The key elements to understand your customers and improve your business...

When you start or manage a business for a while, it is a constant challenge to improve your sales and your profitability. How to do that? In theory it is easy, you just have to find the right product for the right customer. However before finding the right product, it is important to understand your customer, his background, his behavior, his expectations, his needs in order to identify and reply to his present and future needs. To do that you need to be the marketing expert of your own market. But what do you need to be successful? Mainly yourself, your customers, but also be aware of the main actors present on the market and the ability to listen, watch and learn from them. By this way you will be able to understand how think your customers, improve your business, develop new and best practice and identify new business opportunities. Now let's find out these precious actors on your market…

Your consumer:  Talking to your consumers is a gold mine because they are at the origin of everything. If you are ready to keep your mind open and accept each critic, even the best and the worst. This will be the beginning of a great adventure for your business. Indeed, the voice of one consumer generally assumes the voices of decades of consumers... Then imagine to how many customers you could talk every day!!! If some days you meet a customer unsatisfied, don’t fly away. Just listen to him because he has lot of to teach about your business and the way to improve it.
 Indeed, he will provide you so many information about your business, that you probably haven't noticed yet,  such as your shortages or the price positioning of your main competitors, but also how they feel in your retail, does the customer service good enough? This kind of  information are useful for each manager in charge of developing a business because it send back the image of the business, its strengths and weaknesses.

Furthermore getting into the field is the best way to make your own idea about the potential business opportunities and also how customers view your business. Indeed, if one day a customer ask you a product you don’t have, you will probably say: “ I am sorry Miss but we don’t sell this product or services here” and you will think it is a mistake. However if a second ask the same item, this will imply for your consumer that your company is the right place to find this product and/or service... Now imagine if five or six customers, assuming the voice of dozens ask a similar item... Congratulations!!! You just identified a new business opportunity…

Your sales: The analysis of your past and actual sales and their evolution on strategic families can be a good indicator of the situation of your market and your customers, but also to identify opportunities missed. To allude this notion there is a quotation very pertinent, from Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin who says “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are”. This idea could be easily integrated in your customers ‘approach. For example if 30% of your sales come from the family sports and this family represents 10% of your offer, it implies you should increase your offer on this family because there is a huge opportunity to increase your turnover.  Moreover, it should be good way to identify where this opportunity come from… Are you alone to offer this product in a close or large area? Is there university campus or sports center closed to your retail?

Acting like that is a good practice to recruit and create customers loyalty quickly.  Keep in mind, this simple process can be applied to any kind of business. So do not underestimate the importance of the analysis of your sales. 

Your team: Your team is a valuable asset to understand the customers’ expectations because by their position they are in perpetual contact with your customers’ target. So, if the sales are not good, that do not just imply your sales or customers representatives are inefficient. But maybe, the product they sell doesn’t meet the customers’ expectations or maybe the consumers targeted or product positioning should be reassessed. Then it is important to hear the feedback of your team in order to apply corrective actions.  Hearing your team will provide you precious information about points of improvement such as the price positioning, the quality/value…

Market watch: Realize a monthly visit of your main competitors should be also a great idea to find out new business opportunities. Knowing your competitors' strategies is good start to implement a new strategy of differentiation by the cost or simply offering product your main competitor do not offer. When you study your main competitors on the market, it is important to identify first your main direct and indirect competitors. Then select several and relevant criteria to analyze them such as their price positioning, their media strategy and their different channels of distribution, their promotional offer, the depth of the range of products, their customer policy.  Moreover, during your market watch do not hesitate to ask discretely to local customers why do they come in this place instead of another. It is always better to take the information from the customer himself. Once gathered all this information compare them with your own positioning and analyze the results

Suppliers:  Most of the time because we are busy with administrative tasks, we underestimate the importance of good relationship with suppliers. Suppliers are priceless actors on the market because of their position. Indeed, they are at the crossroads of among the new trends, technologies, consumers and your competitors. As such, they are valuable assets able to bring their expertise on specific market and even give some precious advice about the future market trends and information about what your main competitors plan to buy. Then be aware when you receive a supplier, you are not just there to purchase a product or a service, but also to find out a solution to your problems and sometimes to acquire strategic information. Therefore if you need information about the future market trends, about a problem of cost/supply chain or even about the sourcing of a new products, do not be afraid to talk about it with them. They would be probably pleased to help you and share with you their expertise. You may wonder why? Just because that should be profitable for them too to increase your sales and it is the best way to build long term win-win relationship.

Trade show: Going to the trade show is the best idea to meet suppliers/producers and competitors and also to find out  new products/technologies. It is a strategic place where can be shared valuable information about the new trends and new products upcoming on the market, but also sometimes know more about your competitors strategies and positioning around a beer.

Specialized Magazine:  When you have a retail specialized in a product, it will be interesting to subscribe to specialized magazine. It is not so much expensive and it will keep your knowledge up to date and give you a good idea of the new trends and new comers on the market such as the news products and brands or new technologies.

Internet: Internet is a wonderful tool to know the customers’ expectations and the futures trends upcoming on the market when you know where looking for. Reading the review on forums, for example, on specified products you are focus on can be a good opportunity to identify or confirm new market trends when you are able to read under the lines. For the new managers who starts a new business or a new position in a company and don’t have knowledge about the products, this could be a good opportunity to familiarize yourself with a new market.

The combination of all these elements will allow to improve the understanding of  customers  and also new lines of development and improvement of your business.