We are often focused on sales. How can we best sell our product or service? We are the independent retailer, but also the marketing department and the CMO. They all want to sell and are therefore using every means to promote the product or service. Then become:
- sales prices adjusted;
- the online and physical advertising then indicates how good the product or service is;
- In the advertisement, extensive information about the value of the product or service follows.
A lot of attention is then focused on sales. But is that effective enough to attract the customer’s attention?
The (potential) customer wants to buy something. After orientation, the customer will decide to make the purchase. This orientation consists of:
- is the selling price attractive;
- can the delivery take place immediately or quickly;
- must it be picked up by yourself or will it be delivered;
- how long is the warranty;
- meets expectations;
- are there exchange options;
- etc.
Only after all or some of these orientation points will the customer make a purchase decision. This is therefore a different approach from the customer’s perspective than that of the seller.
From a marketing perspective, many are still accustomed to devoting the most attention and money to the sales process. However, the customer has become more assertive over the years. The automatic acceptance process of the salesperson knowing best has shifted towards orientation and asking follow-up questions, because those questions are not answered in advance within the sales process.
It is time not to abolish the sales approach, but to pay more attention to the customer’s buying approach. Customer focus is the magic word here. Focus more on the customer. What does the customer want to know about the product or service before making a purchase? Try to figure this out using data. There are plenty of programs that can support this. It can even be done at an individual level. Know as much as possible about the customers and use that to promote the product or service.
