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Michelle Nonkazimulo Ndiweni
LIKE any other relationship you could have in your life, your affiliation with your customer is important. Efficient relationships are mostly characterised by a strong bond, where there is mutual understanding and intimacy.
The average person can attest that a relationship between individuals who are intimate is difficult to break. That’s true for your relationship with your customer! After all, your competitors are waiting for it to break so they could snatch your customer from you.
A point to note is that, as a business, it is almost impossible to serve the entire market hence you need to serve a certain target niche market. That target market, has similar characteristics, which is the reason why the singular reference to a customer is crucial.
For your business to operate efficiently, and for it to achieve as much revenue as it possibly can, it is critical that you have an intimate relationship with your customer.
This intimacy will enable you to cut costs significantly, thus render your operations more profitable. Now the big question is, what aspects of your relationship need your attention? Well, the short and obvious answer would be all, but that would be extremely vague.
Some of the most important aspects of this relationship include understanding the motivation, perceptions, personality, attitudes, and cultures of your customer.
It is imperative that you have a strong understanding of what motivates your customer to buy from you. Understand why and how they chose you from a pool of other shops, and ensure you make that available for them each time they interact with you.
Let’s consider this, nowadays, living in a world of social media, some, if not most customers are motivated by the desire shared on social media. Some prefer to post luxurious pictures of the extravagance in their lives. For instance, if you are a restaurant operator and your target customer is motivated by taking lovely pictures and videos for sharing on social media, it would be a huge mistake to serve your food ‘shabbily’ on basic plates. The motive of your customer requires that you serve your sumptuous meals for the photogenic clients.
Yes, it could taste good, but if it doesn’t look good, you’ve missed it, the customer will leave you out. Of course they will not come to your restaurant and say, “Hello, I need to take pictures to show my friends I had lovely food on social media, so serve my food well.” That’s where intimacy comes in, where you pick up the motive of your customer from their behaviour.
On the other hand, if you are a restaurant selling budget meals, for instance the popular Zimbabwean “dollar deals”, it is also important that you also have a firm understanding of your customer motivation. The motivation, of course, in this instance is value for money. If you offer meals that would afford your customers a full tummy at a price they perceive low, they’ll stay and probably invite their friends over. Now, in this scenario, where the customer is motivated by a cheap meal that fills up their tummy, you decide to add possibly more salads or extra pieces of meat and increase your price, the chances are that you would probably chase your customers away, unless you make this an option for those with extra money.
The main reason being that they are after your price and the full plate. If, alternatively, you reduce your portions and maintain the price, they’ll leave too, because your food is no longer filling their tummies.
To succeed in business, you need to have a firm understanding of what motivates your customer, and make that always available for them. Customer motivation should be at the core of all your business decisions.
Other important aspects are your customer’s perceptions, personality, attitudes, and cultures. Look out for more information on these in the weeks to follow.
Online Reporter