We talk a lot about relationship-building in business. As with any relationship, there’s a lot of give and take. You don’t need to understand the person – thank goodness – you just need to know what they want and be willing and able to give it to them. Do you really understand what your customers want and how to give it to them? They aren’t like cows or horses, you know, that you just turn out into a field and say, “Okay, go eat.” They are complex beings with complex needs and… Or are they? Maybe they aren’t much different from cows or horses. If you had what they wanted and all you had to do was turn them loose and say, “Go get it,” wouldn’t that make life really simple? It would sure make them happy!

Isn’t that pretty much the way the Internet is, though: one vast field of possibilities, and there are companies that are opening the gate saying, “Okay, go get it,” and there are companies that are standing in front of the gate doing a dog-and-pony sales pitch, and the customer is standing there looking over their shoulder at the nice green grass going, “Why doesn’t he shut up and open the gate?” If you have the nice green grass, all customers want is for you to open the gate.

Isn’t that pretty much the way Amazon and eBay work? You type in “lush green pasture with 50% clover,” and they open the gate. They don’t try to saddle you, make you jump over hurdles, or coerce you into eating a dozen other kinds of grass before they open the gate to the field you want. No - they let you right in. Is that what you’re doing with your customers?



In spite of the economy - and maybe because of it - you can lead a herd of business through your “gate” if you know what customers want, if you have it, and if you are willing to make it easy for them to get to it. So, let’s talk about that customer for a minute.

If I were to hold up a picture of a horse or cow, and I were to hold up a picture of a grassy field next to it, and I were to say, “Do these two pictures go together?” you would naturally say, “Yes.” And wouldn’t you agree that they go together better than anything else I could come up with? I could do the same thing with a little kid and an ice cream cone, a dog and a bone, etc.

So, what is the picture I would have to hold up next to a picture of your customer that would go with them better than anything else on the planet? What does your customer want more than anything else? All I would have to do is come up with that picture, put it behind a gate, and then open the gate, and they’d walk right in. So, how easy is that!

Selling isn’t hard – not really - not if you have what your customer wants. We make it hard because, deep down inside, we fear that the thing we’re selling isn’t what ought to be in that picture. We think we’re going to have to talk the customer into something they really don’t want. Can you imagine having to talk a horse into a beautiful field of green grass and clover? What does your customer want, more than anything else?

Now let me reverse the problem: instead of coming up with the second picture to go with the first, let’s start out with what you’re selling. That’s what’s in the second picture. Okay, what belongs in the first picture? That’s your customer. Do they go together like nothing else on the planet? They should, if you know what you’re selling and if you know your customer.

So, the only thing you have to figure out is how to get them to walk through the gate. I just told you how: open it. If your customer and your product really do go together, you’re not going to have to do a thing but open the gate. That is what we’re here to do: show you how to open the gate in the easiest, simplest way possible, so your customers can get to your product and find the contentment they crave. It’s that simple.

By the way: aren’t you glad I didn’t mention “leading a horse to water?” Water may be the best combination for a camel, but horses like grass. You haven’t been leading your customers to water and then waiting for them to drink, have you? That’s like leading a kid to vegetables and then waiting for them to eat. Kids want ice cream (or candy). What do your customers want? Put that in your field and all you’ll have to do is open the gate.

The Internet has made selling really simple. If you do the easy, simple things we recommend, and have the tools in place to follow through, you will have no lack of horses in your fields, and they won’t be looking over the fence at your competition’s grass, thinking it’s greener. Your customers will stick with you as long as your grass is green, and you keep opening the gate.

CoreXpand will create an online store and b2b marketing communications center that will give you the most loyal customers on the planet. Contact us today to learn more.



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