Knowing Your Customer

Knowing your customer

By Jennifer Eng

The customer is absolutely essential to any business, no matter the business size or sector. It’s this customer that a business must reach and, in most cases, continue to keep satisfied. This is only feasible when the business management understands its customer – in this case, meaning the profile of the type of person a business serves, not an individual person.

If you think that everyone is your customer, I would challenge that notion. At Zephyr Organics we make the most basic, essential product – vegetables. Hopefully everyone is a vegetable-eater in some capacity. Even so, we realize that not everyone is our customer.

For instance, some people primarily value their ability to choose each item or pay the lowest possible food prices. We can’t provide this in our Community Supported Agriculture subscription program. I have to recognize this to target my advertising (and avoid wasting money on ineffective and large-scale marketing). It also helps me decide on the best new products and services. If I didn’t know my customer, I’d be left with fewer resources to meet my clients' diverse needs.

In contrast, if I know my customer, I can find them more easily, develop products that meet their needs and end up retaining more satisfied customers. This understanding frees me up to serve the customers that better fit my business.

So how do you get to know your customer?

You can start with thoughtful questions at the storefront or delivery site with current customers. Alternatively, you might learn about your customer more formally through a questionnaire. Or, you may get to know more about your customer through a social media site like facebook.

First of all, think about what you would like to know about your customer: What do they value? How do they spend their leisure time? What are they looking for that you can provide?

I am not proposing that these questions be asked directly, but woven into more thoughtful queries and conversations. At the farm we’ve found an annual questionnaire very helpful. To encourage a higher response rate and get more data, make it simple and convenient for people to return them. You can provide an opportunity for a small questionnaire to be filled out on site or picked up at the next delivery. For the internet-savvy, online survey websites may be a good option. Putting thought-provoking updates on facebook can be telling too, as you note what information generates comments or likes. Remember, social media sites are all about sharing information and having a conversation, not simply initiating sales.

Another helpful resource, though they can often be unpredictable in terms of sales, are trade shows. These events offer the chance to engage in face-to-face discussions which are invaluable even in our technologically connected society.

In sum, virtually any business would benefit from identifying some of their customers’ key values, needs and lifestyle choices. These provide direction in advertising, product and service development and free up resources to better meet the needs of customers they are equipped to serve. A few intentional conversations and questions posed in person or through written or media resources can mean a vital understanding of your customer -- a key component of your business success.

Jennifer Eng works at Zephyr Organics Farm Share. Zephyr Organics is a member of the Uxbridge Chamber of Commerce (). Jennifer can be reach at .