Knowing Your Customer Means Knowing What They Will Buy and How to Sell Them!

To be able to evaluate and recognize your client's tendencies is without a doubt one of the most important areas of selling.

And, using these tendencies in an effective manner can mean the difference between success and failure.

Naturally if you are in the type of selling that allows repeated contact with clients this task is a lot easier because time builds familiarity.

But it's still important to know or be aware of what to look for. To cover all of the variables for all industries would be impossible, so for the purpose of this article let's look at the automotive repair industry. This will give you a template or model to build a system for your particular business.

Affluent Consumer

Their Traits

1. Drives Expensive Car
2. Car has many options
3. Expensively dressed
4. Buys premium tires
5. Often in a hurry

Their Goals

1. They want to Maintain the Value of their car and,
2. They want to achieve the very best performance in steering, handling and ride.

Car Enthusiast

Their Traits

1. Drives Performance Car
2. Buys Performance Tires
3. They are Knowledgeable
4. Younger to Middle Age

Their Goals

1. They are Performance Minded.
2. They want to achieve the very best performance in steering, handling and ride.

Family Protector

Their Traits

1. Could be any of the other types.
2. Uses safety restraint systems
3. Concerned about Unsafe Parts
4. Concerned about overall safety

Their Goals

1. They want to Eliminate Potential Safety Hazards like pulling conditions or unstable steering.
2. They want to minimize parts failure potential and,
3. They want to protect their tire investment.

Limited Budget

Their Traits

1. Less expensive Car
2. Cost is Primary Concern
3. Less Expensive Clothes
4. Car NOT well maintained
5. Buys Less Expensive Tires

Their Goals

1. They are looking for Lower Costs.
2. They want to get the maximum number of miles from their tire investment.
3. They want to get the best possible gas mileage.
4. They do not want to replace suspension parts prematurely.

Now as I said, this is just an example from one industry that you can use as a guide to build your own tendency sheet. If built and used properly it will dramatically increase your sales.

Good hunting and good selling.

Keith has been in the sales industry over 30 years. You can visit him on the web at http://www.KeithShamblin.com