Joseph Brower

I had an interesting experience recently talking with someone about their current (outdated) server and possibly upgrading.  I thought that it would be difficult to convince them of the need and that we wouldn’t have much hope in properly resolving the problems that they had been experiencing.  Instead, I found that they were thrilled about the prospect of getting a good server and migrating to it.  I began to wonder to myself “Why?”  The answer was clear.  They had been waiting for us to tell them that they needed it.  Most customers know what they want, whether they admit it or not.  This customer was not an exception.  They know what they wanted, but were second guessing themselves.  As a technical expert, they were hoping that my conclusion would match with their conclusion.  I am always telling myself that I shouldn’t be assuming what a customer wants, but it can be difficult at times not to.  I’m positive that if I spent less time trying to figure out what the customer wants and more time working with them to let them tell me, this wouldn’t be a problem.  I guess we can all improve on that.  This is the second time this month that I had caught myself feeling concern that the customer would not be happy with my “bad news” but after presenting the facts to the customer, they quickly moved forward to adopt a better way of doing things with their technology.

Long story short, don’t be afraid of the customer.  Have enough confidence in the product and services that you provide and the customer will at least understand what you offer.