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Why Customers Buy

Written by: Ed Delia

Article Overview: Imagine you're faced with a major purchasing decision for your business. It could be new office furniture, or retaining a new accounting firm, or a new IT firm to manage your network. You do all you can to make an informed purchase. But what do you really know about the product or service you're purchasing? Do you really understand the nuances?

Why Customers Buy

Imagine you're faced with a major purchasing decision for your business. It could be new office furniture, or retaining a new accounting firm, or a new IT firm to manage your network.

You do all you can to make an informed purchase. But what do you really know about the product or service you're purchasing? Do you really understand the nuances?

Take the IT firm as an example. Did you screen and test their knowledge, read up on current IT trends, survey their current customers, give them a trial assignment? Or did you select the firm you liked the best?

The fact is, today, few of us have the time to dig too deeply on buying decisions. We do our best to make smart, informed choices. But in the end, we typically buy from people we like the most and identify with the best.

Think about some of the best sales people you know. They’re personable, likable individuals, the types that just seem to draw you in. They’ve got character, and many of them even are characters.

The same thinking can be applied to corporate brands. A brand is a claim of distinction, but it can also be considered a company’s personality. Whether it’s a product or service, we buy the brands we like the best, the ones whose personality best matches our own.

If you want to substantially grow your business, build a likeable brand.

BUILDING THE LIKEABLE BRAND.
First things first. Think about your A-level customers. They’re the ones that you love working with, the ones that really make your business hum. There’s a reason why they’re such great customers. They probably like the experience of working with you as much as you with them. Yours is a likeable brand. There’s tremendous value in understanding why.

If you can discover why your A-level customers appreciate the business relationship, you can position your brand to highlight the exact characteristics that similar-minded prospects would also value.

Then your brand becomes a beacon. But it doesn’t attract any customer. It only attracts A-level customers. After all, isn’t that what we’re after? A one-time customer may represent a few hundred or a few thousand dollars in revenue, but a repeat customer could represent exponentially more.

What are some things you can do today to make yours a more likeable brand? Think about it.

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