KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS' NEEDS

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However good your product or service is, the simple truth is that no-one will buy it if they don't want it or believe
they don't need it. And you won't persuade anyone that they want or need to buy what you're offering unless
you clearly understand what it is your customers really want.
Knowing and understanding customer needs is at the centre of every successful business, whether it sells directly to
individuals or other businesses. Once you have this knowledge, you can use it to persuade potential and existing
customers that buying from you is in their best interests.
This guide tells you what you need to know about your customers, how to use this information to sell to them
more effectively, and how to win business from your competitors.
 Why do your customers need you?
 What do you know about your customers?
 The customer's current supplier
 Ten things you need to know about your customers
WHY DO YOUR CUSTOMERS NEED YOU?
Every business needs a reason for their customers to buy from them and not their competitors. This is called
a Unique Sales Proposition (USP). Your USP can be identified by completing the phrase "Customers will buy from
me because my business is the only..."
Your USP can change as your business or your market changes, and you can have different USPs for different
types of customer.
For example:

 a stationery store could offer a free same-day delivery service for its business customers within a local area - an
effective USP for businesses that need fast delivery
 the same stationery store could offer a 5 per cent discount to businesses that spend more than $1,000 a month - this
would be a USP for cost-conscious customers
 the stationery store could also make sure it offers the most comprehensive stock of artists' materials in the area - a
USP for local professional or amateur artists
All of these USPs can be effective because they are driven by what the customer looks for when making a buying
decision.
It's a good idea to review your USPs regularly. Can you tailor your products or services to better match your
customers' needs? Consider asking your customers why they buy from you. This will tell you what they think your
USP is - this may differ from what you think your USP is.

It's also useful to check constantly what your competition is doing. Remember - if your competitors are doing the
same, your USP isn't unique any more.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS?

The more you know about your customers, the more effective your sales and marketing efforts will be. It's well
worth making the effort to find out:

 who they are

 what they buy
 why they buy it
If you're selling to other businesses, you'll need to know which individuals are responsible for the decision to buy
your product or service. For information on targeting decision-makers, see our guide on how to target the right
people in an organisation.
 You can learn a great deal about your customers by talking to them. Asking them why they're buying or not buying,
what they may want to buy in the future and asking what other needs they have can give a valuable picture of what's
important to them.

Strong sales are driven by emphasising the benefits that your product or service brings to your customers. If you
know the challenges that face them, it's much easier to offer them solutions.

It's also well worth keeping an eye on future developments in your customers' markets and lives. Knowing
the trends that are going to influence your customers helps you to anticipate what they are going to need - and offer
it to them as soon as they need it.
You can conduct your own market research and there are many existing reports that can help you build a picture of
where your customers' markets - and your business - may be going.

THE CUSTOMER'S CURRENT SUPPLIER

Chances are your potential customer is already buying something similar to your product or service from someone
else. Before you can sell to a potential customer, you need to know:
 who the customer's current supplier is
 if the customer is happy with their current supplier
 if buying from you would offer the customer any benefits - and, if so, what those benefits would be
The easiest way to identify a potential customer's current supplier is often simply to ask them. Generally people are
very happy to offer this information, as well as an indication of whether they're happy with their present
arrangements.
If you can find out what benefits they're looking for, you stand a better chance of being able to sell to them. The
benefits may be related to price or levels of service, for example. Are there any benefits your business can offer that
are better than those the potential customer already receives? If there are, these should form the basis of any sales
approach you make.
TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR
CUSTOMERS
1. Who they are
If you sell directly to individuals, find out your customers' gender, age, marital status and occupation. If you sell
to other businesses, find out what size and kind of business they are. For example, are they a small private
company or a big multinational?
2. What they do
If you sell directly to individuals, it's worth knowing their occupations and interests. If you sell to other
businesses, it helps to have an understanding of what their business is trying to achieve.
3. Why they buy
If you know why customers buy a product or service, it's easier to match their needs to the benefits your
business can offer.
4. When they buy
If you approach a customer just at the time they want to buy, you will massively increase your chances of
success.
5. How they buy
For example, some people prefer to buy from a website, while others prefer a face-to-face meeting.
6. How much money they have
You'll be more successful if you can match what you're offering to what you know your customer can afford.
7. What makes them feel good about buying
If you know what makes them tick, you can serve them in the way they prefer.
8. What they expect of you
For example, if your customers expect reliable delivery and you don't disappoint them, you stand to gain repeat
business.
9. What they think about you
If your customers enjoy dealing with you, they're likely to buy more. And you can only tackle problems that
customers have if you know what they are.
 10. What they think about your competitors
If you know how your customers view your competition, you stand a much better chance of staying ahead of
your rivals.
Original document, Know your customers' needs, © Crown copyright 2009
Source: Business Link UK (now GOV.UK/Business)
Adapted for Québec by Info entrepreneurs
Our information is provided free of charge and is intended to be helpful to a large range of UK-based
(gov.uk/business) and Québec-based (infoentrepreneurs.org) businesses. Because of its general nature the
information cannot be taken as comprehensive and should never be used as a substitute for legal or professional
advice. We cannot guarantee that the information applies to the individual circumstances of your business. Despite
our best efforts it is possible that some information may be out of date.

