Marketers must identify purchasing decision makers and influencing factors

Kotler mentioned in his marketing management book that in order to understand how consumers actually make decisions, Who must marketers identify? Buying decisions and factors that influence, make buying decisions.

People can be the initiators, influencers, decision-makers, buyers and users of purchasing behavior.

Different marketing activities should be adopted for different types of people.

It is necessary for any company to understand the various roles involved in the purchasing process, such as initiators, influencers, decision-makers, buyers, users, etc., because these roles have an important impact on purchasing decisions and final purchasing behavior. They are all related.

Understanding the main players in purchasing decisions and their roles can help marketers properly coordinate marketing plans.

There is a famous Jewish saying that men conquer the world and women conquer men. Smart Jewish businessmen have a business philosophy, which is to help women conquer men in order to make money from women.

Jewish businessman Nathan Strauss quotes this law of business.

As the operator of the famous American department store chain Macy’s, he is very good at making money from women.

In the early days of his business, Strauss was at a low ebb and his business was very bleak.

In terms of location, Macy’s Department Store is located in the most prosperous business district in the city center, with a large flow of people, but there are not many customers to take care of Macy’s Department Store’s business.

What exactly is the problem?

For this reason, Strauss personally went to shopping malls with good business and carefully observed every move of customers. As a result, he found that many men generally did not buy anything when they went to the mall, even if they were accompanied by men. When women go shopping together, the final decision-making power of shopping is still in the woman's hands.

He suddenly realized that women are the real buyers, and women are the real decision-makers.

For example, if a man and a woman are dining at a restaurant, usually if the man pays the bill, it means they are a couple.

If it is AA system, it means they are colleagues.

If a woman checks out, you can tell they are a couple.

Strauss thoroughly understood the secret that money revolves around women. From then on, a series of Macy’s promotional activities were carried out around women.

For example, the gift method, the prize competition method, the gift points method, the new product trial method, etc., these activities are beneficial to promote the sales of various commodities.

When it comes to making money from women, Haagen-Dazs is a must-have.

Haagen-Dazs will launch couples' ice cream on Valentine's Day, and will also take free photos for couples, which represents the love label sent by Haagen-Dazs.

Haagen-Dazs once made a famous declaration of love: If you love me, treat me to Haagen-Dazs.

This declaration has made Haagen-Dazs highly sought after all over the world. This is in the ordinary consumer market, and there is also a more special market, which is the organizational market.

When facing procurement in the organizational market, companies must understand all aspects of the customer's procurement organization. They must not only understand who participates in the procurement decision-making process, but also understand their roles in it and their role in it. role.

The purchasing organizations of different companies will be different. For small companies, the general manager may personally lead the purchasing, while for large companies, a specialized purchasing department may be sent. The purchasing manager of a limited company has the right to decide what specifications to purchase. products, there are supplies.

Some purchasing managers only have decision-making power for purchase projects with a certain amount of money. As for the purchase of major equipment and purchases with huge amounts, they still have to follow the decision-maker's intentions.

In organizational market procurement, in addition to full-time purchasing personnel, there will also be some other personnel involved in the purchasing decision-making process. Their status and rights may not be great, but due to their special Identity and position may also have a certain impact on purchasing, which marketers should not ignore.

All these people involved in the purchasing decision-making process can be called the purchasing center of the enterprise.

This center usually has 6 categories of members.

Initiator - User - Influencer - Purchaser - Decider - Gatekeeper

The first category is the initiator, that is, the person who puts forward the purchase demand.

The second category is the user, that is, the person who specifically uses a certain product or service to be purchased. The opinions of this type of person are important, if not decisive.

The third category is influencers, that is, people who directly or indirectly influence purchasing decisions outside and inside the company. They usually assist the company's decision-makers to decide on the varieties, specifications, etc. of purchased products. Generally speaking, technical personnel and expert consultants are the main influencers.

Category 4 is the purchaser, that is, the person with formal authority to organize the procurement work in the enterprise. They will be responsible for selecting suppliers and negotiating with them. The purchaser is the specific executor of purchasing behavior.

Category 5 is the decision maker. They are the people in the enterprise who have the right to approve the purchase of products. In more common routine purchases, the purchaser is often the decision maker. In more complex purchases, the company Leaders are often the deciders.

Category 6 is gatekeepers. They are people who have the power to prevent marketers from contacting various members of their purchasing center. Front desk staff, operators, and even security guards and doormen may all be gatekeepers.

