The way to the client's heart: how to build a long and strong relationship with the customer

Everything changes. 

The sales tools that were used previously are no longer as effective. Finding an approach to a new type of client is not easy, but those who do not take risks do not enter into profitable deals. Together with the head of the Fusion Tech sales department, we discussed how to please the modern customer and win his trust for many years.

With the advent of globalization, people no longer buy and consume goods the way they used to. There is more information, opportunities and choice. Many sales methods that once produced excellent results are outdated. They have been replaced by a model consisting of three main messages: “sell to yourself,” “sell yourself,” and “understand the client.”

You can win the heart of a new type of customer if you learn to feel him, hear him, and identify the drivers and barriers on his way to purchase. You can talk as much as you like about the best characteristics of a product or service, but if this does not resonate in the heart of the client, he will not buy the product.

CUSTOMER AND PRODUCT FOCUS

When forming a development strategy, we are faced with a choice: to place more emphasis on the product or on the client. In fact, here we determine how we will build marketing campaigns and speak to our audience, developing the brand.

A product-first strategy will inevitably raise objections. On a subconscious level, we are all wary of a sales process that is too straightforward. And you need additional tools and incentives to convince the buyer to choose your product or service.

A client-oriented approach to strategy allows you to achieve the most transparent relationships and quickly gain the client’s trust, forcing them to come back to you again and again. The best sale goes unnoticed by the buyer.

How to understand the client’s desires and make him loyal to the company without him noticing anything?

A successful sales formula can be depicted as follows: we analyze the client’s needs and pains → put ourselves in his place (what he thinks about when buying a product/service, what path he takes through the funnel) → offer a solution to his problem using our capabilities and tools.

And this concept should run like a red thread through all processes in the company, and not just through the sales department.

TARGET AUDIENCE AND CLIENT PORTRAIT

It is impossible to understand the buyer’s needs if you don’t know who he is and how he lives. Determining the target audience and drawing up a client portrait comes to the fore.

The target audience is a specific group of people to whom all marketing communications of the brand are directed.

In marketing books you can most often find the following structure of characteristics of the target audience:

• demographic data (gender, age, nationality, marital status);
• social data (education, specialty, source of income, level of income, religious beliefs, hobbies);
• geographical data (country of residence, climate);
• psychological data (life position, values, interests, lifestyle).

This structure is quite functional. Based on it, you can most accurately determine your client's needs. But, as many experts advise, it is unnecessary to include all the points in the description. Prioritize and pay attention only to those characteristics that are important when forming a strategy in each specific case. For example, it is inappropriate to include a locality in the description of the target audience of an online store operating all over the world.

When the target audience is described in detail, it should be segmented - divided into groups united by common characteristics. Among them, it is important to highlight the “core” and 2-3 key subgroups. This will help you focus on important customers, among whom your product is in greatest demand.

Ideally, you already have a developed database of customers who have already bought something, and you can identify their common characteristics (analyze the available information or conduct a survey, questionnaire or any convenient marketing research). It’s more difficult for startups. You will have to use creativity and imagination, create a hypothesis and test it in practice.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP

Now that we understand who our consumer is, we move on to the next step. We have to figure out how a customer makes a purchasing decision. There is an old, time-tested method for this - creating a customer journey map. Using the map, the main fears and expectations of customers (drivers and barriers to purchase) are revealed. This is the main difference between CJM and a sales funnel, which depicts a linear movement towards a product without detours. To draw up a map, you need to think through the possible behavior of the client at all points of intersection with the company: from the inception of the thought of a purchase to its completion. A good analysis requires information about the buyer and the product itself. All information is recorded on the card.

By default, the customer journey map contains sections that describe various aspects of customer research:

• points of contact;
• emotions;
• description of our and the client’s actions at each stage.

The map can indicate the start and finish, significant stages and alternative routes on the path to purchase, as well as drivers and barriers at each step.

Drivers are what stimulate a purchase.

Barriers are what slows it down.

Now let's move from theory to practice: when the tools described above helped our clients reach a new level in organizing business processes and achieve the highest performance.

Example

We received an order to develop a web and subsequently a mobile application for a startup that was at the stage of inception and formation of the company's strategy. A real dream, isn't it?

The idea was to create a platform to connect media and show companies with performers, comedians, musicians and other entertainers. The site provided sections for the two types of users described above. There was no design, the structure of the site was described in its infancy - there was huge scope for creativity, but analytics first.

1. We start with the product description provided by the customer. We are talking about a service for organizing concert programs in several US cities. This is enough for the first stage.

2. Let’s move on to specifics, namely a description of the product criteria that future clients of the service can pay attention to. Here they are:

• cost of company services;
• absence of intrusive advertising on the site;
• ease of use;
• design;
• company reputation;
• company competitors, etc.

At this stage, there is no need to cling to facts that have little impact on the client’s motivation to buy the product. Focus on the details that impact the minds of customers most powerfully. The ideal number of criteria is 5-10 for the company’s overall range of products or services.

3. “Draw” the image of the target audience. Describing a customer portrait is useful for both companies with a product strategy (it is necessary to describe cases, scenarios and conflict resolution tactics) and a customer-oriented one.

Our customer's target audience is limited to several cities and is clearly divided into 2 parts: concert organizing companies and artists who perform on their territory. We divide the target audience into subgroups and write down the key characteristics for each of them.

4. Let's start mapping the customer's journey. In our case, there are two of them: one for the organizing company, the second one for the artists.

By collecting all the information and suggestions from design, development and analytics specialists, we created a platform that brought the company more than 5,000 unique users in the first two months after its launch.

What does our example say? The fact that the better we know the client and his business, the easier it is for us to become friends with him and bring him to the desired result. A few life hacks on how to get there faster:

1) Listen carefully to your client and ask clarifying questions - this is an opportunity to extract priorities from the story and focus on them when analyzing and preparing a proposal.

2) Use an individual approach to each customer. And we are talking not only about projects and their implementation, but also about methods of communication with the client.

3) Be patient and friendly, no matter how the communication goes. The ability to behave professionally until the last minute always bears fruit: new deals, useful connections and long-term partnerships.

We believe that the client should feel that his project is important and is in good hands. And this is possible by establishing trusting and friendly relationships with complete immersion in the project, without inflating the budget with unnecessary functionality. Clients give their preference not only to a good specialist, but also to cozy service.