Are You Sure About This “Educating the Customer” Stuff?
Everyone talks about the need to and the methods for “educating the customer”. But no one ever says “why?”. Should we always be working to educate the customer? What if the answer is “no”?
Sometimes it’s wasted effort. Sometimes it can be an irritant. Some of the best customers might be those who don’t want to be educated.
“When my car is broken I’d like to drop it off to you, so you can make it all better. You know the maintenance schedule so just email me ahead, so I can plan to make it available to you. I have no interest in the coefficient of friction or understanding which fluids are hygroscopic or the logic of each maintenance service. My head is full of a long list of other stuff. I know a broken car needs to be fixed and I know machines need maintenance. I get it. Don’t drone on about stuff I frankly never want to learn. That’s why I have you. If I have a question, I’ll ask.”
I recall standing in my kitchen while the furnace guy went on and on and on educating me about furnaces. I wanted to know which one he recommended, how soon he could do it and how much. But I had to first listen for ten minutes to a long list of furnace knowledge stuff that went in one ear and out the other.
Maybe we should just work to be reasonably prepared to educate and then let our customers know we are more than happy to explain anything they want to know. But mandatory lectures from all advisors and forced education for all customers might not be the best way to go.
What do you think?
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