Understanding Customer Behavior- Part 1

Customer behavior relates to how individuals and organizations select, buy, use and dispose of goods and services to satisfy their needs and wants.

Customer buying behavior is influenced by a number of factors which include cultural, social and personal factors. Understanding these factors will enable you tailor your goods and services to suit them. It will also help you understand what influences customers buying patterns and how you can use this information as a tool to fight off competition. It is also a potent tool for developing a marketing strategy for gaining market share.

Culture:
Culture has been widely described as the way and life of a people. It is a fundamental determinant of a customer’s wants and behavior. It is a fact that the environment we live in plays a large role in influencing our customers way of life and indeed customer buying patterns. Cultures are often defined by geographic locations, nationalities, ethnicity, race, religions, professions, groups, organizations etc. It is therefore no wonder that smart companies design specialized marketing programs, goods and services to meet the demand of sub cultural groups which have grown large enough to form a sizable portion of the market share. Organizations must therefore redesign their products and services to suit the peculiarities of all markets while taking into consideration differences attached to geographical locations, nationalities and the like. Marketing efforts should also be packaged to demonstrate the peculiarities of a product or service to the target markets culture.

What do you do when a customer threatens to beat you up?

Yes, beat you up. Delivering excellent customer service is the hallmark of a true customer service professional and can bring a sweet feeling of sensation, fulfillment and success when delivered, but what do you do when an irate customer becomes violent and threatens to beat you up.

I was at work one day when I heard what sounded like an argument from one of the cubicles. When the noise got louder I decided to take a look and see if I could be of any help. An angry customer was raving in rage and it seemed he was never going to calm down despite the efforts of the colleague concerned who was trying without success to calm him down.

I stepped in, full of confidence to handle the situation. I felt I had handled such customer challenges in the past and this was not going to be any different. I decided to apply the “let him vent off strategy” feeling he would eventually calm down once he got the load off his chest, but that never happened. So I decided to switch my mode of empathy a notch up but the guy only got worse. We tried explaining plainly and clearly that he would have to exercise some patience to get the issue properly resolved but the guy turned violent. It would seem the staff had initially said something to the customer to make him so unreasonable but we never got to find that out. I say this because the anger seemed to be directed at her and he seemed oblivious or less concerned about my presence or explanations. Or maybe he was just angry before coming in, whatever the reason, he was already threatening to beat up the lady.

When the customer turned violent, I did the only rational thing I could think of at the time, I called the police. It’s funny but the presence of the police seemed to calm him down. He apologized and offered to wait as long as it would take to resolve the issue.

I did a reflection of all that happened and some vital questions came to mind:

·         Is it right to call in the police on a customer who has turned violent knowing fully well that such  

customer could be lost forever by such action?

·         Should an organization ever be comfortable losing any customer?

·         At what point should an organization allow a customer to go, if any?

·         Is any customer worth loosing?

You be the judge.

Basic tips to get you designing Community centered Development Projects

Community centered project development is all about designing projects aimed at adding value to a community. To do this effectively, you need to acquire some basic skill set which will help ensure that you not only design projects that are attractive to donors, but that these projects are fund able and add value.

A careful analysis to the answers you obtain from the following questions will determine to a great extent how successful your project idea will be.
Who will your proposal for funding go to?

Who will your ideal donor be?
What do they expect from you?
Know yourself? (What are your strengths and weaknesses?)
Does your track record portray you as good risk to invest time and resources in?
What is your level of expertise on the subject matter?
How will you plan the project? etc.

It is recommended you seek multiple sources of funding, so you don't get stock with one. Your project must be carefully formulated and designed. Remember, that your funding proposal forms the basis for your relationship with a donor. Your presentation must be honest and totally void of deceit, each item must be thoroughly justified and neatly written without any unnecessary information.

Planning a community project requires great skill set. The following steps will guide you tremendously when planning a community project.
a) Always start with the community to ensure that the project being planned is what they really need most at that point in time.
b) Involve local leadership and constituted authorities, it will make your job easier.
c) Include local initiative, it is wise, helps reduce cost and develops community resources.
d) Conduct an analytical problem survey. This will allow you to identify what the community really needs,
e) Draw up a cost benefit analysis( the benefit obtained must out-do the cost required)
f) Identify solutions to the problems earlier identified,
g) Look for scientific evidence of success to back up your plan for a solution,
h) Identify your means of transferring the solutions identified,
I) Draw up a project schedule and budget. The project schedule allots time to activities to be performed, sequences these activities and applies resources to  them according to the budget template. The budget on the other hand shows the cost associated with the project and proposed sources of funding.
j) Make your presentation to a donor in a presentation book that contains all of this information alongside a compelling statement aimed at warming the hearts of everyone that reads it.

