What defines a customer? It is always one of the first questions that you ask to make the business a success.
What is a customer
You experience being a customer now and then – when you go to the supermarket, when you grab a coffee, or when you buy something from the sidewalk. As per definition, a customer is a person or an organization that is interested in buying or has purchased products/services from a company. You become customers every time you buy something.
People use customers and consumers interchangeably, but there’s a bit of a difference between the two. A customer is a person who buys goods and services, and once he/she uses the product, he/she becomes a consumer. It is essential to know the types of customers you are dealing with to give them the best approach.
Types of customers in sales
You can categorize your customers using your sales funnel, and you use a different approach depending on where they are in your sales funnel. Let’s look at the types of customers you’ll see in the field.
- Potential customers
They are the customers you put in the base of your sales funnel. These people aren’t technically your customers yet, but you still give them the full treatment and hope for the best. Potential customers need warming up; they need smooth marketing talk before they make the buying decision. So, how do you know them? It’s the interest. The job is to spark and fuel that interest.
- New customers
They are your fresh customers and are still trying on your products for the first time. The right approach is to guide them and give them an open line of communication in case of queries.
- Loyal customers
They are the customers who keep coming back and significantly keep your revenue up. They are also your brand ambassadors as they talk to people about your businesses and how good your products are. Keep them satisfied and remember why they keep coming back. Whatever you did to them is working so replicate that to more people.
Importance of customer satisfaction
Simply put, customers are the core of any business. Without them, the company ceases to exist. Customer satisfaction is the reason they stay. As a business, you strive to satisfy all your customers. Customer satisfaction measures your products and the services you give to meet their needs and expectations. It is the indicator of your customers’ reason for purchasing. A high rate of customer satisfaction separates your business from the competition. It means that people decide to stick when they are happy, valued, and satisfied.
Satisfied customers are loyal customers
Research shows that it’s more difficult to look for new customers than to keep the current ones. Your existing customers are also worth 10x more than when they first purchased your products. Further proof that you need to do your best and make sure that your customers do business with you again and again.
Customer satisfaction sets you apart from the competition
Whatever business space you operate in, the competition will always be watching you, and if you fail to see the importance of customer satisfaction and lose your customers, they are more than happy to fill in the gap.
Your customers are as valuable as the business itself. Knowing the types of customers you need and having the ability to target them accordingly define your success. Providing the best customer service and being able to replicate that to the rest of your customers give you a steady stream of revenue.