When a business isn’t doing as well as higher-ups think (or simply wish) it should, there’s always somewhere to point the finger.
It’s the sales reps’ fault for not selling well enough. It’s the marketing team’s fault for not using the latest technology or tracking the right analytics. It’s the supply chain’s fault for not securing the right logistics.
Sure, some of these things may be true, but is any one of them THE reason for a less than stellar performance? Definitely not.
In fact, it’s probably a bigger, more overarching problem at hand: Your customer strategy’s not right.
But what does a good customer strategy look like, exactly? There are 7 facets:
- Picking the right customers. Targeting just any customer isn’t the way to success. In fact, going too broad with your target audience can actually hurt you in the end. Make sure you’re picking customers you can win over – ones who need your products, who have the money to pay your price and who fall in line with your brand lifestyle.
- Knowing your customer intimately. And that doesn’t just mean doing surveys and following your analytics. It means segmenting your audience and learning about each one’s individual needs, wants and preferences.
- Innovation. Your customers expect you to provide them with direction – to tell them when they should use new technologies and strategies and then how exactly to do that. They’re not going to come to you with every idea and just ask you to execute it. They want you to be innovative and keep them at the cusp of their industry.
- Consistency in value. It’s okay to offer tons of services and products, but make sure you’re consistently providing the same value with each of them. If you’re giving them budget-friendly products, stick with that on each new offering you launch. If you’re about style (think Apple’s clean, white design), make sure that style carries over across product lines.
- Consistency in experience. By that same token, be consistent on each channel you operate on. That includes your website, your brick-and-mortar stores, your sales reps and more.
- Your relationships. You’re more than just your organization. You also have vendors, business partners, suppliers, shipping providers and more. The strength of all these relationships carries down to your customers, so make sure you cultivate a great network of connections.
- Your organizational layout. Once you identify the right customers and know what each segment needs, it’s time to organize your business around them. Align your departments with your goals in mind, and appoint the proper employees and leaders to deliver on those goals.
Align these 7 things, and you’ve got a foolproof customer strategy on your hands. Need helping getting there or executing your strategy? Let Haley Aerospace help.
