased to see that even they spoke highly of your quality.

Here we find our customer was looking for quality. She looked at the pictures posted on our contractors website of projects he had previously completed. Do you post pictures of your completed projects on your business website? Might be a good idea if you did. Uh oh, she even asked his competitors what kind of a businessman he is. Believe me, your reputation is important and your competitors know your reputation! In one of my businesses, we routinely have new customers come to us and tell us how rude our competitor around the corner is. Lesson is, always do your very best because customers want to know and will ask.

The third reason our contractor won the day:

Speed of Construction - I needed a builder who could build me barn in a relatively short time frame, since my home in Cincinnati, Ohio was sold, and my family and horses were relocating on January 15. I was not going to receive my permit for the barn until December 27. I was requesting you to build a 128′ x 48′ barn in about a three week time frame, right in the middle of the holiday season.

Our customer had a very specific need, a barn built in a short amount of time which was in a typically bad time to get a project completed on short notice. Many times our customers have specific needs that if we can meet them, we win the day. Sometimes they tell us, oftentimes we find out these specific needs only if we ask.

The final quote from our customers letter:

I am pleased to say you exceeded my expectations in all three areas. I was so happy that all the costs were billed to me exactly as estimated. There were no surprises in the final invoices.

Our contractor deserves a medal, he exceeded her expectations! When you’re talking to your customers, are you making mental notes of what they expect? You should because if you fail to meet their expectations, you fail.

My final comment from our customer’s letter: All costs were billed exactly as estimated. Now this is huge because its common practice among many contractors to add some at the end of the project, just for good measure. No, no one likes the unexpected surprise of additional costs. If a project has unexpected expenses arise, tell your customer then, don’t wait to give them the “big surprise” at the end.

There you go, you’ve just had the rare opportunity to look into the mind of a very satisfied customer. This contractor did such a great job, I’m publishing his name and website, White Horse Construction in Chester County Pennsylvania.