Any economic venture is based on the principle of supply and demand. Your venture is not going to succeed simply based on the quality product or services that you have to offer. You also need a targeted customer base who is willing to buy your products and services.

Before launching any product or service in the market, Web Windows recommends that you conduct a survey to understand your customer requirements. Interview your target audience to get a detailed picture of their needs and expectations. You can use the report to arrive at solutions that can exceed customer expectations and provide them value added services over and above your competitors.

There are other benefits associated with understanding customer requirements. You can:

• Focus on your priorities.
• Plan your business and marketing strategy.
• Ensure team works towards a common goal.
• Cut down on expenditures, for example, you can avoid developing functionalities that are not required by customers.
• Move in a well-defined direction to fulfil objectives.
• Change your strategy in sync with the changing customer and market requirements.

Profiling your customers

Profiling your customers is an integral part of any process as it unites the team to work towards designing and implementing a perfect process that satisfies both customers and the business entity. Existing market research and consumer insights will help you integrate your customer goals with your business goals and decide upon a business model that is cost effective and at the same time, optimized for profits and customer satisfaction.

Who are your customers?

• If they are individuals, create a database of their gender, age, marital status and occupation.
• If they are business entities, list them under descriptive heads such as the size of companies, the products they deal in and what they expect in your business dealings.

Web Windows suggests that you use this information to identify your customers and work out a strategy to satisfy their requirements. The project team can use this data to prioritize their ideas, spell out and showcase the unique selling preposition (USP), redefine strategies, and speed up decision making.

What are your customers' buying preferences?

• What do they expect from their products and services, for example, do they prefer quality or decide based on price factor?
• How do they like to buy? Do they prefer direct buying or shopping online?
• When do they buy? Your chances to sell increase manifold when you target your customers at the time when the need for a particular good or service arises.

Take a regular feedback to understand buying preferences of your target group. You can talk to your customers when they buy from your store, watch their reaction as they browse through the products on display, or record their conversations when they talk to a customer care executive so that you can analyze their responses. Try to understand why these customers come to your company, the types of improvements that they are looking for and how you can make your interaction a more worthwhile experience. At the same time, also analyze the type of customer experience your competitors are offering and look out for gaps that need to be filled for a mutually beneficial relationship with your clients.

Identifying your potential customers' current suppliers

• Who are your customers buying from?
• What is their satisfaction level with the service?
• What is their brand loyalty?
• Would they switch services if they got a competitive advantage?

You can talk to your potential customers to identify their current supplier and gauge their level of satisfaction with the services provided. Before explaining the benefits and USP of your products and services, try to understand what benefits they are looking for, as this would help you present your case from their perspective.

Setting your priorities based on customer requirements

• Match your products and services based on the spending power of your target audience.
• Provide them value added services and showcase the competitive advantage of your products.
• Personalize services to make them feel that customer is actually the king.
• Deliver what you promise and don't promise what you cannot deliver.
• Take regular feedback to fill loopholes, if any.
• Study your competitors to stay ahead in the race.

Be prepared to make changes in company policy and processes to meet customer requirements and satisfaction. Evaluate how well you are able to satisfy them and compare their experience and devise means and opportunities to exceed their expectations to retain their loyalty and get repeat business.