Tips for Getting to Know Your Customers

Even if you are an expert in your field, have great employees, are in control of logistics and operations, and use marketing tactics wisely, that doesn’t automatically mean you’re attracting all the customers you can.

Getting new customers should always be a top business goal, since not making any sales isn’t going to bring in enough revenue to keep your business afloat. So how exactly can you attract customers and make them into happy regulars?

One way is to look at the customers you do have, asking yourself why they chose to buy a particular item. Did they think it was the best value? Were your competitors out of stock on that item? Does your business website appear at or near the top of the page?

There are lots of different reasons customers choose to buy what they do and, although supply and demand play a huge role, it’s also about the customers. Let’s take a closer look at how you can get to know your customers even better.

Bring Your Employees on Board

Talk to your sales staff and find out their views. Ask how they think a customer would describe the business to a friend, what kind of feedback they’ve got from customers, and what, if anything, do customers seem to not like or to complain about?

Talk to Your Customers

You can question and survey your customers when they’re in the store, either informally by chatting with them, or more formally with a printed survey sheet. Explain the reason behind it is to improve customer service or even consider entering them all into some kind of raffle as an incentive to participate.

Identify Customer Trends

It’s highly likely after talking to and/or surveying your customers that you begin to notice trends, not just about their opinions but also who they are: male or female, young or old, sedentary or active, and so on. Identify their attributes, demographics and habits to come up with several customer ‘persons’ – you will end up with several main types.

We can look at an example. Fictional company ‘VR Guns and Ammo’ has three customer personas. One is a hobbyist who shoots occasionally at the range and likes to keep up to date with what’s new. Another is in law enforcement whose only criteria is to buy from the cheapest store. The third is new to guns and wants to compare concealed carry gear. Each of these has different reasons to come into the store and is shopping for something different.

Knowing data like this can help you decide what will sell the best and how to appeal to each category, or persona, you are targeting.

Again, share the results with your sales team and come up with ways to attract each persona. Perhaps you could create an event featuring free training, to appeal to new gun owners, and a quarterly report with updated prices to those who shop based on value for money.

In Conclusion

The above tips should help you figure out what type of customers you have and what is important to them. Remember that things change so it’s important to repeat the exercise once or twice a year. You can skyrocket your sales and expect even better revenue if you know your customers well and understand their needs.