14 Things You Must Know About Your Customers and Prospects

Infusionsoft put together a helpful list of 7 Things You Must Know About Your Customers:

1. Their Name. Nothing speaks to an individual faster than their first name. Use it to build your relationship with your customer.

2. What They’ve Purchased. If you know what your customers purchased in the past, you have a good idea what they will buy again. (And won’t waste your time promoting products of little to no interest.)

3. How Often They Purchase. Individuals who buy rarely from you may need additional encouragement…more marketing. Whereas, consistent customers may not need extra sales pitches, but might benefit from a newsletter or coupon.

4. How Much They Spend (on average). Why spend precious time pitching products to customers that they can’t afford? It might embarrass your customer, shows your lack of personal interest, and may cause customers to lose interest.

5. The Last Time They Purchased. Have you lost a customer without even knowing it? Who’s still loyal? Who has strayed (and needs to be brought back)?

6. Each Interaction You’ve Had With Them. Documentation is important for obvious reasons. But being able to “recall” previous conversations will make your customer feel important and appreciated.

7. How They Feel About Your Business. Feedback from your customers is the best way to improve your products/services, meet your customers’ needs, and attract more customers.

Number 7 on their list did not come as a surprise; sending out customer surveys is a great way to get the feedback you need. To lean more about customer surveys, check our When To Conduct Customer Surveys and Ten Reasons To Send Customer Surveys posts.

Infusionsoft also put together 7 Things You Absolutely Must Know About Your Prospects, all of which can be easily compiled using a simple online customer survey:

1. Age. Everything you say and write, including slang, allusions, word difficulty, and topics should be adjusted to meet age appropriateness.

2. Gender. Despite the dual roles men and women tend to fill, most individuals can be segmented (and sold to) based on gender-specific interests or needs.

3. Location. Values and culture tend to vary based on demographics. Having a clear understanding of regional difference will improve your targeted messages.

4. Education Level. Similar to age appropriateness, education levels should determine how you address your prospects and what benefits they will find in your product or service.

5. Income. The needs and wants from one social class to another should be a guide to the types of products and services you should be selling them.

6. Marital Status. The values, needs, and desires of married persons greatly differ from those that are single. Marketing family messages to single persons (and vice versa) can lose the deal for you.

7. What Keeps Them Up At Night. This is the most important one. You’ve got to know your prospect’s fears, worries, concerns, excitements, hopes and dreams. When you know the conversation inside your prospect’s head, you can enter it, speak to it, and build a relationship that leads to a customer.

With the interesting number 7 tip, “What keeps them up at night?”, the potential responses to a question like that can’t even begin to be imagined. When you compose similar survey questions you should list a few choices as answers (finances, family, health, etc…) and offer the option to “select all that apply” as well as an “other” option. When you include an “other” option you can gather open-ended responses in order to gain further insights into your customers. Most likely they will share responses that you hadn’t even considered.