Options are not optional

By reading our blog, you know that we work pretty darn hard to keep ourselves abreast of trends in the marketplace. We make every effort to share this knowledge with you - our friends and clients! Here’s a tidbit of knowledge that we recently gained through listening to our customers and prospects. 

If your small business provides a service or a product, it is exceptionally important that you provide your customers with options. If you cannot provide multiple options, you cease to be the central resource or the “one-stop” shop that can help them with their needs. In Phoneworx’ case, if we can’t offer a “good, better, best” set of options, we no longer hold the place of “business phone systems expert” in the mind of the customer. In order to retain the position we’ve worked so hard to achieve – being the best or only option to help with business phone system needs – we must provide options!  

The power of three

With so many choices available to customers, combined with the information-saturated World Wide Web, offering options isn’t a new idea. However, one must be careful not to overwhelm consumers either. I recently found an article from 2001 on Snipsmag.com. The author shares:

Several recent studies of consumer buying habits show that the majority of customers will choose the middle-priced option; when two choices are offered, 50% of customers chose the lower-priced option. When three choices were offered, 57% chose the middle option.

Indicating three options is just right. Overall, customers like choices – so make sure you are providing them!   

At Phoneworx, we’ve discovered, albeit the hard way, that options were the key in achieving our goal of giving the customer everything they need and nothing they don’t. Although a business owner may initially gravitate to the lowest priced option, it may not provide all the features that he needs for his business. Conversely, a different business owner might want the “really cool” more expensive option, but realize that she simply doesn’t need all the features and can get by with the less expensive option. Either way, by truly listening to customers’ needs and demands, we are improving as an organization and better positioned to “win” within our market.

Are you doing the same for your business?

Until next time,

Megan