Customer Market Research
No Customers No Business
It's a harsh fact, we might think that we have the best product or service in the world, but if people don't want to buy it, we don't have a business.
Therefore it makes perfect sense to understand the issues of value and importance to a prospective customer.
Some important points
1. Not everyone will want to buy your product or service
2. Depending upon the complexity of your product or service it may take some time before a prospective customer is able to take action and purchase.
3. Some customers will purchase earlier than others
4. Emotional behaviour plays a significant role in the purchasing process
The fact that all customers are different, yet groups of them can be shown to behave in a similar way because of their motivations, needs or values. The process of identifying these groups is called segmentation.
Segmentation is generally based upon some combination of
• What is purchased (quantity, frequency, format, etc)
• Who buys (the type of person)
• The reasons for buying (motivation)
Understanding your customer segments is a critical activity because each segment may require a different approach to sell them the same product.
The following approach may help you identify your customer segments
• Can each segment be clearly described
• Is each segment distinctly different
• Is each segment large enough to generate sufficient business
The ability to identify and then target specific customer segments where it is known that these segments have a requirement to purchase your product or service is a critical marketing role.
We have a number of well proven techniques and approaches that can provide significant customer insight and help in the identification and targeting of customers. If you would like to know more about our customer analysis techniques simply call 01733 361729
Identifying and maximising your most profitable customers / products and services.
Which customers are your most profitable?
How many customers do you have?
How many customers would you like to have?
How big is the income of every customer?
How much does it cost to serve a customer?
Is every customer as profitable as the other?
Do you have unprofitable customers?
If yes – do you know who they are?
If yes – what will you do with them?
How profitable are your transactions?
The most common measurement of business success is based purely on sales income in relation to volume – ‘what is our bottom line?' But ‘bottom line' figures are often the result of numerous business transactions over a particular time-scale; the resulting data is a simplification of a complex mix of costs.
How profitable is each customer?
How do you find out whether you are really profitable (or not) per customer, product, and/or service?
This kind of information will allow you to identify and focus on more profitable customers/products, whilst also identifying those less profitable areas.
More than a historic approach to sales analysis…
Analysing product and customer profitability…
Cost & Profit Guard (CPG) is an analysis product which calculates the profitability of individual customers, products and services.
You may already be producing lots of accountancy data…but does it allow you to easily make decisions?
CPG uses information from your existing sales income and overheads (operational and manufacturing costs) to provide you with accessible and comparable business information.
You can have up-to-date profit/loss figures for every customer and product in any defined accounting period at your finger tips.
From raw data…to improved decision making
Base future decisions about dealing with customers in a factual, clear and understandable way
Information is presented in an easy to understand and structured way helping you make fully informed business decisions.
You can review the electronic results shortly after the monthly invoices are complete. Results consist of a 12 window matrix where the position of customers/products depends on volume (size) and profitability.
As a live tool this information can be entirely and instantly customised to your particular needs.
The information provided is invaluable:
- how do your customers buy?
- what is the impact on selling prices?
- what are the costs involved?
- how do the sales, pricing, purchasing, operational and production systems function?
For more information on how you could increase your profitability call 01733 361729
