Yesterday I had a wonderful day out with my 5 year old daughter. I took her to London to see Disney On Ice – which I thoroughly recommend by the way!

Anyway, so what is the purpose of my blog today? I had two occasions which I thought I would write about. Emily and I went out for lunch before seeing the Disney Show… Anyway, we’re having lunch in Frankie & Bennie’s. I recalled that they may have done free refills and asked our waiter. He simply replied, sorry but their coke filter wasn’t working so I had to have my diet coke in a bottle and therefore there weren’t any free refills.

OK, silly I know, but the 02 wasn’t cheap for drinks!! I asked if I could speak with another waiter and asked their manager if we could have free refills (of bottles) and promptly received a reply from the manager of “no problem”. So, if you don’t ask – you don’t get!

Another example was in the 02 arena. I didn’t realise as an 02 customer that you receive a free “fast past” (hence don’t have to queue!). Well, being me, I thought “what else do you get?”! and of course promptly asked someone! Well, we also had access to their Blue Room and not only that but there was a face painter there as well (for free). So off we went, passed 100’s of other families waiting in the queue’s to their blue room. I was quite shocked, but not surprised that there were only 5 other girls in there waiting to have their faces painted. No one knew about this offer. It certainly wasn’t promoted. Now I bet that there were 100’s of O2 customers queuing up and not only that their children would have loved to of had their face painted! In fact when we were sat down people next to us kept asking her where did she get her face painted? Out of the 6 who asked, 3 of them were also 02 customers but didn’t know about this promotion.

So what is the moral of this short story!!! If you don’t ask – you don’t get! I use this principal not only in my personal life but also in business. And yes, you’re probably thinking I have “chutzpa” or I’m just a “cheap skate” and both may very well be true!

Really listen to your clients and empathise with their needs? This used to be the province of only some professions and businesses. While times were good, most retailers were not into counselling or coaching. 

But that’s all changed. Consumers are struggling with harsh economic realities. They have changed an unquestioning mindset to one of prudence. In this situation your business strategy needs to be paying close attention to your customers’ needs and attempting to meet them. 

Many customers are going to face the same problems in this recession: less income, greater costs and products that don’t meet all of their immediate needs. Business theories tell us that that consumer demand has three parts:

• income
• personal preference
• price.

You can’t do much about your customers’ falling income. You may be able to do something about price. However, falling prices can risk your business profitability. So that leaves personal preference as the key way to influence consumer demand.

For some big retailers it will be sensible to cater for the mass tastes and to phase out choices that are not in wide demand. This is because they need to carry the stock that their customers will eventually (and hopefully) buy.

That is where the online business may have an edge. It can offer customers choices without necessarily having to have them in stock beforehand. If you listen to customers who are having problems, and if the solution could be purchased online, then you may be able to offer this solution. This is an approach that will raise demand for your services.

Just because consumers have less to spend, and are more careful in spending it, does not mean that they will always go to the cheapest option. We do not know for how long the recession will bite. Hence value has become more important. A product that lasts longer is of more value than one that breaks or looks worn out after only a few months. So is one that suits our particular requirements closely rather than one with which we ‘make do’.

Consumers are becoming more careful to purchase products and services that meet particular needs and preferences. They also want their purchases to last, to stand the test of time. If you can meet all of these things, you will have clients for life, long after this recession is just a memory.