» Do you know what kind of customers you have?

Marketing June 10, 2005

Do you know what kind of customers you have?

Each of your customers is different. However, the odds are that they share characteristics that can group them into certain segments. According to Fool.com, Best Buy

… identifies key customer groups within the trade area of each store and tailors the merchandise assortment and service offerings to those customers’ individual needs.

The company divided its customers into five groups.

the affluent professional looking for the latest technology with top-notch service, time-starved suburban moms, small-business customers looking for integrated solutions, the family man who wants proven technology, and the early-adopter social customer.

Characterize your customers

Think about your customers. Do they easily fall into different segments? Maybe you could group them by:

frequency of purchase
purchase amount
level of service provided
types of products purchased

Depending on your business, there are numerous ways you can segment your customers. By taking the time to evaluate your customer base and identify recurring characteristics, you can gather valuable information to improve your bottom line.

Customize your service

Once you’ve identified in which segments your customers belong, you need to develop a strategy to improve sales in each of these categories. This is essential because as we know, current customers are your best prospects. If one of your segments is the one-time purchaser, think about how you can incentivize the customer to return for more. For larger more frequent clients, how can you make doing business with your company so easy that they’d be crazy to go somewhere else?

What kind of customers do you have? Don’t know? You’d better find out before your competition does!

Marketing June 10, 2005