The Lady’s touch

Guest post by Samuel G. Njenga

Continued from ‘Do you Know You Customers: Part 2’

Some day we were coming from Naivasha with my wife and kids and we opted to use the Tigoni route, just to see area. Midway the lush and green tea farms, I noted that my wife was quite excited seeing them. When I asked her what she was thinking, she smiled and asked me whether I was seeing what she was seeing. And so I asked her what it was she was seeing. Her response was expected. She was of the idea that in our old age we could actually settle around there. Very serene, fresh air, nice landscapes and leafy. Then I remembered sometimes back when I had proposed to her that we could actually built a house in Syokimau and was amazed by her when she flatly refused. Of course I already had bought a plot there and I realized that if I insisted on building there, I may have ended up living alone…jokes aside.

It gets interesting when a customer of the male gender views a plot and insists that the wife will have to come and view it and give a seal of approval or even rejection. 90% of the time, it is never a deal. This is how powerful ladies can be. How about when a lady views first and then requests her man to have a look and approve or disapprove, 90% of the time it is a sale.

When selling houses it is even trickier. In fact due to the power of ladies, we are normally forced to design a house with them in mind. Think of a big kitchen with a lot of storage space, think of a large lounge with some dining space, think of that master bedroom which as big as a football field with very nice finishes…then you will win them ladies. How about those interior designs? It pays to get an interior design with a lady’s eye.

I keep statistics as a strategy to inform me more about my customers. The other day, I was doing some analysis on all the properties I ever sold. It dawned on me that 60% of the sales are to ladies. Quite telling. It is my considered view that it is an extremely important market segment in real estate. I don’t know what else we can deduce from the said statistics but that is for another day.

An interesting customer I came across was a lady who was just about to get married. She had very clear instructions to me that I must not disclose any info to her husband to be who happened to know me. Then I asked her why? She told me that if the man ever discovered that she had 700k in her account; the guy would insist that they do a bigger wedding that the one they had planned. Then she said that I should not delay in executing the transfer, otherwise the property will be classified as matrimonial….rather interesting and strange. Duniani kuna mambo.

Big lesson: It is extremely important to know your customers if you want to succeed in Business. Loyalty is built over time and by giving consistent attention to your clients. Every client meeting or conversation should end with words like: “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

In the next several posts we shall advise first time business owners. Chances of failure are higher than those of succeeding, but with proper education, you increase your chances in a big big way.

Do you know your customers? Part 2

Configured Customer

Continued from part 1

A classic case of eating the fruits of a good name.

A happy customer is the best advertising you can ever do in real estate. Such a customer will definitely refer another one to you. They will do all the dirty work for you. In fact, by the time the customer comes looking for the seller, in their subconscious the deal is done. This is the type of customer that makes me stop doing anything I could be doing to attend to them. They rarely disappoint. Remember the guy who was referred to me by his pastor. Obviously mine was just to show up with the proper paperwork and collect money.

Think of customer references along this line…

The ethos behind peer influence never really changes. People have always sought the advice of their peers, and their peers have always been ready and willing to give their opinions. Whether you are buying a car or a plot, majority seek the opinion of somebody else. In fact, whenever a prospective customer calls and confirms they will get time to view plots, they rarely show up on their own. What better opinion would you get than from somebody who already has travelled your path? In most cases reference customers never travel through the long corridor of indecision…they are really ready made.

Strategic Customer

This type of customer is quite important. If I am targeting a particular organization or grouping to makes sales there and a client representative of the group shows up, then I really must nail such a client. Sometimes it involves giving big concessions just to accommodate him / her. Once such a sale is done, I will then use that customer to get inroads to the group / organization. Sometimes I will make such a client a selling agent after satisfying him / her. It works wonders especially when the element of incentives is introduced. The Kikuyu elders would say that “shilingi humulikwa na ingine” In other words, you must spend money (utilize) to chase bigger monies.

To borrow somebody else’s definition; a strategic customer is one who possesses two characteristics. For one thing, the strategic customer should represent the target audience for the product development. Besides this, the strategic customer should possess an outstanding reputation in its field, whatever field that is, such that both the partnering business and the resulting product will benefit from the association in a win-win situation. The strategic customer’s reputation will help enhance the business’s credibility as well as help sell the product of the collaboration to others.

