Ask Customers Their Opinions Promptly

When your customer is considering whether to make a particular purchase, chances are their decision will be influenced by whatever they believe other people think about the product. Sometimes the agents of influence are not who you’d expect. Research at University of Western Ontario and University of South Carolina found that an adult customer’s views about how innovative their parents are has surprisingly strong influence on how willing the customer is to buy something different.

      Knowing all this, it would seem that in personal selling, if the customer hesitates buying a product you’ve concluded would both fulfill their needs and benefit your store’s bottom line, you’d want to discover the customer’s beliefs about what others think of the item and who is influencing their opinions.      Wait, though. Other research at University of South Carolina, joined with that at Loyola University and Baruch College found risks in asking, “How do you think your friends, your family, and other people would rate this product choice?” if the question comes too early in the conversation. Namely, this sort of question shouldn’t come before you ask the customer what they themselves think of the item. The risk in asking too soon about the preferences of others is that many consumers take pride in thinking independently. They prefer seeing themselves as exerting strong influence over others than seeing themselves as yielding to strong influence by others. Ask too soon about the opinions of others and the shopper will reject your purchase preference.

      This is most true when doing business with shoppers from individualistic cultures like the U.S., Canada, and Australia. It is somewhat less true if your customers identify with norms of collectivist cultures like Korea, Turkey, or Taiwan. But wherever in the world you’re selling, it’s best to promptly ask each customer their opinions.