Why align your business rhythm to your customers?

Every business has a rhythm. A weekly, monthly, annual rhythm which guides key actions. By understanding your customers rhythm, you can align yours, interact with your customers at the right touch points and are more likely to have fruitful conversations.

  For example, if you know when your customer is planning for the next financial year, this is when you need to start driving the positive conversations to aid in growing your business and theirs. There isn’t much point in having a conversation after all the plans are fixed. Knowing when their delivery dates and key meetings are means you can position your discussions at the right time and with the right contributions.

  There are many ways to find out what your customers rhythm is. The most obvious and most effective is ask! Don’t be afraid to ask your customer when they start developing their business strategy, brand and sales plans etc. Even if you have been working with your customer for a while, it is smart to sense-check you have the right information. If you explain it is so you can be more effective for them in your meetings, they will want to provide you with the information.

  Looking on your customer’s website can also help you to better understand their rhythm. Annual reports will detail when their year end is. As a guide, you can then work back 6-8 months from year end as to when business plans will start to be formulated, 4-6 months when brand and sales plans will be developed. This is when you need to meet with your customers. You can then help shape their thinking; better understand what they are trying to achieve and provide the right solutions to meet their needs. Overall, you will add more value and be more successful if you have the conversations at the right time in the process.

  Aligning business rhythm is also wider than having meetings at the right time. Whilst this will undoubtedly be of benefit, there are bigger rewards if you are able to align your overall company rhythm to your key customers. For example, new product development. Being able to present new concepts that fit the need at the timely meetings, will lead to more conversion. Also, if your budgets are finalised prior to the meeting, you can better decide where best to invest your budgets with which customers.

  Overall, being in sync with your customers and creating a fluid business rhythm means you get to the outcomes that you and your customers want, creating the time and space for you to run your business more efficiently and effectively.

  If you want to understand how you can align your business rhythm, contact us at: help@pureblueocean.com