The other day, I was perusing the customers’ database that I have been keeping and I noted an interesting statistic. For all the plots I have ever sold, 60% have been bought by ladies….this obviously points to something. We shall take a break here and when we resume, I shall tell you more about the ‘Lady’s touch’. Whenever a male customer views a property and promises to bring their wife to view and affirm if it is nice, experience has shown me that there will be a 90% chance of a particular outcome. And I normally tell the architect that whenever he is designing houses for sale for me, he must consider the lady’s’ touch….He will laugh sheepishly most of the time and give a remark that based on that line of reasoning I have become true businessman. Why? If you have a way of getting ladies into your pocket, then certainly men will follow them ladies inside your pocket. And certainly your pocket will be one hell or is it heaven of a pocket and you may end up singing that song ‘Sign of a victory’.

In our upcoming posts, we shall serialise a book called The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. It was first published in 1910 by Elizabeth Towne in New York. This book has changed the lives of many who have read it repeatedly and done what it says. It will change yours too. Find out for yourself in the next post.

Do you know your customers? Part 1

Guest post by Samuel G. Njenga

“If you want to sell to everybody, you'll most likely sell to no-one”

Simply put, you need to have a target group for your customers as opposed to attempting to sell to everyone even those who may not need your product or service. You can imagine attempting to sell a plot to a man who does not know where his next meal will come from. Of course the man would not mind owning a plot, but that would be the last thing in his mind at that point in time. The same man may afford one a year or two later.

In real estate we meet all manner of customers and with a bit of experience one can tell a serious one from a joker. Interestingly, a serious customer for a plot or house actually pushes you as the vendor to seal the deal. Consider like the purchase of a house; the purchaser takes their sweet time before a decision is made. They go through a long decision corridor and they can only do the actual purchase upon reaching the end of the decision corridor. The decision corridor may involve viewing so many properties and gathering lots of info before a final decision is made. Woe unto you the seller if you meet a client who has just joined the corridor.

My good partner Paul someday gave me a funny analogy in reference to some customers. When we were younger and chasing girls, you could meet a girl whom you like and for all intents and purposes you’d target to chase. Her strategy is to give you lots of hopes so that you continue with the chase. Obviously she is thrilled by the chase while you are eyeing something else. Soon you realize that the chase will never end coz she is good at ducking you. At some point you give up and set your target on another one. Much later and maybe due to loneliness, the first girl comes back to you and this time round she is there for your taking. Some customers will take you round and round until you give up. They may go out there and do lots of comparisons of products for a long time but by the time they show up the second time, they just buy without much ado.

When I was selling my very first plots off the eastern bypass, I met a gentleman called George. George was the most fearful customer I ever met. He was so afraid of losing money and I was even wondering how he’ll ever buy a plot. I obviously noted so and advised him to go carry out some due diligence on the plots I was selling because back then I had no previous sales for him to refer to. That time we were selling each plot at 300k. He must have gone round and round looking for alternatives for quite a long time. When he came back to me one year later, he was so frustrated out there to an extent that he just wanted to buy and close that matter. I sold him a plot which was less primer than the first ones and at 600k…things move that fast. Nowadays the fear in him is gone and he has done much more that you can imagine. Obviously he relates well to that analogy of the girls’ chasing. Notice how frustrating it can get if you keep meeting customers who are taking you round and round and you may end up investing a lot of time and resources on them only to realize that they were never serious.

The best customers I meet are references, what I sometimes refer to as configured customers. And there is another type I refer to as strategic customers whom I make lots of sacrifices to capture. I will talk about those in the next post. And the middle class that has a habit of over-analyzing things to their detriment.

The big lesson today is to stress the importance of understanding your customers; otherwise you could find yourself selling Johnie Walker blue label and Jack Danielles in a zone where they expect KEG. Or opening a coffee house in the interior of Murang'a and an attempt to sell Cappuccinos and Caffe Lattes of this world and them prospective customers might ask you ‘huto ni tunini?’