The Questions Every Customer Asks, But Never Lets You Hear

By Carroll C. Conklin

In every selling situation, today’s customer progresses through three questions as part of the process for reaching a buying decision. 

You probably haven’t heard the first two questions, because customers won’t ask them aloud. But they always ask all three—in order, every time—and the answers determine whether you’re seen as a brand or as a commodity, and whether your offering is worthy of a premium price, or a discount. 

Here are the questions, in the order as they are asked. See where your offering falls. 

Question 1: How will your product or service solve my problem in a way no one else’s can? Notice that customers are not asking you to do it better or faster or easier. Better and faster used to be critical differentiators, but not any more. As products and services have become more technical and specialized (and consumers more protective of their time and attention), today’s customers are actually less qualified to judge which offer might be superior. They don’t have the knowledge base or time to determine who’s really better or faster or easier.

However, if you can solve my problem in a way no one else can, that’s a whole different story. In that case, I will pay more and not squawk about it. Unfortunately, few companies can make a truly exclusive claim and back it up. (Nor can companies, in the age of instant knock-offs, protect an exclusive benefit as a sustainable competitive advantage.)

If you don’t have a good answer to Question 1 (I’d guess that less than 1% of all companies do), the customer immediately goes to

Question 2: How will you take care of me in a way no one else can? If your product or service is pretty much parity, what about the relationship—and the experience—that go with it? How will you take care of me before, during and after the sale? This is where you can build trust and customer loyalty. This is where you can create value perceptions that go beyond price and delivery. This is where most companies can find their true point of differentiation, though few do.

It’s more than being conscientious about what most companies regard as “service,” which usually amounts to little more than helping customers solve any problems they may experience with the product or service they are buying. Promising to help fix a product or service problem is not a differentiator for today’s customer. It’s expected.

Creating a true customer connection is about what you can do to make customers feel like heroes—consistently—when they do business with you. That’s what keeps them loyal even when some things don’t always work as well as expected. Taking care of them in a way no one else can is what gives customers a reason to become unabashed advocates for your brand.

If you have a good answer to Question 2, you have a sale. If you deliver on it consistently, there’s a good chance that you’ll have a lifetime customer.

If you don’t have a good answer to Question 2, the customer immediately goes to

Question 3: What’s your best price today? This is the question customers actually do say aloud. And if you are hearing it consistently, you’ve almost certainly been commoditized.

When customers are focused on price, it’s because, from their perspective, they have no other meaningful way to differentiate your offering from that of your competition. Best available price becomes their last resort.

If you’re working from the belief that what customers really want is better quality, then you’re also probably fighting to protect your margins against lower-quality, lower-priced competitors. Most consumers don’t find enough of a quality distinction between competitive offerings. In fact, in terms of product quality, “good enough,” not “better,” wins more often for today’s customers. What’s really important to today’s customers is how you take care of them, and how you answer Question 2. 

Unfortunately, most companies don’t have an answer for Question 2 for the simple reason that they don’t know what their customers really want. Sure, they know what customers will buy. But what customers will buy and what they really want are two different things. And customers will never tell you directly what they really want. (Customers don’t believe they should have to).

Are there any companies that consistently avoid the commodity trap of Question 3 by having a good answer for one of the first two questions (most often Question 2)? Yes, a few. And usually there’s a special name for those kinds of companies: 

Category leaders.