This episode is about feeling as the customer or to 'be the customer'. This is apparently very difficult for people, but we all know and have wonderful experiences as a customer. How come we can’t reverse it and feel so well by being the customer that’s in front of us or around us to have them have the feeling that they want to do business with us? At the end, I’m going to give a few examples of some good companies and one person as well. You can't understand customer perception without actually thinking as if you are the customer, i.e. be the customer.

First, what do we do and how do we learn the technique, or better than a technique, the ability and the inner feeling to know what a customer feels like when they’re in our business or we’re talking to them? Yes, you can learn how to 'be the customer' and understand customer perception (listen to Customer Perception, not Yours ). First, practice. Listen intently to what every person you are with says, whether it be a customer, a businessperson, or even your family. Try to go beyond understanding what the person says. You don’t want to just understand them. You imagine that that person is using your product or service. Imagine what they’re feeling like when you’re talking to them or one of your salespeople, or one of your technicians, support people, whoever is talking to them. How do they feel? Can you do it so well that it can be the culture in even a large company, let alone a small one? Most people even as an individual can’t attain this, but there are companies that do it overall and make most everybody feel good. You feel good just belonging or participating at that establishment.

It is important to “Pick up on buying signals.” is a phrase frequently told to people. Forget the buying signals, unless you’re strictly in sales. Even then you don’t need buying signals if you can imagine or picture the customer with the product. How you’re making their experience so that even you would feel good inside if you were on that other side of that transaction. Just focus on over-satisfying your customer, helping them internalize the feelings of the product. At the same time, this has to last so you have to truly maintain absolute integrity. Then you are building true trust. When you attain true trust, you will not lose them either as a customer or referral. Now, this doesn’t come easy. I’m sure of that, I know that. But at the same time, you can do it, if you can practice it. Practice it just by how you interact with other people in the supermarket, in line someplace, whatever you’re doing. Are the people around you positively influenced by how you act and what you do? That actually is great practice for how you treat your own customers and how you build your own company.
Any Size Company Can Develop the Culture to 'Be the Customer'

Companies often have cultures that are taught, and they hire based on that culture so that the culture is trainable and they hire the people who are trainable. That is right, trainable people with the right heart. One of the examples is Starbucks. Take a look at the way Starbucks’ employees act and their training. They only hire people that have that very strong sense of belonging and that want to make the person on the other side of the counter smile. What do they do? They also treat their employees that way. Every one of their employees has all kinds of benefits, etc.

Alaska Airlines. This is a great example, and I’ve used it before but it’s a great example in this case because you can use the comparison. How and why do the employees at Alaska Airlines, the flight attendants, the pilot, co-pilot, everybody, the ticket agents – why are they so nice? I have to say I’ve only had one person ever that I’ve ever run into that was less than wonderful connected with Alaska Airlines.

At the same time, other airlines you go in there,