What’s the ‘why’ behind your customer’s buy?

Assuming you know the answer leaves too much to chance.

THINK ON IT: What’s the ‘why’ behind your customer’s buy? 

It’s easy to take for granted why customers buy from you. It's most certainly your great product or service, or maybe you're a price leader and they appreciate the value you offer. Maybe you don’t even have a product for them to buy: maybe it’s an event to attend or a nonprofit mission to support. 

More often than not, however, business leaders lack an accurate understanding of a buyer's motivation. They don’t know what exactly is making the purchaser say yes to their product or their brand, or why they are saying “no” to their competitor. 

They consider market requirements in terms of offering features, and certainly pay more attention to the size of a market as it grows. But leaders often ignore the behavior of a market entirely, when that’s where the real answers lie. 

Good leaders ask “why”. Over and over again. They ask “why this” and “why now” and “why not this” or “why not now”. Why again? Why us? Why today and not yesterday or last year? 

Instead of focusing on product features or the size of a market you are poised to enter, ask “why” instead. The answer is worth whatever time it takes to find it.

“In the search for the solution to any problem, questions are always more important than answers, because the way one frames the question, or the problem, predetermines the range of answers one can conceive in response."

— Edwin Freidman

---

Thanks for being a subscriber to Strategic CEO. If you enjoyed this post, please share it with a friend or colleague.

---

Premium subscribers: Read on for an approach you can take to better understand the why behind the buy.

Not a premium subscriber and want to keep reading? Upgrade to paid here.

---