In the  previous two installments, we discussed some ideas to help you get to know your customers.The good news is that none of this has to cost much money.  If you're already taking orders online, it doesn’t require much programming to have a database built from your customers’ information.  Having a detailed database enables you to know your customers so well, you can target your marketing to those customers who are most likely to buy a particular product at a particular time.

 

Even if you have to do it manually due to cost concerns,keeping a database of your customers can result in a big enough dividend that it is well worth the effort.  You can setup reminders for yourself to contact your customers based on their ordering patterns, or you can have the database automatically send out requests for re-orders at the appropriate time.

 

Knowing your customer also allows you to find out exactly what the customer needs after the sale.  In a study published in 2007, it was revealed that suppliers and customers have very different views as to what constitutes a “solution” to a customer’s needs. The suppliers who participated in the study thought a solution was a“customized and integrated combination of good and services,” but customers viewed a solution much more broadly. They saw solutions as a relationship between the supplier and customer including four elements:

 

• Customer requirements definition
• Customization and integration of good / services
• Deployment of goods / services
• Post-deployment customer support[i]

 

If you are truly tracking your customers’ requests, you will see that they don’t consider the relationship to have ended with just the sale,and this relationship-based solution will become obvious.  This will allow you to bundle your services after the sale into your original sales package, creating another revenue stream for your business. 

 

For example, a customer who purchases an electronic dog fence will need the odd-shaped collar batteries every three months.  Why not include the price of five years’ worth of batteries in the cost of installation, and automatically ship the batteries every quarter? 

 

The customer might also need some help training a new dog to the fence.  You can offer 1 hour of training for every new dog brought into the customer’s home as part of the purchase package.  It may add $50 or so to the price of the package, but the service shows your customer that you really care about the welfare of all dogs. When your fence installation package costs upwards of $1,000 anyway, the additional $50 will be negligible to many of your customers.  

 

Chances are, some of your customers won’t take in any more dogs and won’t need the training, so that $50 becomes pure profit.  Alternatively, you can offer a refund at the end of five years if the training is never used, or you can make it known that you donate the profit from unused service to a charity such as a dog shelter.

 

If you don’t like the idea of keeping track of the pre-paid information, you might include a coupon with your introductory materials,offering a reduced cost training session to people who have purchased your fence and had you install it.  The customer doesn’t pay until or unless he uses your training service, but providing the coupon lets them know you are thinking about the welfare of their future dogs and lets them know you care.