A couple of days ago I wrote about knowing who you are as a company and being sure your customers know who you are.  Today, I came across this article by John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing entitled, “What would you google if…”

The point of the article was to ask your customers, “What would you
google if you were looking for someone who does what we do?” in an
attempt to find out how your customers perceive you.

I had a situation just this last summer where I was working with a
company that needed help with optimizing their business.  After talking
to each of the key employees about what it was the business did, I
still wasn’t really clear.  It just so happened that I knew one of
their customers quite well from a previous venture.  I called him and
asked, “Who are we as a company?  What would you say we do?  How would
other customers respond to that same question?  How are we perceived by
the marketplace?  What do other customers in the industry say about us
as a company (meaning our ethics, our performance, our customer
service, etc.?)   If you could change one thing about our company, what
would it be?”  We discussed these questions and others, and this good
client gave me a couple of other names I could (and did) call.

I spent a couple of hours, and by the time I got off the phone, I
had a much clearer picture of who this company was and how they were
perceived in the eyes of the marketplace.  It’s safe to say that the
employees of the company had some serious misconceptions about how they
were perceived in the marketplace.  Having a clearer understanding of
those things helped them make the necessary adjustments so they could
take the next several steps forward.

I recommend this exercise to everyone.  Call three random customers
from your list.  Ask them the questions I asked above, and really
listen.  Don’t try to convince them you are who you think you are, just
listen and learn.  Then ask yourself, “What adjustments do I need to
make to align who we think we are with who our customers think we are?”

That may well be the best couple of hours you spend this week.