Almost 90,000 students from China are studying at UK universities. Some of them are spending up to £30,000 annually. These students generate considerable money and form a very interesting target group. A local catering organisation, which provides food for more than 300 colleges across the UK, discovered these students disliked the food being served at universities. The survey revealed that for many Chinese students food is a key cultural issue; therefore, the company responded to their views by adding more authentic foods that their customers would like.
Why are we talking about it? You need to identify distinctive groups amongst your customers – and then give them what they want. Here are some takeaways from management-issues.com for you to use in your own business.
1) Think about how you handle your customers
Evaluate honestly how well you segment your customers. What are the barriers preventing some customers from spending more with your company?
2) Ask questions about your customers
Devote time to an analysis of your customers. Ask yourself:
- Are we focusing our efforts and resources on the right group of customers?
- Who are those customers – do we know what they want and think?
- What do we need to do to maximise our opportunities with those customers?
3) Ask your customers directly
Focus your efforts on your customers and ask them some crucial questions.
- Why do you buy from us?
- When do you buy from us?
- What do we do that irritates you?
- What should we never stop doing?
- What are we not doing now that we should be doing?
- Apart from what we do now, should we be offering any other products or services?
-jk-