As a result:

 The websites operators cannot take any responsibility for the consequences of errors or omissions.
 You should always follow the links to more detailed information from the relevant government department or
agency.
 Any reliance you place on our information or linked to on other websites will be at your own risk. You should
consider seeking the advice of independent advisors, and should always check your decisions against your normal
business methods and best practice in your field of business.
 The websites operators, their agents and employees, are not liable for any losses or damages arising from your use of
our websites, other than in respect of death or personal injury caused by their negligence or in respect of fraud.

http://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/guides/know-your-customers--needs/

Choosing a Product or Service to

Sell
Ready to break into a new market? Answering these 29
questions will determine if the product or service you want
to sell deserves your commitment.

BRIAN TRACY

GUEST WRITER
Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, Speaker and Author

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BRIAN TRACY

 28Shares


 


JULY 18, 2005

To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must develop the ability to select and offer
the right products or services to your customers in a competitive market. More
than any other factor, your ability to make this choice will determine your success
or failure.

Fully 80 percent of the products and services being consumed today are different
from those that were being consumed five years ago. And five years from today,
fully 80 percent of the products being used will be new and different from those
being used today.

There are thousands of products and services available to consumers today. And
there are unlimited opportunities for you to enter the marketplace and compete
effectively with a new product or service that's better in some way than what's
already being offered by your competitors. Remember, your skill at choosing that
product or service is critical to your success.

The most important thing you can do before deciding what to sell is to think. And
the more you think about a product or service before you bring it to market, the
better your decisions will be.
So how do you start? To make a product successful, you must be personally and
emotionally committed to its success. Once you've got a product or service in
mind, you need to begin with a self-analysis:

 What kinds of products do you like, enjoy, consume and benefit from?

 Do you like the product or service you're planning to sell?

 Can you see yourself getting excited about this product or service?

 Would you buy it and use it yourself?

 Would you sell it to your mother, your best friend, your next-door neighbor?

 Can you see yourself selling this product or service for the next five to 10
years?

 Is this a product or service that you intensely desire to bring to the

marketplace?

Then analyze the product or service from the customer's point of view:

 What does the product achieve, avoid or preserve for the customer?

 How does the product improve your customer's life or work?

 What kind of customers will you be selling the product to?

 Do you personally like the customers who'll be buying this product or service?

Imagine that you've hired a management consultant to get advice on introducing

this new product or service. They're going to cut right to the chase and ask you
these very objective, bottom-line questions about the product:

 Is there a real demand for the product at the price you'll have to charge?
 Is the demand large enough for you to make a profit?

 Is the demand concentrated enough so you can advertise, sell and deliver the
product at a reasonable expense?

Dig even deeper into the potential success of your product or service by
determining the answer to the following critical questions:

 What is to be sold, exactly? Describe the product in terms of what it does for
the customer.

 To whom is the product going to be sold? Describe your ideal customer.

 What price will you have to charge for the product for it to be profitable?

 Who's going to sell the product?

 How is the product to be sold? What method of sales, or process of promotion,

will you use?

 How is the product or service to be manufactured or produced?

 How is the product going to be paid for and by whom?

 How is the product or service going to be delivered to the customer?