Although the other parties are small people, marketers cannot ignore this threshold.

Of course, this does not mean that these six types of personnel will participate in every purchase made by the organization’s market customers.

The size and number of members of the enterprise procurement center will vary according to the different products purchased.

If there are many members in the customer purchasing center, it may be difficult for the supplier's marketers to reach all members, but they must try to understand the main role players and concentrate their efforts on influencing the most influential ones. The closer the person with strength and decision-making power is to the core of procurement, the greater the likelihood of success.

Consumer purchasing decision-making psychology and behavior

Marketing decision-making is to perceive unmet needs and solve them.

Marketing's role is to sense people's unmet needs and create new and attractive solutions.

A good example is the modern kitchen and its accompanying appliances.

Shows how marketing can liberate housewives from heavy housework and develop themselves at a higher level.

Kotler put forward such a proposition, what is the task of marketing?

He believes that there are at least three answers to this question. The first answer is the task of marketing, which is responsible for selling all the company's products to all possible people.

The second answer goes a little deeper and believes that marketing should be tasked with meeting the unmet needs of the target market. The last one has philosophical significance.

We believe that the task of marketing is to improve the standards and quality of people's lives. The role of marketing is to perceive people's unmet needs and create attractive solutions, ultimately achieving the goal of improving the standards and quality of people's lives. Purpose.

When Wal-Mart analyzed store sales data, it discovered a very strange phenomenon. The sales growth rates of diapers and beer were extremely similar. The growth curves were almost completely consistent and occurred at the same time.

The store manager was very surprised by this. After doing a lot of analysis and investigation, he discovered that many young fathers are often sent away by their wives to buy diapers for their children, and they often have the habit of drinking beer.

So when I buy diapers, I often buy some beer to take home.

After discovering this phenomenon, the store simply made adjustments and displayed these two originally unrelated products together to maximize the convenience for consumers and at the same time increase the store's sales.

This example is to conduct detailed observations of consumers' strange psychology, analyze consumer purchasing behavior, discover patterns and opportunities, and follow the trend to meet customer needs and provide customers with the greatest benefits. This is exactly what marketers should and must do.

When analyzing Apple's marketing methods, some experts once put forward this point of view. On the surface, Apple's success is based on beautiful product design, first-class user interface, and unique sales channels. , innovative marketing methods.

But if we put aside these appearances and analyze the essence, the reason for the success of Apple's products lies in its true insight into what customers want?

Steve Jobs once said, why not use our fingers to replace those writing pens that often fall off and are not easy to use?

Just such a sentence is enough to show that he understands consumers better than consumers, and he will strictly control and test products on behalf of customers.

Anything he was dissatisfied with, he would scold immediately. This resulted in the market's praise of Apple's products, and also in exchange for the world's number one share and profit margin.

Apple’s most successful gene is its ability to have a deep insight into its customers. It treats customers as real life-savers, living people, and people who want to live a higher quality of life, to discover what they want. , and achieve it in the most perfect way.

This made Steve Jobs and Apple a success.

Zhang Ruimin once put forward such an interesting point of view on marketing. He said that for ordinary corporate marketers, marketing is nothing more than trying every possible means to promote products and expand market share.

But in his view, the essence of marketing is definitely not selling, but buying. What to buy?

What you buy are users’ opinions and suggestions, and then you make improvements and improvements based on this information to achieve user satisfaction. Only then can you gain users’ loyalty and the company be successful.

It is not about selling to buy, not about selling to force a sale, nor is it a short-sighted one-shot deal, but about buying to promote sales, buying from customers first, and then introducing products that can better meet the needs of customers. Sell ??to customers.

However, there are still many companies that have failed to realize this. In the process of production and operation, they pay too much attention to selling and underestimate buying. They wish that the products produced tonight can be sold the next day. go.

Although this idea is understandable, the result may not be as expected. Are the company's products selling well in the market and are they popular with consumers?

Ultimately, the customer has the final say. From this perspective, being good at listening to customers' opinions is more important than simply selling products.

Only by focusing on both buying and selling can we achieve a win-win situation. If a company fails to pay attention to some problems reported by consumers, or shelvs them, or ignores them, over time, consumers will become disgusted with them and the company's products, lose confidence, and eventually the company will lose its market. Loss of effectiveness.

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