Every customer is different. They all have specific needs, goals, aspirations, time, and budget at their disposal. Hence, there’s no singular accurate way to approach a customer. However, there are a few universal tips and tricks you should keep in mind. Still, first thing’s first – you must be aware of the types of customers you can encounter. Once you get to know about each of these main five types of customers, it will be easy to adjust to them. A single script won’t enable excellent customer service. Neither will a sole approach of your sales team. Now, let’s see how to determine who your customer is and what you should do.
5 Types of Customers Your Sales Team Should Know About
Arguably, the list of types of customers might be a bit longer. Nevertheless, your purchasers usually fall into one of these prime categories:
- Potential Customer
- New Customer
- Impulsive Customer
- Loyal Customer
- Discount Customer
These 5 types of customers classification come from the salesperson’s perspective. Additionally, we’ll discuss each of their needs, drives, attitudes, and situations related to interacting with them. Later on, we’ll list a few more note-worthy types of customers out there.
Potential Customer
A potential customer takes place at the top of your sales funnel. Their journey is about to begin. Even though you’re still not having any sort of agreement, your potential customer should receive the same treatment as your most loyal ones. With a bit of luck, knowledge, and efforts aimed in the right direction, you can grab their attention and turn them into regular consumers.
Pro tip: Do not confuse a website visitor with a potential customer. What sets one category apart from the other is their interest. Your potential customer is likely to purchase from you. Your sales reps and customer support staff must tell one from another and act accordingly.
How to deal with a potential customer?
This is the first of the 5 types of customers from a sales perspective. They must receive adequate treatment.
You should:
- Make yourself available
- Be informative enough (without seeming pushy)
- Show appreciation toward the potential consumer
- Learn about the customer’s needs
- Showcase what they can get from using your product
- Point them to the resources they might find relevant and helpful
Pro tip: Make your landing page easily accessible and user-friendly. If people get lost while searching for a specific product or service, they will likely bounce and look for another provider.
New Customer
New customer belongs to the main five types of customers from the sales point of view. They have just bought something from you. It’s possible that they still need some assistance regarding your product or service. What should you do? Their first impressions must be impeccable, which is possible by making their customer experience smooth and effortless.
How to deal with a new customer?
A few useful tips and tricks come to mind when thinking of adjusting to the new customer’s needs:
- Set up an onboarding process
- Offer guidance that matches their necessities
- Make your customer service available (through a call center or a live chat)
- Invest your time into the customer’s satisfaction
- Make sure their questions are answered timely and correctly
Pro tip: When establishing a customer support team, it’s possibly best to consider outsourcing. Hiring a reliable and skillful third-party team has numerous advantages. You’ll obtain more qualified people faster, save some time, reduce costs, obtain more coverage, etc. Choose the right outsourcing company, and you’re guaranteed to have a superb customer experience.
Impulsive Customer
Impulsive customers often make their decisions instantly. This means that you must create the right conditions to suit their needs. Their primary objective is to have a trouble-free and uncomplicated buying experience. So, without further analysis regarding this type of customer, let’s see how you should act around them.
How to deal with an impulsive customer?
Simplicity all the way. You must create a simple and time-saving process to grab their attention and turn them into your loyal customers:
- Simplify the entire experience
- Reduce the number of steps needed to purchase your products
- Your website needs to be customer-oriented
- Enable them to buy the products directly
- Your advice and answers should be clear and concise
- Your call center agents or live chat operators must be quick
- Don’t distract the impulsive customer
- Clear their path to provide them with extraordinary customer experience
Loyal Customer
Of all the types of customers, loyal ones are your best allies. They keep coming back and purchasing your products. Still, there’s way more to them. Loyal customers can boost your brand, drive new customers, recommend your products and services, and help you out with positive reviews and testimonials. They impact your ultimate KPI: Customer lifetime value (CLV). However, you must remain dedicated to their customer journey and experience.
How to deal with a loyal customer?
Would stating that you must keep up the good work count as an actionable tip? Because that is precisely what you need to do. And here’s how:
- Learn more about them
- Collect their feedback and use their suggestions to leverage other consumers’ experience
- Check up on them
- Reward their loyalty
- Feature their customer experience in case studies
- Show appreciation
- Keep them engaged and satisfied
Discount Customer
Discount customers require two things: additional information and lower prices. Even though they recognize your product’s value, it is unlikely they will buy it until its price drops. So, if your product isn’t on sale, you’ll need some magic to happen to retain a discount customer.
How to deal with a discount customer?
Making a discount customer stay is a tricky business. Of all the types of customers, this one’s retention is the most troublesome. However, if you follow these pieces of advice, your luck with a discount customer might turn:
- Be patient with them and take your time to explain the deal
- Talk to them in detail, but keep it simple enough to avoid any misunderstanding
- Offer them help and support
- Go beyond the initial offering
- Add something extra to the deal
- Stand out from your competitors
Other Types of Customers
Aside from the essential 5 different types of customers, there are other classifications you should be familiar with. Understanding each of these types of customers’ needs and behaviors will help you gain more traffic and more conversions.
Once you ask yourself why someone has visited your online store, you might discover several types of customers and their needs:
- The visitors who are “just looking”
- The customers who are doing the research and comparing prices
- Various types of complaining customers
- Unsure customers (who are a combo of several other types)
Universal Tips to Deal With Each Type of Customers
Your sales team, customer service reps, and call center agents must adapt to every customers’ individual necessities and requirements. Nevertheless, some strategies come in handy regardless of the type of customer.
- Never look down on any type of customers
- Develop a separate conversion tactic for each of them
- Consider minor price adjustments
- Add a coupon or discount page or section to your website
- Help your visitors navigate the online store with ease
- Simplify the check-out procedures as much as possible
- Make the relevant data and info visible
- Create an unforgettable post-purchase experience
- Be open to criticism
Understanding Different Types of Customers
Understanding different types of customers isn’t always a breeze. The correct way to enhance your sales efforts and get favorable results is to put yourself in every customers’ perspective. And do you know the most astonishing thing about it? You’ve probably fallen into a few of these categories yourself. Prepare to be patient and proactive. Listen closely. Personalize your approach.
And if all those types of customers baffle you, keep sales outsourcing in mind as an excellent choice.
