Worksheet:

Customer Profile

This worksheet is designed to help you understand your customer. It is essential. It is probably the most difficult worksheet to prepare but also the most important. Although you may understand a great deal about your target customer, you may lack an understanding of some important information that you will need to obtain through primary research.

Some of the information asked for on this form has been already been indicated on other worksheets. It is listed here for easy reference in filling out this form and to facilitate discussion of your business with others.

Although you likely wont’ be able to answer all the questions asked, it is important for you to consider them. Where you feel you should be able to answer a question, you should list the information you feel you do not have on your Research To Do List Worksheet. At a later time, you can decide whether the information is so essential that you will need to conduct further research to obtain it.

Instructions:

The following worksheet consists of questions you will want to answer concerning your target customer. If feel you cannot answer the questions, you will likely need to engage in some primary research to collect the information you need. If the information cannot be obtained through your research, you will need to record it on the Research To Do List Worksheet for future reference.

If Your Customer Is Not Your Consumer
If your customer is not your consumer, (your business works with other business entities to distribute your offering to consumers), you will need to analyze this system and the consumer as well. There are basically two steps to take.

  • Describe the way in which different business entities work together to serve consumers. (The chain of value.)
  • Answer the customer profile questions for your target customer as well as your consumer. (Complete a separate Customer Profile Worksheet for each.)

BACKGROUND:

Briefly identify your target customer: (From the Target Customer Worksheet)

(If your customer is not the consumer, identify the consumer. If the customer is not the consumer you will need to fill out two customer profiles, one for the customer and one for the consumer.)

(If your customer is a business entity, identify the decision maker.)

Briefly identify the target market where you will operate: (From the Target Customer Worksheet)

PROFILE FOR (check one)

__x____customer___x___ consumer__x____ decision maker

Answer the following questions that can be used to describe your target customer. Where you are unsure of an answer, please record your need for information on the Research To Do List Worksheet.

  1. Describe your target customer in terms of their key demographics.
  2. Describe your target customer in terms of relevant psychographics.

Identify your target customer’s motivations

Answer the following questions that will help you identify your customer’s motivations in seeking products and/or services.

  1. Describe the key “problem” your target customer wants to solve.
  2. Describe the key experiences your customers seek to enjoy.

Describe the value your customers place on having their problems solved.

Your customers value an offering because they value having their problems solved and enjoying the experiences they desire.

  1. Describe the pain your typical customers will feel if they do not solve their problem.
    Okay….I go to Uncle Ed’s and get the crappy but inexpensive service and wait for my car to break down…..YUCK…..don’t like the idea my car will break down.

“Got to have feature…..is with the fear of the car breaking down….you don’t understand what’s under the hood and don’t know how to plan for it.)

People still have distrust for dealerships….in these times don’t want to throw away money,.

  1. Describe substitute offerings that could be used to solve your customer’s problem in an acceptable manner and the price charged for each of these. (You may also want to include information about the competitors that carry these offerings.)
    Dealerships…..highest price, computer hold-up, great mechanics but can’t trust the consistency of the service….don’t know who worked on the car

Chains…. Very economical….but…just a number in line and standardized service….no one is pointing out what might go wrong next….just trying to sell services….this is what customers suspect

Do-it yourself….most economical but don’t have the place and tools and miss the social aspects as well as the access to knowledge.

  1. Identify a dollar amount that your customers are likely to pay to have their problem solved as well as each of the experiences they desire. (Indicate a dollar amount for the problem as well as each of the key experiences that you have identified if possible. If this is not possible, provide some indication of which experiences are most valued over others.)

Must price at a par or less than above competitors….for do-it-yourselfers in own garage….they will pay the premium but not above the dealerships or chains.

Other Useful Information

  1. Describe how industry and market trends may impact your customer’s preferences and behaviors.
    economy with depression will feed the do-it=yourselfer attitude….chains and dealerships reduce prices….but so will autoparts. …chains and dealerships can’t maintain salaries  more fear of their services.
  1. List five or six places where your customers are most likely to be found and describe what they would likely be doing at the time.

See above for areas….

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Copyright Business Concept Evaluations, LLC, copyright 2006

SUMMARY OF TARGET CUSTOMER INFORMATION

As best you can, summarize what you know about your customer in the table below. Where you feel you are still missing important information, mark it on the Research To Do List Worksheet.

Customer Characteristic / What I Know / What I Need to Learn
What benefits do your customers seek?
  • What is the main problem your customers seek to solve?

  • How much are your customers willing to pay to have this problem solved?

  • How often will customers need to solve this problem?[1]

  • What experiences do your customers seek to enjoy when they purchase an offering?

  • How much are they willing to pay to enjoy each of these experiences?

How can you identify your customers?
  • What characteristics distinguish these customers from others in terms of demographics?

  • What characteristics distinguish these customers from others in terms of their behavior?

How can you find customers?
  • How do customers spend their time?

  • Where and when are customers likely to be most receptive to a promotional message?

