Whether I'm coaching a new client in marketing or creating a programme for them, one issue that we focus on getting straight right up front is what business they are really in.  As I boringly say time and time again, marketing is about focusing on the customer, so describing your business from the customer's viewpoint rather than your own is an important place to start.

The answer is not about what you sell - it is about what the customer is looking to buy.  Take some everyday examples:

• Do you want glasses - or do you want to be able to see?
• Do you want a drill - or do you want a hole in the wall?
• Do you want to rent a flat - or do you want a new home?
• Do you want a photographer - or do you want to capture the memory of your wedding/kids etc.?
• Do you want a personal stylist - or do want to look good?

You get the idea.  At a recent seminar on Successful Selling (presented in conjunction with Ben Turner of The SalesPro Online Magazine) our delegates struggled, as so many of us do, to articulate their features in terms of benefit to the customer.  But turn it around and focus on what the customer is really looking for and the question is slightly different.  Not just what benefit does your product/service deliver - but is it one that will make a difference to a customer (and not just one customer but, hopefully, a whole group of them)?  If you can't offer a benefit the customer is prepared to pay for - do you have a viable business anyway?

The answers will help you communicate the difference you can make, but will also drive innovation in your products and services.  Thinking too narrowly about what you do can put you out of business when the markets move on - for example companies that think they are in the business of CDs but are really in music are going to be put out of business by the downloading of files.

If you're not sure what customers are really looking for or what they want from whatever you provide then the best thing is to ask the question.  You can ask your customers, ask the people who chose not to buy, ask friends, family, business contacts.  Talking it through will help you crystallise the answer to the question 'what business are you in'?  Armed with that information you can develop your offerings and marketing promotions to present your customers with something they will really value, something that will solve their problems more effectively than any competitors can.

What business are you really in?