Customers are the foundation without which your business could not survive. Attracting them, convincing them that you are the right solution to their needs and building customer loyalty is essential. However, this whole process must start with a first step: getting to know your customer. If you don't know how to do it, don't miss this post.
Why should you know your customer?
When you create a business, the objective that moves you is to make a profit by carrying out an activity. You can market services or products to other people, who have needs. For example, a supermarket supplies the food needs of the population. Therefore, if you don't know who your buyer is, you will hardly know what they need, so you won't know what they demand.
If you don't pay attention to your customers, sooner or later you will have serious problems. Who are you targeting? Bear in mind that they will not come to your real estate services just for the sake of it, especially when you are taking your first steps. You will also find it difficult to develop sales strategies, plan the development of the business and marketing actions will not be targeted to a specific audience. In the end you will end up wasting a lot of money, time and effort.
Nor will you design specific services to meet the needs of potential buyers. It is not about starting a business and trying your luck, but about knowing your customers, understanding them and offering them just the right services in the most attractive way possible. This can only be achieved by defining an ideal version of the buyer: the buyer persona.
What is a buyer persona and how can you create one?
The buyer persona is the representation of a company's ideal customer. It helps you to define the
buyer to whom you address your services. You manage to humanise the customer, give them realistic features and allow you to understand them in greater depth. All this is achieved by providing different data, determining their behaviour and their psychology.
To determine this ideal buyer, you can follow a series of steps. In the end, you will get an accurate picture, based on real data and aspirations. Moreover, you can update it over time to better adapt to changes in the market. For example, if you want to sell flats to families, you will have to develop different buyer personas, as a family with two children will not have the same needs as one that also includes elderly people.
The name
Naming the buyer persona allows you to identify and personalise it in more detail. It may be that
different buyers may be interested in your product or service, so you will need to create an appropriate number of models.
Work and family situation
In this step, the persona is profiled to give it more depth. Returning to the case of the family, it is important to determine who works, if the children study or have pets, the income they can earn per month, their possible work history, the ages of the family unit, if their parents are older and other data related to the services we can offer them. Don't hesitate to go into more detail for greater accuracy.
Demographic data
This is to further profile the buyer persona. Include age, gender, social status and geographic location. This data will allow you to segment your buyers, which is particularly useful when creating a marketing campaign. In addition, you will have a precise idea of the area in which they live, as it is not the same to live in a big city than in a small town.
Goals, challenges and aspirations
Traditional profiles overlook aspects such as the buyer's goals and day-to-day aspirations. By determining these, you will be able to connect more easily and create a strong bond for posterity. Knowing what the person is pursuing in their life, the goals they want to achieve in different timeframes, the challenges they have to overcome or which products make their life easier will help you to go even deeper into the profile.
Customer centric: putting the customer at the centre of your strategy
Customer centric strategy is based on putting customers at the centre. This means getting to know them in depth and meeting their needs with products or services that offer excellent value for money. In this way, you will achieve better results in the long run. People will appreciate what you have to offer them more than your competitors, because you adapt better to their demands.
Therefore, the aim is to meet the needs of your customers and to make it profitable for your own business, otherwise you will eventually be forced to close down. Obtaining information on buying patterns, changes in needs and seeking the most appropriate adaptation is of particular importance.
Keep in mind that customer needs are not arbitrary. They are closely linked to their lives, their aspirations, their personal development and the goals they are trying to achieve. Some will be basic, such as having a suitable home, and others more ancillary, such as the house they are looking for having a swimming pool and a large garage. As you will understand, each person will be subject to a different reality from the rest, which makes it important to be aware of it.
In order for your strategy to focus on the customer, be sure to create your buyer persona based on realistic data and situations. This way, you will obtain a profile that will be useful to you and that you can update as demand evolves. Also, be sure to review the success of the plans you put in place, as this is the key to finding better solutions in the future.
In short, knowing your customer is the foundation on which your business must be built. Otherwise, to whom or what would you be directing the services or products you offer? You'd be going blindly in every direction. The buyer persona allows you to get an accurate picture of the ideal buyer, which will make it easier for you to create appropriate strategies and plans. In the end, you should focus on putting the consumer at the centre, which will allow you to achieve better results in the short, medium and long term.