Frequent Purchases

My wife buys groceries at any one of three nearby supermarkets. How does she

decide which of the three to shop at? After she reads the sales circulars which come each week, she shops at the store that has her favorite meat products on sale. A supermarket must constantly send its message to its target customer.

Coke, Pepsi, Budweiser and Miller all sell products that are frequent purchases. They too are constantly advertising to keep their names before the public. If your product is purchased frequently, be sure customers are constantly exposed to your name.

Why Don’t People Buy from You?

There are many prospective customers who could buy a product but don’t. Fig-

uring out why these people don’t buy from you can be helpful. Of course, there are many reasons, but what you are looking for is a trend that gives you clues on how your business can be improved. This information can be difficult to obtain. Large companies sometimes hire an outside market research firm to find out why people don’t buy from them. If that’s impractical, pay close attention to what your salesforce says about why it loses sales, and try to interview people who stop buying from you. In a retail business, ask family and friends to listen for ad-lib remark they might hear. Remember that bad news is important to know. Often it’s more important to know than good news.