When writing a proposal these few tips will help you.
a) Be simple and avoid the use of technical jargon,
b) Be precise, use short sentences that say what you want to say,
c) Use active rather than passive lines,
d) Number your pages accurately,
e) Arrange your documents in the right order,
f) Bind your documents in the right order.

Now that you have written your proposal successfully, what next? Follow up. You may need to follow up on the proposal if you have not gotten any response from the prospective donor. Even when the proposal is successful, you may still need to follow up on grants to ensure that it is used to achieve what it is actually intended to achieve.When following up a proposal, be persuasive without being aggressive or demanding to avoid making your chances for success less likely. This will ensure you do not alienate your donor or damage your reputation within donor circles also making future applications for funding less likely to succeed. A soft visit, telephone call or reminder letter is appropriate.

After your proposal has been successful, thank the donor. Ensure you keep the donor up to date with what is going on. Also ensure you meet all reporting requirements. This is the best time to build a lasting favorable relationship with your donor. Be available for meetings, keep communication lines open at all times and ensure that you deliver as promised and according to what the donor is hoping to get out of the relationship.

I hope you find this short article useful in planning your community centered projects. So go out there and make a big difference.

Valentine Okolo

Website: valentineokolo.blogspot.com 

Tips on Starting a New Business From Scratch

Deciding to start your own business can be one of the most exciting and rewarding decisions you make in your life. All businesses start from a common point - an idea. You may have dreamed of starting your own business for years, or inspiration may have hit you unexpectedly. Regardless of the source, the first step of starting your own business is coming up with a business idea.

Your mind is the greatest and the most powerful tool you have. The hard truth is, you will never achieve anything unless you first think about it and make a distinctive effort to achieve it. Well, you may be wondering: what is the best business idea for me? Remember, that you will only be truly successful by doing what you can relate to. So the question is, what do I really relate to?

A good % of new businesses fail today. This is largely due to mismanagement, poor planning and knowledge gap. Statistics and past personal experience have proved this. In today's business world, succeeding in a new venture can be quite challenging and demands adequate planning. A good business plan will primarily include your business structure, an executive summary, products and services, market analysis, marketing strategy, management summary and financial analysis.You will learn all these and also learn to avoid common pitfalls that new businesses fall into.

By compiling this course my sole aim is to guide small business owners or intending entrepreneurs through the simple basics of starting a new business in a manner that is very simple to understand and apply no matter what you venture into.

This mini-course has been outlined into 4 phases:
*The Idea phase-getting inspired
*The research phase
*The business planning phase
*The marketing phase

The idea phase is meant to inspire you to think your future ahead. Think of an idea that generates income for you 24/7 instead of slaving away your life for a job and settling for pension after so many years of hard work. Now that you've identified your big idea, you need to balance it with a little reality.

The research you conduct in your small business start-up process will help you figure out if your business idea has the potential to succeed. Researching will also help you in preparing a formidable business plan.

You need a plan in order to make your business idea a reality. If you intend to seek financial support from an investor or financial institution, then bear in mind that a formal written business plan is compulsory. Even if you don't, having a business plan can provide a lot of clarity and direction, assist you to determine your business objectives and provide a sound basis for accessing your companies potential to succeed. A simple business plan will primarily include your business structure, an executive summary, products and services, market analysis, marketing strategy, management summary, Business Insurance and financial analysis.

Good selling involves providing the right product and services to your customers thereby creating customer satisfaction. Your ability to provide and fulfill your customers need will determine your level of success in selling your business. Customers buy satisfaction. Creating customer satisfaction is the key to customer retention. Every business plan should include market analysis. This is one of the first and most important reasons to do a business plan. And whether you're just starting a new business or reviewing an existing business, you should renew your market analysis at least every year.

