Think about it; if you were to take a customer out for dinner tonight, would you have a good enough grasp of their likes, dislikes, habits and the generation within which they reside to make it a free-flowing, enjoyable conversation? Or would you simply sit there and ask questions to which you really should already know the answers?
When running a business it’s incredibly easy to get lost in the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities that keep the revenue coming in. And while all that stuff is important, it can divert your attention from really getting to know your customers.
Here’s a few steps that’ll help you get under the skin of your customers!
Customer bases evolve over time, and no matter how long you’ve been in business, yours is probably rather different from what you’d original envisaged.
To start getting to know your customers, begin by looking at the people who are already buying from you. Pick ten random customers and note their age, sex, buying habits, economic group, the generation they’re from and, if you have direct interactions with them, their personalities.
Look for commonalities and pay particular attention to those who return and bring in the most revenue.
Who are your competitors targeting? More importantly, are you still competing against the same businesses, or have they evolved, too?
By looking at your competitors’ marketing output, website and social media persona, you’ll get a feel for their audience. Just remember that they may not have got it right, therefore if engagement appears to be low or news on the grapevine is that sales are slow, learn from their mistakes. What don’t they know about their customers that you could grasp?
The features and benefits of your product or service hold the key to getting under the skin of your audience. They will delight a specific type of person; who is it?
If you’re yet to fully develop your product - even better; now is the perfect time to get to know who it’s for before investing too much time and money in production.
Why do people buy your products? Is it out of necessity, aspiration or for disposable fun?
By discovering the buying influences for your products and services, you’ll be able to paint a very vivid picture of your audience. Equally, the method by which they buy and the route they take to reach your brand will reveal the type of people they are and what it is that’s likely to tempt them to spend their hard-earned.
Once you have a good grasp of who your customer is, don’t stop evaluating. As noted at the start of this blog post, your ideal customer today probably won’t be your ideal customer in two years’ time - even if it’s essentially the same person.
Generations evolve, buying habits and the channels by which we reach customers change and the political landscape shapes us all. That’s why you should make a deep-dive customer review something you do regularly and, each time, ask yourself the same questions; the answers are likely to be different each time.
This will give you a competitive advantage and help keep you one step ahead of your ideal customer, enabling you to deliver a brilliantly personal and relevant service.
Do you know your customers? Nothing is quite what it seems in business, until you start asking some questions.
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