I have said it over and over again that there is no point producing a product if you can’t sell it – or rather if people won’t buy it. Your major task in producing any goods or services is to get people to buy them, or you’re better off not being an entrepreneur.
But if you find out that your products are not moving as they should, then your next assignment is to find out the remote and immediate cause of why customers ignore your products.
But come to think of it, what are those things that could make customers stop buying from you or that could lead to a sales decrease? These are what we must examine right away so that we know how to guard against them with a view to boosting our product sales and making more profits along the line:
1. You are not advertising – Advertising is the only recognized way to promote or publicize your products and services and bring them to the attention of your target audience. Advertising precedes your products to your customers or consumers and speaks for you before you make the entrance.
Imagine people knowing you before having the opportunity to meet you – the reputation creates the hunger and the eagerness for meeting you and when you make the entrance you are applauded. This is what happens to your product through advertising. It makes people aware of your products and creates the hunger to have your product before it even reaches them.
2. Your product is not meeting consumers’ needs – Your customers have abandoned your products because it is probably not meeting their needs anymore. You must understand that people would only buy your products because of their perceived value, but the moment they lose faith in the value then they cease to see how the product serves their needs. It is therefore your duty to ensure that your products and services address the basic needs of your target audience to enable them to buy it as the solution to their identified problems.
3. Customers don’t know what to do with your products – Customers may also fail to buy from you because they do not really see how your product serves their interests. It is not that they are not aware of the presence or availability of your products, but they fail to see how it addresses their needs.
You only, therefore, need to enlighten them on how to use your product to solve particular consumer problems before they are compelled to try it out. This is different from the preceding point – in the preceding point the product does not meet their needs at all, but in this current point it does but they do not know or see how it does just that. So this point is more about customers’ ignorance than knowledge.
4. You are not connecting with your customers – If you fail to emotionally connect with your customers, then they will be forced to abandon your products because they will see you as uncaring. They will assume you cannot know their needs because you are distant from them; so ensure to develop a mutual relationship and an emotional connection with your target consumers to foster mutual benefits.
5. Your pricing policy is faulty – Your pricing also goes a long way in why customers buy or fail to buy from you. Ensure you do not overprice or under-price yourself of the market or play into the hands of your competitors, and be sure to create a reasonable margin for profit while also considering the capability of your consumers to buy.