Kasim Aslam

As many of you know, I write a thread every day. It’s part of my morning routine and I love the opportunity it provides me to think through things and share my thoughts. However, the biggest benefit was one I didn’t see coming: It has sparked so many meaningful conversations online. Some of the responses I’ve gotten have been nothing short of poetry. It’s amazing to see people take an idea and extract even more value than I realized was there to begin with.

For years, I would end every meeting I had with one question. It didn’t matter who it was with: client, prospect, vendor, partner, employee, etc. I would ask the same question every time with astounding results. It helped me learn, grow, and (importantly) cover my ass. The question: “How did this go? And, is there anything we could have done better?” I got so consistent with it people used to laugh when they’d hear me say it because they started to know it was coming.

Understanding your customer is the single most important thing you can do in business. Here’s an easy exercise that’ll help get you there in record time (with a free worksheet!). A demographic is a generalized cloud of people distilled down to their basic categories. It doesn’t honor the idea that your customers are unique and precious individuals and need to be spoken to as such. Think of your customer as a person; we’ll refer to this idealized vision of your customer as an Avatar.