How Your Customers Think: Tips To Improve Sales

Firstly, Let me welcome you to the new world where competition is on high pedestal in the business world. For any business to survive in this current world, there is need to have a perfectly structured marketing strategy that attends to the needs of consumers. So, to have a better relationship with your customers, you need to understand how they think, what they need, and how you can convince them.

If you don't understand how your customers think, you can't convince them to patronise you. You have to become conscious of these subconscious factors before you can make good sales in business.

So, as a GPA marketer, you have a huge responsibility to understand your customer's psychology and know how to influence their thought or doubt. This seminar is very important, as I want you to be the highest paid marketer on GPA pay list😁

Investors as well need to know customers psychology so as to know what customers need and how to chose your goods.

What Do Customers Want?

As a marketer, have you ever asked yourself such a question? If not, you have to do so. You can start by asking yourself. What do I want when I visit to patronise in a particular shop. I've tried to categorise them in the list below:

A. Value: the value a product offers is in the usage utility. As a customer somewhere, the purpose of you wanting to buy something is in the value you hope to get in exchange of your money. So, it doesn't matter how you feel a product is, what matters is that is it meeting the need of your customer? You really have to ask yourself.

For instance, my interest could be that I want an earphone to receive call. And as a marketer, if all the earpiece you are showing me is the one with good bass, I may lose interest in the negotiation. So, firstly, ask you customer what they want, and give them varieties of the one you have available emphasising it has what he/she wants. So, while trying to convince your customers, you have to emphasise that such product will satisfy their value.

B. Attention: your customers want attention. Just like you, you won't feel happy when your marketer leaves you to attend to another customers. Treat them according to the time they came. In case you get busy,  and you realise you are delaying them too long, you can apologise for keeping them waiting. Just show them you have them in mind. Customers feel bad when they visit your store, and you are not giving them attention.

C. Respect: Do not take the opinion of your customers for granted. Don't try to prove you know more than them, it will make them feel you have pride. Or, they may feel you want to scam them. Just listen to them. Sometimes, ask them what they ask you to be sure you heard them right. Professionally, you should take 2 to 3seconds silence before answering your customer's questions. It makes them feel like you really want to satisfy their opinion.

4. Bargaining power: This is the truth I will tell you. Everyone don't want to feel being cheated. So, don't make the mistake of telling them the last price. They will feel bad when you insist on your price and have to leave. This is not normal all over the world, but it is peculiar to Nigeria. Please don't always give last price, let them feel they already cheated you.  However, do not try to make them feel bad with your scaring price. They will be scared and sometimes leave without bothering to price it down. So, be reasonable with your price...and be ready to beat it down to make them feel they get it cheaper than any other customers. Every customer wants this!

5. Friendliness and professionalism: to be friendly means you shouldn't frown face when dealing with customers. But you have to know the type of person you are dealing with. That's where professionalism sets in. Laugh when they laugh and get serious when they are. This skill will help you deal with any type of Customers.

6. Calmness: a good marketer must be able to stay calm when negotiating with customers. Don't fidget or be restless because you are afraid to lose your him/her. Give yourself some integrity and look into their face when negotiating. That's a sign that you are in control

How do I satisfy my customers?

In GPA, our goal is to achieve customer satisfaction both during patronage or in terms of goods utility. We carefully select our products and ensure that our goods will best satisfy the needs of our customers.

Customer's satisfaction is derived when customer's expectation meets customer's experience. If what you, as a customer, meet is different from your expectations, you will feel disappointed and unsatisfied.

Anyway, from a marketer side, your first obligation is to know what your customer wants. We can talk about some general things your customers want such as: Value, attention etc, as earlier mentioned. Though, there might be individual differences like: being in too much hurry, over pricing, bitter words etc. So, it is not guaranteed that you can satisfy your customers 100%.

But you can achieve 80 to 90% satisfaction following the few steps below:

1. Attend to what they need rather than what you feel they need. Don't be over zealous to sell a particular product. If what they need is not available, then you can present them with another product that can offer the same service. There are reasons for every decision made by your customers, don't let his/her decision discourage you. Rather, know why you have not been able to convince the customer better and work on it.

2. Deal with them like a professional: For a consumer to be satisfied with whatever goods you are offering them, you have to show some sense of education. Even if you don't know much about the goods, you have to pretend. If your customers realise you don't know much about what you sell, they will simply leave because they will feel unsafe buying from you.

3. Create intimacy: Don't treat your customers like an outsider. Talk to them as if you have known them before and take time to address them. You can ask for their name and call them by it as you deal. This has psychological effect on customers. They will want to stay more and buy even if you already added price for them.*

4. Let your customer take his/her time in deciding what to buy. Don't rush customers because you are tired. Most of them get insulted. Or showing negative reactions when customers try to change a particular product and consider another. Don't frown to show that he is stressing you. You can politely let such customers understand that it is not a good business ethic but you will give him/her another chance. This way, you already tied her to settle for the last offer.

5. Show care: Even most marketers find it extremely difficult to say 'thank you' after a customer patronised them. That's a very bad habit. As our marketer, nothing is bad if you help your customer remove accessory packages and return them after testing it. You can ask if he/she is with their gadget to test such product. Just show some care and send the message that you want their satisfaction more than their money.

The above tips will help you in gaining customer's satisfaction during patronage. A good way to test if you satisfy your customer is to see them smiling as they exit your shop.

You can read more of other business tips on our website. Also, do well to patronise out stores to have the customer satisfactory experience you cannot gain anywhere.