Get To Know Your Customers Better!

Why is it important to get to know your customers? Well, any good salesperson will tell you that without having a clear picture of who the prospect is - what motivates them, what their pain points are, why they need what you have to offer - it's going to be a very hard sell. Becoming better acquainted with your customers isn't as difficult as you may think.

Start from the outside and work your way in.

• Look at competing dealerships in your area. What types of marketing strategies are they using? Do they have billboards up all over town? Commercials on TV? Thousands of followers on social media? A lot can be said about a business' voice and message based on how they advertise. You can find out a lot about your competitors by acting like a customer yourself.
• Market research as well as research within your community can help you gain useful information about those potential customers most likely to buy - location, career status, income level, etc. You can then take that information and apply it to your settings for marketing and advertising. This is especially effective in digital marketing efforts.
• Hopefully you can narrow down the demographics of your target audience members, but don't limit yourself to only your stereotypical customer. Maybe a male in his 40s is statistically the most likely to buy from you, but you don't want to cross female buyers in their 20s off your list entirely. With ample research, you can find local communities and groups that are interested in your products, and some of them may surprise you!

Work from the inside out.

• Get on a personal level with customers. Ask them about their lives - interests and hobbies, work, families. You'll likely begin to notice patterns, which can be helpful to you in determining your ideal/target dealership customer. This is another form of "research" that you can conduct yourself - and it's also fool-proof. Your customers are your customers. They're buying for a reason, so why not find out what that reason is?
• Keep a close eye on your social media engagements - comments, "likes," shares, and more. Reviews on social sites and messages sent through forms on your website also apply. The more interaction you're getting online, the better your marketing strategy is working - but you should also, of course, monitor the kind of engagement you're receiving. Is the feedback positive or negative?

Don't be afraid to ask your customers for help.

• Aside from asking customers questions when they're right in front of you, there are also many other simple ways to get the answers you want. This is super easy to do with email marketing and social media. You could also create forms for customers to fill out (optionally) while they are in store, or include them with purchase-related paperwork.
• Keep in mind that your most outspoken and opinionated customers will answer your questions, while the more quiet and reserved ones may not.

If you don't know what matters to your customers, you can't gain their attention. Without their attention, you'll never be able to sell to them. Knowing your target customers" pain points - problems with a need to be solved - is how you'll convince them to buy.