Business Zen: Ensure you are selling to the right person

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There are products out there that just sell like hot cakes. Many of them because they bring to the consumer exceptional value. This value can be functional like the iPhone, it can be priced based like "house brand" products, it can also be value that is driven by a purpose like an insurance you would buy if you were going on holiday.

But there is a breed of product which has an "X" factor which causes them to fly off the shelves. These are products that "have you at 'hello'" where one look at the item is followed so quickly by a purchasing transaction - so fast that you wonder how you forgot reaching for your wallet.

I don't tend to have these purchasing "moments" very often but Mrs Bell does and, for that matter, so do my children (although lollies from a certain avenue-based Sweet Shop probably fills many needs for my progeny).

When marketing your business, particularly in retail, you need to ensure that you understand and target the one who makes the "buying decision" – or better still, the one who makes quick and affirmed buying decisions. So presentation of your product, particularly those which are purchased on mere sight is critical – be it in a window display, advertising material or the net.

The "X" factor has also been called the "awwww" factor. The "awwww" factor comes in many forms and, in my observations of my significant other, I find that it raises itself out of the blue and often at times when I consider the bank account is safe from challenge. The awwww factor is closely related to the "It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine" factor which tends to occur for Mrs Bell when passing the windows of Footloose, a fabulous Wanganui business which has made an art-form out of translating their products on display into good business.

But the ultimate awwww moment I have ever seen occurred in a business built over generations on a foundation of customers falling instantly in love with their product – the petshop.

And when the awwww factor kicks in the rationale of economics, budgets and the ongoing "management" costs of the product concerned quickly fly out the window – even quicker than the speed at which the credit card leaves the purse.

This curious phenomenon also renders the purchaser totally deaf to the protestations of their spouse and, even more curiously, all risks and/or challenges associated with managing the product are mitigated in their entirety even as the credit card is handed to the shopkeeper.

So buyer's remorse – for example a 2am wakeup call – never becomes a consideration in the buying transaction. FYI - our dog has long been nick-named "the alarm" by me.
Most purchasing decisions have emotion tied to them, from performing a function that saves you time, to having the product be fit for purpose, to just being plain lovely.

The secret for the business person is to understand the experience which drives that purchase – from there you can connect effectively with the customer.