Coinstar Inc. owns and operates a network of automated, self-service coin counting machines which provide consumers a convenient means to turn their change into paper currency. In return for this service, Coinstar takes nine cents from every dollar and customers love it.

Customers don’t care about you’re business. They care about their wants and needs and making their lives more convenient and comfortable. To win new and profitable customers you must have real insight into their concerns and meet them in a superior way.

Why would customers rave about pouring a dollars worth of coins into a machine and getting back ninety one cents? Locations at supermarkets make it convenient, most banks have imposed counting fees and it is time consuming to roll coins if a customer is considering other alternatives. What “change” can you make in your organization to give customers convenience and eliminate tedious tasks they may not want to do? Time is more important today than ever and customers are willing to trade money in order to save it.

Ordering tickets on-line and picking them up at a kiosk rather than waiting in line at the box office window offers a convenience for the customer and reduces the payroll cost of another cashier to sell tickets at the event. Customers often willingly pay a service charge for this “overhead reducing” convenience.

Amazon started by selling books to customers on-line and eventually added a way for customers to re-sell their used books. What could you add as an additional product or service to cross sell existing customers a solution to help them with a problem while adding convenience or saving them time?

To answer this important question you must get to know your customers greatest wants and needs and what is frustrating to them with how they are being met right now.

Many restaurants will soon be allowing busy customers to order drinks and appetizers even before they are seated. By saving time for their patrons, restaurants will also increase sales by serving more people during the same hours of operation.

How can you deliver your product or service faster, cheaper or better? What problems are your customers facing now that is causing them inconvenience or taking too much of their time? Sam’s club scans customer carts while they wait in line. When they reach the register all they do is pay.

Can you address a want or need in your industry or customer base where no existing solution is adequate. Statistics tell us that one in four Americans is seriously overweight and there are still 46 million smokers. Most of them want to loose weight or quit.

By identifying situations where large numbers of people are unhappy you can offer a superior solution. Although your new product or service is not yet proven, by understanding the wants and needs of your customers you know there is a high demand for a superior solution.

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