How to Harvest Customer Insights to Attract More Clients

Transcription

1 How to Harvest Customer Insights to Attract More Clients By Glenna Wiseman Founder, Identity3 Your current customers hold the key to attracting more clients like them. I m not talking about a survey, although surveys are certainly valuable data gathering initiatives for customer feedback. The type of deep listening I m referring to is called customer profile or client persona development. It is a systematic approach to insight gathering born out of personal interviews with clients representing a segment of your customer base. The insights gained in this interview and reporting process will yield powerful ammunition for your marketing efforts. The goal: help you attract more clients like the ones you have now.

2 Page 2 The Process Powerful Ammunition for Sales & Marketing A client profile or persona is an archetype of your most valued customer type. Client personas can and should be developed for each of your major client segments. Developing client personas is a fruitful process that uncovers insights informative to every aspect of your sales and marketing initiatives. Your clients went through a purchasing process before becoming your client. During that process they asked key buying decision questions. Most clients search online for information to answer those questions. When we interview your clients we discover the purchasing questions used by them to determine how and when they enter the market for your service, what research they do to determine if your firm is on the "short list" for consideration and what information shaped their decision to ultimately purchase from your firm. Once we have these questions documented from several client interviews we can create content to answer these same questions in an upfront and helpful manner on your website, blog and through your strategies. The Process While it may seem simple on the surface, this process has defined phases if addressed properly will yield the best results. Segmentation Developing a client persona for each major segment of client base will undergird your marketing initiatives with powerful and targeted information. You will be stepping out of your assumptions about your customers and why they use or don t use your service and stepping into a book of knowledge you can use throughout each stage of the marketing and selling process. Queries You need to determine the kinds of insights you want to harvest from the process before you begin. Outline the questions in advance to reap the information you want to document. Queries will run along the lines of the information you want to gather from your customers. Typical inquiries for a solar installation firm for example would include: What caused you to consider solar? What moved you to start looking for solar companies? What questions did you research online? What social media and referral sites did you use to do your research? Once you were looking at solar installation firms, what questions do you ask of them? What sources did you use to research solar companies? What information did you find that was helpful or not? How did you find (company name)? What information did they provide you that was helpful to your decision making process?

3 Page 3 What information could they have provided in what format to help your decision making process? Why did you go with (company name)? What do you feel makes them unique in the market? How has your experience been working with them? Have you told others about them? Why or why not? A solid interview process will provide space for customers to offer up information you were not expecting, but could be very valuable. For example, during a client persona project for a solar installation firm on the East Coast, we discovered his clients all approached solar as a retirement investment. This information then informed his website development project and online content. The Interviews Interviews conducted by a third party bring a sense of neutrality to the process that frees the customers up to express more freely. If at all possible conduct the interviews in person and tape them for reference. Customers must always be given the opportunity to consent to the interview being taped. Make sure the relaxed environment of the interview is not constrained by the desire to get video. You can always arrange to videotape a customer in another session. The last thing you want is to have a customer put on guard at the beginning of the interview with a last minute announcement regarding videotaping the session. You don t want her grabbing her lipstick while you are taking her time to get feedback to help your company. Depending on the client segment, technology may not be your friend. Again you want to create a relaxed environment that facilitates open communication. Don t rush to use a Google Hangout for example, unless you know your customer is comfortable with the technology and can readily make it work. Tying in another team member via Google Hangout is a viable application of the technology as long as the client is attuned and respective to this form of team interview, and your team can execute the Hangout onsite with no hitches. A note for the solar installers! If the customer segment you are profiling is residential, be sure to interview both husband and wife. In fact you might consider profiling the wives only. See a recent article for Solar Power World Magazine on What Women Really Want From A Solar Sale. If you have audiotaped the interviews you can hire a transcription service to capture word for word commentary. You need to think this through in advance. Do your reports need word for word documentation? If not you can save time and expense. However you must be sure notes are captured accurately. If you opt for transcription, be sure your process to audiotape is consistent with the needs of the transcription service and that you have allocated funds in the budget for this service.

4 Page 4 Testimonials Testimonials are a natural output from this process. Simply document the client s comments in their own words and ask them to approve for use online or in marketing collateral. Thank You This process has taken valuable time on your customer s schedule. Don t miss a common courtesy by saying thank you. You might consider something unusual to spark enthusiasm and referrals. Application of Findings The business building applications for findings generated from a client profile development project are limited only by the questions used during the process and the overall objectives of the inquiry. Customer profile development will yield many positive benefits for your company including: Deepen your understanding of your client types Help you attract and maintain more customers like the ones you have currently Build a dossier of customer testimonials to use for lead generation Garner insights into how clients compared your service with other providers Develop a better understanding of how your brand messaging influenced them into a positive decision Understand the questions your prospects ask along the purchasing pathway to develop effective content for all marketing activities Inform your SEO online optimization with keyword content aligned with customer research Generate content and messaging to answer buying questions for new prospects during the appropriate buying stage Make website SEO and content improvements to attract more clients like the ones you have Sharpen marketing materials to more closely align with what attracted your current clients Work from a base of ideas for PR, social media and content delivery Help sales and customer service teams communicate more effectively with each client type Marketing Assets Generated by a Client Persona Project This process should yield the following marketing assets: Insights and direct client input Client testimonials, if desired Keyword information Purchasing decision questions and content ideas to inform your website and marketing campaigns

5 Page 5 Project Example: Renovate America and the HERO Financing Program Renovate America, the originators of the HERO Property Accessed Clean Energy (PACE) program in Southern California wanted to understand the concerns and program strengths as seen by municipality leaders in regard to their program. They wanted this solid base of information to undergird marketing initiatives to help spread the program throughout California. Scope of Work In support of the expansion of its HERO program throughout California, the Renovate America team wanted to talk with city leaders within its current Western Region Council of Governments (WRCOG) region. The client persona development effort was focused on finding out how the current leaders saw the HERO program, what concerns or questions they had originally about the program and marketing ideas to reach more city leaders. Results The process successfully reached more city leaders than we originally anticipated in the deliverables. Full reports included Municipal Leader Testimonials, Municipal Leader Persona and Marketing Ideas. The testimonials will assist Renovate America s ongoing marketing efforts. The questions unearthed will guide content and collateral development and marketing ideas connecting the dots in new ways to reach more city leaders with the HERO California campaign. Testimonial Thank you so much for your work on this first project. The work you did on our client profile, testimonials and marketing ideas is SO valuable. -Tamiko Kikuchi, Director of Product Management, Renovate America HERO About Glenna Wiseman Glenna Wiseman is the founder of Identity3, a marketing services company leveraging the unique marketplace identity of solar, renewable energy and green economy companies to fuel their growth. Wiseman is a marketing and business building professional with 6 years experience in the solar industry. Her recent industry articles for Solar Power World Magazine include What Women Really Want From A Solar Sale and Let s Pick Up The PACE On Solar Funding. her at GWiseman@Identity3.com.