Passing the baton to make your customer the hero

When you start your business journey as a woman entrepreneur, you probably only have an approximate idea of who you’re doing it for.

But once you’ve brought your founder’s purpose, vision and values to life and experienced the first wave of growth, it’s time to delve deeper if you want to take your fledgling business to the next level.

This is the point when getting up close to the human at the end of it all – your customer – pays dividends. 

Because only by knowing that person inside out can you ensure that they remain happy with your product or service, and more importantly, that you stay one step ahead of their ever changing needs.

To borrow a phrase from the 2024 Summer Olympics, ‘foundership’ is like passing the baton to your customer, making them the hero of your journey by making them the hero of theirs. As the founder, you take on the role of director, guiding your team in a supporting act that ensures your customer’s life is better.

After all, without them you have no business! Their hero status needs to be woven throughout your company.

Knowledge is power

The phrase ‘knowledge is power’ becomes more apt than ever when you’re at this stage.

Bringing your customers to the fore can only be done with a thorough understanding of who they are. This knowledge can be valuable in helping you pass your values onto them in such a way that makes them feel as if they have as much stake in your business as you do. Albeit metaphorically.

It’s not just about sending a customer satisfaction survey to ask if they’re happy with your product. That information alone won’t take you far. The real value lies in understanding whether your product has made a meaningful difference in their lives. The true power of feedback comes when customers aren’t just satisfied—they’re talking about you, recommending you to others, and sharing how your product has improved their life. 

Lessons from my father

Let me explain using lessons from my father. 

Doug Perkins is a  successful entrepreneur whose insights we draw from time and again here at Wyseminds. His ability to understand how his customer’s life could be made better not just now, but five years into the future (through notes he kept on a folded sheet of paper in his back pocket!), helped him and my mother build their knowledge from their first business, Bebbington and Perkins Opticians, into the global optical company that Specsavers is today.

Knowing the details of your customers is about moving with the times, adapting and tweaking your offering so it’s not just a brand that serves a functional purpose, but one that makes people’s lives easier – something they come to rely on; that has their back.

In our work as specialist business coaches for women entrepreneurs, one of the core principles we recommend is to get under the skin of your customer. Once you truly understand who they are, new and untapped opportunities will emerge for how your business can improve their lives even further.

It takes time and effort to gain this deeper knowledge, but you’ll be amply rewarded by deepening the connection with your customer so that it goes beyond meeting the standard satisfaction tick list.

Zero in on your hero

Growth happens in a series of waves, each requiring a specific actions of the founder and those actions towards knowing your customer play an important role in effectively growing your business. With this in mind we launched an all-new level of our business growth programme Your Journey, focusing on the community that benefits from your business.

The section on personas looks at how developing greater insight of your customer means you can zero in on the areas of their life where they might struggle (pain points) and where your product is the antidote to those struggles. 

Understanding this pain is the important thing in being able to identify their current and future obstacles so you can prime your business to meet these head on. When your customer is the hero of your business and you know them as well as my father knew his, this process can feel almost instinctive.

Loyalty is a two-way street

It’s not about capitalising on pain, but considering how best to use what you know to remove it from their life. In short, it’s about staying relevant to the community you serve in a world where change is the only certainty. Loyalty after all is a two-way street.

We have a taster for every level of our course. The Taster is enough to make that initial start.  You can download here the customer persona (3.1) or view other Your journey tasters on our free tools & resources page. 

If you’re a woman founder about to embark on a hero creation exercise, why not book a virtual coffee with us, or sign up to our business growth programme here.