
Answering customer questions is a great start, but there’s another level to the conversation. Photo by Becky McCray.
You know I’m a big fan of answering customer questions. That’s been part of my marketing advice for 10 years now.
- Should I blog for my small business? Yes, answer customer questions
- Talk less about you, more about them
- Top small business blogging questions answered
But there’s a deeper layer to serving your customers. It’s not just about the questions they would ask you. It’s about the questions that people ask your customers.
Help your customers answer
the questions that other people ask them.
This does involve thinking like your customer, maybe even talking to customers to learn more. When customers make any kind of purchase from you, what kind of questions might people ask them? And how can you help them answer?
A friend of mine is in the hunting business. One of the most common questions that people ask his customers is, “What happens to the meat?” So he wrote an email explaining how careful they are with the meat to be sure every scrap is usable and used. It’s the kind of story customers can hang onto.
If you’re a tax accountant, what questions might people ask your customers? Let’s brainstorm a few:
- How did you pick your accountant?
- What does an accountant even do for you?
- How do you afford an accountant?
Where should you publish these answers?
A customer email newsletter is the perfect tool for this. It’s personal. Customers can save your smart answers to refer back to, and they can forward them to others.
Another great place to post them is on your blog or website. Your potential customers might be searching for answers right now.
Want to see more examples? Just ask in the comments, and we’ll work on ideas together.
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- How cooperatives improve small town economies - May 8, 2022
- Metaverse business idea: virtual world tour guide - April 15, 2022
- Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns - March 28, 2022
- Trade show booth design trend: hand drawn visuals - March 21, 2022
- New business sign design? Don’t use cursive script - February 14, 2022
- Way more people prefer rural than urban, new Pew Research study finds - February 1, 2022
- Top 5 Rural and small town trends 2022 - January 3, 2022
- How to start a real small small business - December 17, 2021
- Tip for better pop-ups and shed businesses - December 5, 2021
- Small town business idea: cat grooming - November 15, 2021
Thank you for this article. So many marketers proclaim that you have to know your customer but lack concrete examples of exactly how to do that. You’ve done a great job with this example.
Thanks, Joann. I’ve added “Know your customer” to the headline now so more folks can find this article.