"Things may come to those who wait, 
but only the things left behind by those who act."

This tip continues on with the 8 marketing principles. We'll look at marketing priciple number 2 - Give your customers their 5 basic wants. Because this is quite involved I'll be covering this over the next few tips.

Marketing Principle No. 2. Give Your Customers Their 5 Basic Wants.

I am writing this with the aroma of food still in the air after downing some fine cuisine from the 'Golden Arches' restaurant. Yes, you guessed it - McDonalds.

The same McDonalds that was started by two brothers who bought more milk shake cups than anyone else. And so caught the attention of an enterprising milk shake cup salesman called Ray Kroc. Ray asked the two brothers whether he could buy the rights to duplicate their operation and marketing system. And hey presto franchising was born.

McDonalds does some very smart marketing - marketing that works well. They also do some 'image building' stuff that's just a waste of money. But perhaps the thing that McDonalds does best is to . . .

So lets have a look at these 5 basic wants that every customer wants, but hardly any buiness is giving them.

Customer Want No. 1. Give Your Customers SPEED!

Quite simply, speed is not keeping your customer waiting.

How many times have you been annoyed at being made to wait? Have you ever walked out of a shop because they kept you waiting? How did being kept waiting make you feel?

Let me ask you, what would happen to a pizza franchise that told you the order would take 4 hours to be delivered? They wouldn't stay in business for long, would they?

Why is McDonalds so popular? Is it because of the great tasting food, or the advertising? Or is it because most of the time you don't have to wait? I'm sure you can even remember the McDonalds ad that promised to have your order ready in 1 minute, now that's speed.

What milk bar could have your order ready so fast? I don't know of any, and that's why they are disappearing. They just aren't fast enough and so the customers go and buy their food from places that don't keep them waiting.

If you want more business then . . .

Give them speed in everything you do!!

If you sell products through the mail then get your product into your customers hands as quick as possible. Send out their order the day you received it. If that's not possible then at least the next day. If that's still not possible then send a letter explaining when they can expect their order to arrive.

If you own a retail store then speed is even more important. If you are the only one in the shop and there are 2 customers, try and serve them both at the same time. Don't totally ignore one and spend all your time with the other.

About four months ago my wife and I were in a department store in the perfume section. We wanted to buy a $120 bottle of parfume - the concentrated stuff. The lady behind the counter just ignored us while she stood with two other customers who were trying to make up their mind. In the six minutes we waited she must have galnced at us at least 5 times but never came over to ask us what we wanted.

And it wasn't as if she was engrossed in conversation with the other two customers because she wasn't - she just stood their waiting for them to make up their mind. We walked out without the perfume and kept our $120.

The moral of the story is . . .

If one customer is making up their mind excuse yourself and serve the other customer. Don't just ignore people like in the example above because you'll lose sales.

And if you do excuse yourself make sure you come back. Don't be like the salesman I encountered when I was looking for a mobile phone. We were discussing the features of the different phones in the display case when he saw a lost looking guy elsewhere in the store.

Well, he excused himself and asked the lost guy if he could help him. Of course the answer he got was 'no, just looking.' The salesman never came back to me. He just hung around the other side of the shop. He had obviously decided that I wan't going to buy - how wrong he was. So I walked out and bought a phone at a different shop.

This story brings up another point. Try and avoid asking your customers if you can help them. You know you're only going to get the response 'no, just looking.' Why not try asking them if they've been to the store before? If they haven't, give them a brief run down of where different groups of things are in the store.

Research shows that approaching customers and avoiding the 'can I help you' phrase will increase your sales by 16%. Don't believe me? Why not try it out for yourself abnd see if it works.

Just remember . . .

Try this, it works!

May the success you achieve be a direct result of the effort you put in!!

Michael Ross
Miros Designs Marketing.
 
 

About this author

Michael Ross is an australian based author, product developer, direct marketer and consultant.

Michael Ross is known for his detailed and helpful advice on how to succeed in marketing.

Note:
Michael Ross' original web site is closed. I don't know if it's permanently or temporily. Michael Ross recently told me that he has more or less retired from the Internet. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause you.

You can, however, still buy a copy of Micael's book, "The Art of Leverage" by going to this web site: http://artofleverage.cjb.net/