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Customer and buyer are two terms used interchangeably but businessdictionary.com defines the terms as follows:
Customer - "A party that receives or consumes products (goods or services) and has the ability to choose between different products and suppliers."
Buyer - "Party which acquires, or agrees to acquire, ownership (in case of goods), or benefit or usage (in case of services), in exchange for money or other consideration under a contract of sale."
With the definitions above, it could be said that there is a very thin line that divides the two terms. Customers buy what they want and from whom they want while buyers buy what sellers want them to buy. Another point to emphasize is that customers are not necessarily your buyers.
Applying the first concept above, we could come up with a marketing approach that would maximize profit potentials. Instead of letting prospects buy what they want, make them buy products that you would want them to buy - those with higher profit margin. That way, you convert them from being customers to buyers.
One approach that could be taken is offering of additional products - products that would complement to the product that they bought. The idea is simply having them to spend more on your products. You could even throw out discounts just to entice them into buying more. It would create an impression that the more they buy, the more they save.
On your part, as a business owner, the more they buy, the higher is your profit. Another approach would be making the prospect interested on some other product instead of the product he is planning to buy. This would seem like marketing against your own product which would then result to higher profit.
This might sound difficult, especially to those who are new in the business world but there are options to get around with that. One is by having a marketing consultant and another option is to enlist the entire marketing task to a company that has specialization and experience over the matter. Yes, it would be an additional expense for your company, but it would all pay off in the long run. Return on investment could even be faster if you could enlist a company that would provide you with an above average service at a substantially lower cost.
Going on the second point mentioned above, we have to make it clear that customers are those that consume the products but it is not necessary that they are the one to personally buy it. This leads to two possible target markets - the customers and the buyers. In such scenario, it is necessary to identify who has the buying power. Buying power here does not only reflect financial capability but more importantly, influence over the decision to buy. There are instances wherein the buyer has the buying power. This usually happens if the customer does not have any specific preference over the product. In such scenario, marketing should be directed towards the buyers. Though, it may also be possible for the customer to have buying power. This is observable on products that don't actually have direct value on the buyer. Education, toys, and gifts are just few examples of products wherein marketing efforts should be targeted towards customers.
To sum it up, it is necessary to identify the profit margin of each product that you are offering and try to maximize your profit by pushing for those with higher profit margin. This would then be supplemented by properly directing your marketing efforts to the right target market.
Sheryse Currey
Data Rich Australia - Business Marketing
ABN: 72 884 886 102
Level 15 Corporate Centre One,
2 Corporate Court Bundall QLD 4217
TELEPHONE: +61-730538014
E-MAIL: sheryse@datarichaustralia.com
SKYPE: sherysecurrey
