While the massage therapist was kneading out the knots in my back, I asked her how the business was doing with all the shopping centre renovations and new shops popping up.

Her comment was enlightening.

There used to be just two massage therapy businesses in the building. Now there are five. That’s too many!

However, her employer was still doing well because of happy repeat customers.

When I enquired a little deeper, it turned out that some of the other outlets were not as well patronized because their staff kept trying to upsell customers into packages that they didn’t want. The customer would walk in wanting a specific treatment, but the staff tried to persuade them to try Treatment A + B + C.

This kind of approach may get a few upsells, but as a long-term strategy, it does not create goodwill between staff and customer, and it is one reason customers might get scared off from returning.

“My approach is different,” explained the therapist. “I just give them what they want. If they say they only want foot reflexology, I give them that.”

How simple life could be for us as entrepreneurs if we would just listen to our customers attentively, respect their wishes, and give them exactly what they want (while going one further to delight them by giving them what they didn’t expect).