When it comes to sales, understanding customer needs is the starting point of a mutually beneficial, trust-founded relationship that will often lead to making the sale. Without this crucial step, a salesperson risks losing the attention and respect of the potential customer and will fail to provide a fitting solution for the problem they are facing. By definition, customer needs are the problems or pain points that drive their decisions and search for a solution.
There are a variety of different types of customer needs, but they can be summarized by the following three categories: functional needs, social needs, and emotional needs. When seeking to access a customer’s need, it can be helpful to think about it in the context of its category. First of all, functional needs often include efficiency, completing tasks, and practical usage of resources. Secondly, social needs relate to a person’s perception, reputation, and the social impact of a product or service. Lastly, emotional needs describe feelings that are tied to a customer’s past or present experiences. With these three categories of needs in the background, a seller can follow the next steps to determine customer needs.
According to Kate Gibson in the article Effective Methods for Assessing Customer Needs by the Harvard Online Blog, this process includes three steps.
- Observation: Study the behaviors of customers by taking note of both explicit and unrecognized challenges. Note: It’s important not to form any assumptions or biases at this point.
- Open Inquiry: Conduct interviews and surveys that are mostly comprised of very open-ended questions to glean as much information from customers as possible.
- Experiential Research: Empathize with the customers by experiencing their environment and trying the product firsthand.
By following these steps, a seller lays the invaluable foundation of truly understanding customer needs, which will allow them to build a strong relationship with the customer.
Citation:
“Effective Methods for Assessing Customer Needs” by Kate Gibson, HBS Online Blog, March 15, 2022 — https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/effective-methods-for-assessing-customer-needs
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