To get the full course, please click the course image or simply click https://www.braincert.com/course/The-Basics-of-Starting-a-New-Business

Valentine Okolo
Website: valentineokolo.blogspot.com

Developing Basic Sales and Marketing/Business Development skills

Delivering continued customer satisfaction through value adding sales and marketing is essential to ensure that customers remain loyal to the product/service they enjoy. Customers care about their own satisfaction than they do about the success or failure of the company you represent. As such, to be successful in selling, the product or service you wish to sell must be able to satisfy the customer. Good selling involves providing the right product and services to your customers thereby creating customer satisfaction and value. Your ability to fulfill your customers need will determine your level of success in selling or marketing. Effective marketing and selling skills are not acquired by accident, they are acquired through practice and what you practice is acquired through knowledge. You must understand that the right marketing skills are not developed through random selling. Having an effective selling strategy helps you to logically craft how to identify and manage the whole sales process and you must understand that being a good salesman starts with you.

As a general rule, you should try to create interest first in what you intend to sell. If you don’t believe in what company does, why work for them? If you don’t believe in a product/service, why sell it? Note that if you don’t believe in yourself, nobody will. There’s nothing more embarrassing than a salesman who lacks product knowledge. 

Secondly, you need to develop your personal standards. Being known to exhibit excellence creates trust, dependability, responsibility and integrity for you in the market place. The word standard means a level of excellence required or specified. The drive to always achieve excellence should form a part of your character. To maintain high personal standards, you need to make quality decisions based on moral strength and principles. These areas of standards include growth, honesty, integrity, relationship, energy and action. Of all these standards I would like to talk a little bit about integrity for the purpose of this article. This is because integrity is arguably one of the most important personal, professional or ethical standards a professional marketer or salesman should have. The word integrity in itself stands for moral excellence, wholeness and in many ways honesty. Customers trust you when they know you maintain a high sense of integrity in selling. This means that you will always treat customer sales or marketing transactions transparently, exclude moral excellence in all sales or marketing deals, keep to commitment and accept full responsibility for your actions. A salesman of integrity gains customers’ trust over time and when you develop trust you gain loyalty and respect.

Thirdly you will have to ensure your customer communication skills are excellent. Good communication skills is a must earn to provide excellent sales and marketing. These customer communication skills involves listening, asking questions, being courteous, communicating clearly and accurately, minding your customers feelings, proper use of non-verbal language, skills in handling problem customers, use of technical knowledge and concepts, handling customer objections and questions and keeping your customers informed at all times. I like to talk about listening a lot because this most times forms the bedrock for proper communication between salesmen/marketers and customers. As a great salesman, you should know when to stop talking and listen to your customers. Listening involves hearing and should be demonstrated even in your body language. You won’t be able to serve your customers’ needs in selling, if you do not stop talking long enough to understand what they are saying. Ask questions to clarify points and take important notes to ensure you remember all the important points of the conversation.

Having developed effective customer communication skills, you will then need to work on your marketing strategies. Having an effective marketing strategy helps you to logically craft how to identify, create and manage the whole sales and marketing process. Your marketing and sales strategy will involve how to develop multiple outreach sources, identifying and creating product need, handling the actual sales and marketing process, handling customer objections during the sales and marketing process as well as closing your sales in a grand style.

Your clients should be able to understand how you can create benefit or value for them.

Good selling is value selling. When a product purchased or service rendered exceeds customer expectations, value is received and customer satisfaction is guaranteed. In selling, always pinpoint the benefits derivable from a product to ensure the customer constantly enjoys this benefit.

What you intend to offer should fulfill a desired need and ultimately create satisfaction. Customers buy satisfaction. If you do not provide satisfaction in the long run, then you have not made a great sale. Creating customer satisfaction is key to customer retention. Provide evidence to back your claims and avoid overwhelming the client with too much sales information. Researching the market is key to business development as well. This will enable you identify your target clients beforehand. This means that you will need to identify where and who your primary market really is. You also need to identify your niche market and strategies to win your niche market as well. You will also need to have some basic knowledge on business development.

Business development is the process by which new business is introduced. A good salesman should be skilled in the act of developing new business as well as expanding already existing ones. In order to develop new business effectively, you must understand that it involves researching the market, identifying key targets, constructing an outreach plan which was earlier discussed, securing meetings, creating proposals and following up on leads

To get the full course, please click the course button on the right or visit Braincert at https://www.braincert.com/course/Basic-Sales-Marketing-and-Business-Development-Skills


Valentine Okolo