An ILLUMINATION on Thriving Businesses — First, They Understand People. Then, They Have A Business.

As a Consultant by training, understanding people is important for professional success.

I believe it is the same for established business and Start-ups.

The Question is — Why so?

The reason is simple. Because Customers and Prospects are people. If we understand them in terms of how they think and move, we have a business and that business will last for today into tomorrow.

As an individual, I am perpetually curious.

If something catches my attention, I could stand / sit still and watch the environment in its active dynamic state for hours.

People moving around. People interacting.

I try to read their minds via my observations of what they do.

Most of us are trained to believe that we must engage our customers and prospects in terms of their pain points in order to get a sale.

I think there are many steps before.

First and foremost, we need to observe what they do.

Observation 1: The Business of “So Cute”!

Ever wondered why there are many balloons in an event space?

They serve to create a need at that point of time.

There are many brands who believe in personalising their business. If we get online, we can see many. Line characters such as Brown and Cony is one example.

They designed their balloons with their faces.

The intent is to attract young kids.

“Daddy, that is so cute! Can I go take a photo please?”

And then watch.

The families will start taking photos from the outside of the event space to the inside, following the balloon trail. Before long, they land themselves in the middle of the paid merchandise shelves.

“Daddy, that life size teddy bear is so cute!!”

Yup. If I am the event organiser, I will find all of you very cute too.

Observation 2: The Business of Giving You What You Want … Do You Want Others?

Some businesses are not in the business of finding out our pain points.

Simply put, they give it to us.

And then some.

Pharmaceutical stores best exemplify this.

They already know that customers walk in to buy supplements, vitamins and to visit the in-store pharmacists.

That didn’t stop them from doing more.

I would routinely walk around the stores and see how the stores are design while on my shopping errand.

The fascinating thing is that bottles of supplements, vitamins are stacked right at the end of the store.

The Pharmacist’s area as well.

And the Cashier is right in front of the store.

If you see what I see, you will understand that this is designed to up-sell.

They know you want to buy supplements. If they can get you to walk a longer route to your destination (which the purchase is for sure), there will be that little chance that you will catch “Colgate — 15% off” / “Listerine — Buy 1 get 1 Free”.

Before you know it, you have bought a truckload of supplements and other items.

By chance?

I doubt it.

Observation 3: The Business of Selling a Dream … High Ticket Purchase.

Businesses selling high-ticket items understand that the odds are against them.

If it is difficult to get people to buy water melon for $6, then it is infinitely difficult to get people to take a loan of $1,000,000 to buy a high-end property just to get a roof over our heads.

At our core, an apartment is just a roof over our heads.

A place we can rest, seek shelter from the harsh weather elements and for our children to run around.

So how do we get people to take a huge loan and to buy a high-end property, which they will spend the next 30 years repaying their loan?

Sell a dream.

That’s right.

It is not about the high-end apartment.

It is about a Dream Home.

It is about the close knitted community.

It is about a place where we belong.

It is about crafting our family future, together.

I got that.

Did you?

Observing how people move and think are important because we get to see the drivers of their motivation and behaviours.

Businesses design their systems around their customers and prospects for better success today into tomorrow.

Learn from them.

So, go on.

Get out there to observe.

We might find something interesting to apply to our business.

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About the Author:

As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.

Because simplicity adds value.

Simplicity helps us gain clarity, and clarity helps us to grow.

And if we are not growing, then what’s the point of anything else?

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