PROFILING CAN BE SIMPLE
- Do you have a customer that is nice to deal with and makes you a lot of money because they order a lot of your products or services? If so, a great strategy may be to think of that customer and focus on finding more just like them.
- Looking back at your customer activity reports to determine the commonalities of highly profitable customers is also customer profiling. Who knows? You might find out that your best customers import furniture from Asia, or require refrigerated warehousing, or all live in the south end of town.
Start-up companies or new companies don’t have the luxury of identifying customers that make them a lot of money. These companies are pushed to predict a customer profile or profiles. Making this more than a simple process can pay off by predicting your prospective customer’s needs or desires. Defining who the customer is before having any customers, helps to predict the type of products or services you should produce and how customers prefer to receive information.
PROFILES REVEAL
- The location, lifestyle, behaviour and demographics of your customer. These characteristics predict product demands and help you evaluate cross-selling or up-selling potential and methods;
- Traits of a good and bad customer;
- The future growth potential of your customer;
- Customer criteria that is relevant information and not just general impressions. For example, your ideal customers may have the common trait of not having access to high speed Internet. Thus, your website should be simple and easy to download even via dial-up internet access.
DESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS SUITABLE FOR MOST PROFILES
When creating your profile, don’t be shy in stating some of the more obvious desirable characteristics about your ideal customer, such as:
- Purchases multiple times per year;
- Purchases in volume;
- Has good credit rating and pays on time;
- Doesn’t price shop;
- Places a high value on developing loyal business relationships with their suppliers;
- Plans well and communicates effectively;
- Is well organized and financed;
- Is happy and appreciative of the products or services they buy from your business.