 How is it going to be serviced, repaired, guaranteed or replaced?

And you're not done yet. There are a series of additional questions you need to
ask before you make a final decision on a new product or service offering.

 Is there a real need for the product or service in today's market?

 Is your new product or service better than anything else currently available?

 What are the three ways that your product is superior to your competition?
 Is your product lower priced or of better quality than anything else that is
available?

 Do you think you could become the number-one supplier in the market for this
product or service?

For a product or service to succeed, it must be the right product, being sold at the
right time, to the right customer, in the right market. It must be produced and sold
by the right company, and the right people. What you have to decide is this: Is
this product right for you?

Brian Tracy is the "Success Secrets" coach at Entrepreneur.comand one

of America's leading authoritieson entrepreneurial development. He's produced
more than 300 audio and video learning programs that cover the entire spectrum
of human and corporate performance through his company, Brian Tracy
International.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/78778
Needs and Wants Lesson
Plan: Exploring Basic
Economics
Submitted by: Angela Watson
Grade Levels: K-3

In this Needs and Wants lesson plan, which is adaptable for grades K-3, students use BrainPOP Jr.
resources to identify the things that humans need in order to survive. Students will explore the
difference between a need and a want, analyze examples of goods and services, and distinguish
between producers and consumers. Students then create a poster that relates these concepts to
their real lives.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Students will:

1. List the things that humans need in order to survive

2. Identify the difference between a need and a want

3. Analyze examples of goods and services, define and identify producers and consumers, and
create a poster that relates these concepts to students' real lives

Materials:

 Computer & projector to view the BrainPOP Jr. Needs and Wants movie and features

 Blank paper for drawing

 Markers or crayons, & pencils

 Printed copies of the quiz (optional)

Vocabulary:
needs; wants; goods; producer; consumer

Preparation:
Preview the movie and read through Ideas for Grownups for some background information. You may
also plan to show and discuss the Goods and Services movie in a prior lesson to give children
additional background information about producers and consumers.
Lesson Procedure:

1. Provide students with blank paper and ask them to draw a picture of themselves in their
home environment that shows how their family meets each of the needs for human survival
(sink or bottle for water, their closet for clothes, etc.). Students should label and circle or
highlight each need. You might also ask students to identify and label the goods they draw.
In addition, advanced students may want to draw or list ways they are consumers and ways
they are producers. This activity may be completed online using the using the Draw About
It feature: have students print their drawings and use pencil or pen to add labels.

2. Bring the group back to a whole class discussion, and ask whether students see consumers
in any of the pictures. As children mention the first picture (in which Moby purchased
groceries), talk about how he is choosing not to stop his bike and purchase sports and
musical equipment in the stores. Is that a smart decision? What could Moby do if he wanted
to get more money to buy other goods? Discuss ways Moby could be a producer to balance
out the times that he is a consumer.

3. Repeat this procedure for each of the four pictures in the game.

4. Afterward, click on the Game feature, which shows four pictures that each contain three
things we need in order to live. Click on one picture at a time. Give students a moment to
examine the picture and either think about or partner share which items pictured are truly
needs.

5. Make a t-chart on the board and label one side 'Needs' and the other 'Wants'. Ask volunteers
to name human needs and write down their answers on the left side of the chart. Guide
children to understand that people need air, food, water, shelter, and clothes to live. Then
ask students to name some things they want to have, but don't need in order to survive, and
record their answers on the right side of the chart. As children mention expensive items they
want, guide them to understand that families must carefully budget their money to cover
needs and pay for wants using only the leftover money.

6. Finish discussing the other words on the word wall page (goods, producer, and consumer),
flipping over each card as children share their ideas.

7. Show students the BrainPOP Jr. word wall for the Needs and Wants movie. Ask students to
tell what a need is, and click the word wall card to reveal its definition. Then ask students to
define a want. Show its definition and discuss the differences between needs and wants.

8. You may choose to distribute printed copies of the easy quiz or hard quiz for students (or
have them complete the quiz online) and use their responses to further assess individual
understandings. Students may staple their quiz results to the back of their posters and the
two assessments can be combined to produce one final grade.
https://educators.brainpop.com/lesson-plan/needs-and-wants-lesson-plan/