Industry Customers:
Their Purchase Criteria & Their Activities Affected
View
Template for: Industry Customers - Their Purchase Criteria, etc.
Most business managers believe it is critical to understand the needs of
customers. But more than just a general awareness of needs, they should
understand, in priority order, specifically what customers want.
Different customers have different needs. Some customers have more needs
than others; some have the same needs but in a different priority order; and
even those customers with the same needs and the same priorities have a
different sense of how much they are willing and able to pay for the industry's
products and services.
The purchase criteria listing is meant to reflect the priorities of the
average customer in the industry. At first, one list seems difficult enough. In
practice, however, especially when developed by a team, it is not only easy to
develop one list of purchase criteria for the average customer, but it is fairly
easy to develop several listings to distinguish between significantly different
buyer types. Theoretically, it is desirable to have a separate listing for
each buyer type identified earlier in the industry segmentation matrix.
Example of purchase criteria for two buyer types of automobiles:
|
Moderate income, middle-aged, suburbanites
|
High School and College Students
|
| 1. Financing options |
1. Car style, color and interior design |
| 2. Fuel economy |
2. Commercials and other advertising |
| 3. Purchase price |
3. Purchase price |
| 4. Commercials and other advertising |
4. Financing |
| 5. Safety record and safety devices |
5. General performance & horsepower |
| 6. Car salesperson knowledge |
6. Number of days delay before delivery |
| 7. General performance & horsepower |
7. Fuel economy |
| 8. Maintenance record |
|
| 9. Seating capacity and trunk space etc. |
|
| 10. Car style, color and interior design |
|
When developing a list of purchase criteria keep in mind that:
- Price is not always the first purchase criteria (especially for
customers with a pacemaker);
- In industries where it is common to give customers gifts or to invite
customers to conferences on a beautiful island, these practices should
appear on the list of purchase criteria. (If they were not purchase criteria
for either the initial sale or continued sales, they would not be done.)
- It makes sense to survey current and potential customers (even though
they might not always reveal their exact purchase decision criteria, like
`free' tickets to a football game or play).
Customer Decision Making Process Overview
In order to maximize sales, it is important to understand the process that
customers go through in making their purchase decision. The key is to focus on
the decision maker who is (almost always) a real person.
Customer Activities Affected By This Industry
Identify each customer activity affected by this industry's products and
services for potential opportunities to better serve the customer. Besides
customer activities which use the product or service directly, also include
other activities indirectly affected (like accounts payable).
| 
