Profiling Customers to Maximize Profits | |||||||||||||||||||
We help people think! |
Most companies struggle to get enough of the right kinds of customers, but what if you could target your advertising and marketing to attract only the kinds of customers you want? Well you can. One business consultant I know uses the profiling questions of Motivate Everyone to analyze prospective customers and then uses the irresistible language phrases to write his proposal. He closes 90% of proposals. Why? Because he matches his language to the customer's needs. And you can do the same. So how do you begin? First, you'll want to segment your customers. There are people who buy once, those who buy often, and those who buy often and refer you to all of their friends. Those who buy often and refer you are worth potentially 10 to 100 times more than other customers. Once you know who your frequent buyers and "advocates" are, then you can begin to analyze their motivation style. Analyze Your Most Valuable Customers Advocates, more than likely, value relationships and knowledge. They know everyone and will refer you. Do your frequent buyers and advocates buy:
Step into your customer's shoes My wife and I frequent Indias, a popular restaurant in Denver. They have a lunch buffet (options) for only $6.95. I love their food (toward). I like it (internal). I tried it the first time because I knew that I liked Indian food (doer). And I go back because it's always a good experience (same) with a new item every so often (different). If I step into the shoes of someone who buys and recommends our QI Macros
software, I get the following "hallucination:" Once you've imagined the frequent buyer's profile, you'll want to confirm or enhance it by asking the simple questions in Motivate Everyone. When you've got a customer on the phone, just ask them a question or two: What's important to you about our product? Why is that important? Why did you choose our product? What's the relationship between this product and others you've used? The answers to these questions will start to confirm or refine your understanding of their motivation strategy. When you have enough common elements, then you can tailor your marketing messages to attract more of these kinds of clients. Tailoring Your Message Start to look at other company's advertising. Outback Steakhouse: No Rules, Just Right. "No rules" is options, and "just right" is procedural. They hit both sides of one motivation style. Trail Dust Steakhouse: Fresh cuts daily, old favorites nightly. "Fresh cuts" are "new" and "old favorites" are "same." Again, a message that touches two sides of one motivation trait. Profile Your Customers You can also profile the types of customers who take up too much time and energy for the value they bring. (See the Oppenheimer Funds example above.) Then deliberately craft your marketing messages to discourage them from becoming customers. Test, test, test Profiling Ideal Customers: To get a quick profile of your ideal customer,
consider using the Motivation Profile with your current repeat buyers. Have
them take it in your store to ensure you get a clear profile. Reward them
with a gift certificate. You might consider giving it to a cross-section of
customers so that you can discover the key differences between the low and
high spenders. Just compare their results. One or two things are usually the
keys to higher productivity and profitability. Then you can tune your advertising
and marketing to appeal to the high volume, high dollar buyers. © 2007 KnowWare International Inc. (888) 468-1537 |
||||||||||||||||||