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Copyright Business Concept Evaluations, LLC, copyright 2006

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What sorts of demographics should I be concerned with?
    Describe your target customer in terms of common demographic characteristics. Demographic descriptions should identify a homogenous grouping of possible customers that enables someone to distinguish your customers from among the general population based on…
  2. their appearance and behavior (apart from using a specific product/service)
  3. the needs and wants they seek to satisfy (apart from using a specific product/service)
  4. the places they are found

The following list may be useful in considering some of the more common demographic characteristics for individuals[2].

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Family size
  • Family lifecycle
  • Generation (baby-boomers, generation X, generation Y, etc.)
  • Income
  • Occupation
  • Education
  1. What sorts of psychographics should I be concerned with?
    Like demographics, psychographics descriptions should identify a homogenous grouping of possible customers that enables someone to distinguish your customers from among the general population based on…
  2. their appearance and behavior (apart from using a specific product/service)
  3. the needs and wants they seek to satisfy (apart from using a specific product/service)
  4. the places they are found

The following list may be useful in considering some of the more common psychographic characteristics for individuals.[3]

  • Activities

Work, Hobbies,Social events, Vacation, Entertainment, Club memberships, Community, Shopping, Sports

  • Interests

Family, Home, Job, Community. Recreation, Fashion, Food, Media achievements

  • Opinions/Attitudes/Values

Themselves, Social issues, Politics, Business, Economics, Education, Products,Thefuture, Culture

  1. How do I identify the problem my customers want to solve?
    Your customer’s problem is the driving force behind his/her desire to make a purchase and should be the focus of your offering. It typically describes an intense pleasure desired or pain to avoid. It should be explained in a way that leaves open the possibility of “substitutes” for your offering.[4]
    The following statement may help you to focus on your customer’s problem.
    My customer has a problem in satisfying his/her need to ……[insert a description of your customer’s need in terms of a want or desire that has nothing to do with any particular product or service].
  2. How do I identify the experiences my customers seek to enjoy?
    The experiences your customers seek can often be described as an emotional state they hope to achieve. While these experiences are often related to the key problem, they are not central to your customer’s motivation. Nonetheless, they can be the reason your customer chooses your offering over that of the competition.
    You may find the following list of feelings helpful in identifying these experiences.
  • Love(relief from hate)
  • Joy(relief from sadness)
  • Surprise(relief from boredom)
  • Courage(relief from fear)
  • Acceptance and belonging(relief from isolation and alienation)
  • Respect and pleasure(relief from disgust and contempt)
  • Self-esteem and autonomy(relief from shame and guilt)
  • Freedom and independence(relief from trapped)
  • Serenity and calms(relief from anger)

When working with a business customer, it is often helpful to keep in mind that it is a person who makes the decision to purchase and that person often seeks certain experiences in the purchase process.

  1. How do I understand the pain my customers will suffer if their problem is not solved?
    Unfortunately, people don’t like to talk about the pain they might suffer. So, you may have to figure this out using the information you can collect in your primary research and your common sense. For example, a mother may not recognize much “pain” to be suffered when she can’t get her child’s hair cut. But, she would be extremely embarrassed upon learning that her child was teased at school because his hair was too long. Thus, the pain a mother might feel would be intense. Incidentally, because it is the pain that motivates people to buy, we find this message of pain being communicated in most of the promotions.
  2. How can I learn about substitute offerings and the price customers pay for them?
    Your analysis of the competition should have made you familiar with the competition in the area, the types of offerings they make and what they charge for them. If you did not already collect this information, you will need to collect it now.
  3. How can I know what my customers are likely to pay to have their problem solved and enjoy the experiences they desire?
    As part of your primary research, you should be collecting information about the problems your customers seek to solve and the experiences they are seeking to enjoy. You would also collect information on the amounts they would be willing to pay to solve their problem as well as to enjoy each of the experiences you have identified. In addition, your competitive analysis may have provided information about price differences between competitor offerings which can give you an idea of how customers value solving their problem and enjoying the various experiences.
  4. What types of trends might I find to be significant in terms of my customer?
    You want to look for trends in the following.
  • Demographic characteristics of customers
  • Key problem faced by customers
  • Five key customer feelings
  • Places to locate customers
  • Customer values of price, convenience in terms of purchase, delivery and use and trust in seller.
  • Product/Service Features and Benefits
  • Consequences customers perceive to exist in not purchasing your offering.

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Copyright Business Concept Evaluations, LLC, copyright 2006

[1] How often will customers purchase?

[2]In describing the business customers you may want to think in terms of size, industry, or geographic location. Size can include such factors as sales revenue, profits, number of employees, payroll, etc. It is also useful to keep in mind that behind each business there is a person making the decision to purchase.

[3] For business customers, it is useful to useful to keep in mind that behind each business there is a person making the decision to purchase.

[4] For example, customers are not looking to buy butter. They see butter as a means of making plain bread a treat to eat. But, jam and other spreads can satisfy this need as well and are “substitutes” for the butter.