by Sondra Lynn, Chief of Staff, Supercharge Lab
At Supercharge Lab, we help your company connect with potential customers more efficiently and more effectively. We help buyers be better buyers and we make these connections based on an understanding of human behavior.
Bryn Farnsworth describes Human Behavior as “a complex interplay of three components: actions, cognition, and emotions.” I would add to that to say that human behavior is “the most basic form of us as humans responding to a stimulus be it internal or external and the developed characteristics resulting from these physical, mental or social responses which eventually make us who we are today.”
Connecting by Making Behavioral Discoveries
My mother would say sometimes “Well, that’s not like you! It’s entirely outside of your norm”. What she is also saying is that she knew our normal behaviors. She knew if her children, my sister and I, were acting in a way that was not in line with our regular characteristics. When observing this change of behavior, she might then look into our reactions further so to learn from them. My parents learned our behaviors – and increased their cognitive empathy – in a variety of ways by putting us to the test with responsibilities too. Giving us tasks like feeding the animals before feeding ourselves, learning to load the dishwasher and what happened if you did not (then having to hand wash dishes!) were simple ways to start learning our behaviors through a specific stimulus.
Check Out Another Supercharge Lab Insight: The March Toward Technological Singularity
Personally, I find it extremely beneficial to learn the behaviors of our customers as much as we possibly can. If I can learn their developed characteristics – what makes them tick; I am better prepared to serve them. I can do this in simple ways, like having consistency to the call flow of my bi-weekly client calls and asking thoughtful questions of them to connect at the beginning of the call. I will learn if they are on time, late, rushing to the next call, etc. and therefore I can also learn their priorities and perhaps become able to anticipate their behaviors. Another way I try to learn my customer’s behaviors is by asking them their preferred time of day for a call, and on what platform they most like to connect. Just because many of us are on Zoom does not mean that is how my customer likes to connect; they may prefer a phone call or to meet in person over a coffee.
Research, Theory, and Practice
Understanding human behaviors can be researched and theorized daily. All day. Every day. And we still may not fully understand! But I encourage us all to be open to the continued learning this presents us, and to make even the smallest changes which allow us to better understand human behaviors. My feelings are that developing this skill essentially makes us stronger, better businesses with more thoughtful and knowledgeable employees who are better connected to their customers.
Our better understanding of human behavior can not only make us a better society thanks to this learned and enhanced empathy, but it can also make us better and more efficient leaders because it helps us understand the needs of our people and allows us to best serve them. As the New Year approaches, I plan to continue finding ways to discover our customers’ behaviors and to use this knowledge to help us be more efficient and more effective as our company grows and diversifies.