The new economy is changing customer loyalty. It now becomes easier to pick another supplier for getting the goods you want, especially internet items such as books, DVD's, toys, stocks, … The customer attitude often is "I don't bother complaining but I'll switch supplier". One reaction of internet suppliers has been to increase the service offered, adding content to their sites, but that's not enough to keep customers come back. For instance, you can go to the website of Amazon.com to find out which book to buy, and once you have done that, run a price comparison agent that will find the cheapest way to get that book to you. The end result may be a true market economy, in which the price stabilizes at level that better reflects the game of offer and demand.

Unless… one can build a relationship with a customer. At some point recognition of your specific needs and having a person that understands you are of more importance than price. As such, Buyer Motivation is much like the motivation structure you'll find in the work place, namely, often money is not the most important factor, even if many sales and purchasing courses do focus on the monetary aspect. Price only becomes important if 2 offers are exactly the same and there is no other benefit to offer to the customer. For instance, buying from Amazon.co.uk, I'm pretty sure will get my books delivered fast, while if I work with Bookpoint, they risk shipping it to another country so that I never see the goods, and then still refuse to pay me back!

The recommendation?

From a buyer perspective, become more assertive to ensure that the product you buy really corresponds to your need. If the salesperson is not asking you the right questions, assure yourself that your concerns are dealt with, or switch supplier.

From a seller perspective, find out how the buyer makes his decision. For instance, you might ask questions such as: "What did you base your decision on the last time you made a similar purchase?", "How did the purchasing process go?", What did this purchase do for you?". Basically, the customer will tell you how he likes to be sold to. Taking these specific demands into account, will make it easier for the customer to decide. Then, make sure you deliver! Nothing is as bad as promising something you won't be giving. You'll lose the customer (no retention) + you'll get bad publicity! As Tom Peeters started saying more than 10 years ago, the name of the game is "delight the customer" - satisfying some of the customers demands may actually bring you a lot of loyalty for a very low price.