What do your customers need, not want!

Identified Customers NeedsOnce upon a time, when I was a young paper sales manager for a large multi-national paper manufacturing company, you sold the products that were in your portfolio to both paper merchants and large printers alike.

Just like a shop, you had a set range of products available to you and these were your tools of trade.

Then, one day, our CEO made an announcement. To-day it’s a ‘no brainer’, but at the time in the eighties, it was ground breaking.

He informed all the paper and board manufacturing plant bosses within the company to produce products that the customer needed, not what the mills thought they needed.

Yes there were howls of screams from Sweden to Germany! ‘This is what we produce! ‘Sell it’ had been their stock response, always.

The CEO of course was correct.

Consumers will only buy products that fit their criteria, fit their budget, fit their ethos, fit what they need, and most importantly these days, open new revenue channels to them.

Lesson: Only produce what your customers need, not want, and remember, price is not always the deciding factor.

Are you doing this!