BY Tina Drayson, Operations Manager, CCM How many of us really know and understand our ideal customer? Creating positive customer satisfaction and trust is paramount. It will enable a business to be successful and have long term relationships with its customers. How do we learn about our customers? Study the demographics and characteristics of your own customer base. This is the best tool and at your disposal, and will provide great lead generation. Think about gender, age, families, occupations and location. These variables will give you insights into the type of customer that you serve. How do you do this? It’s simple; Collate the customer information that you already have. Name Vehicle Age of vehicle Service history MOT due date Preferred method of booking (phone, online, in person). Produce and send a survey asking for basic information that will help you to group data, such as age, occupation, earnings (not specific but perhaps earning bands), preferred vehicle make, type of driving that they do. All you need to do is ask. Just put the question to your customers when they are in your reception. Customer feedback is vital. Good or bad, this information is invaluable. It shows what your customers do or do not like. Follow this up with emails and calls. All the above will show patterns of behaviour from customers, giving you a better understanding of your audience. Do not just do this once, continue to collect and analyse, to keep it up to date. Then you have customers with different needs. There are those that are safety-conscious, maybe they are parents and are carrying around their children. Vehicle safety is key, so health checks and reminders when different services are due would be particularly helpful for this type of customer. Collection and delivery to reduce the stress of dropping their vehicle off with children in tow. How about those newly qualified drivers? They may not 14 AFTERMARKET MARCH 2024 BUSINESS www.aftermarketonline.net KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE Knowledge is power they say, and according to Tina, getting to know your customers better will provide many benefits to your business
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