What Are They Really Buying?
For my wife’s birthday, we went to a very high-end restaurant. Upon perusing the menu, one side of my brain thought “choose the steak…you love steak…it will be good….you’ll be happy”.
The more adventurous side of my brain LOVED the description used for their dish entitled Crazy Chicken. It had all of the ingredients that I liked, sides were OK and yet I was inclined to make the purchase of the unknown vs. the known entity. In the end, the marketing worked – however, once my meal was done I wasn’t as satisfied as I could have been with the steak, and I was left with a feeling that my meal was a little less than what I was promised in the description.
Are you doing the same? In this day and age of competing for a clients’ attention, are you going too far with promises just to earn the sale? Here’s one way to find out.
After your transaction with a customer send them a survey with a promise of something with enough value for them to want to fill it out.
While you may initially think this isn’t a good idea (as you’re giving something away), the information you glean (if put to work) will be worth way more than a low-cost cog for you but high-value item for your customer. Ask your customer these questions in the survey:
- In researching providers of our products and services, what was most important to you before you decide to go with us? Did the importance of what that was increase or decrease because of our conversation? You ask this question to understand what they were thinking before they first made contact with your business. What did they value going into your conversation? Ultimately, was what they were thinking previously still an important factor in their decision or did something else become more important?
- What was the main reason you chose our company over other options? This question gets to the heart of the purchase…the why behind the buy. Once you understand that, selling to your ideal client becomes easier and you can then adjust your marketing efforts, using the most popular words referenced here by those that fill out your survey to attract other ideal like clients.
- What would you tell a friend considering our brand? By asking this question you gain knowledge of what their future word of mouth could be, even before you perform their event. Be sure to stay a resource to them by touching base at least once every thirty days with tips to help them in their planning.
Many people think that after the purchase is done the transaction is over. Well…maybe…but a smart business owner knows the relationship is just beginning (or should be). Continue the relationship by thanking them for their business, following up with something else that might interest them from their purchase in your business and staying top of mind in the months following their investment in your business.
What are they REALLY buying?
The answers are revealed in your client’s next steps. Do they refer you? Did they leave a testimonial? What did they say online about you? Pay specific attention to the words they use. The key is your marketing must be congruent to the product or service you deliver on the daily.