What Makes You Buy?

[Prestige-SEO]

Hello,

Im just wondering here but..... what makes us BUY, wether it be a service, product etc.

Example,

Your looking for business cards or SEO service or Accountant (doesnt matter which) and you ask in the tender section for qoutes. Five People send you qoutes and all the prices are the same (un-likey I know), so which one do you choose?


Luke

 

[BobbyBoy]

Hi Luke

apparently 80% of buying decisions are based on emotions rather than logic, so appeal to peoples emotions....



Bobby

 

[crphillips]

I quite often dont go by price at all......I've been known to choose the dearest plenty of times.

I go on who I like the best and who sounds like they know what they're talking about. That's it. Personality and knowledge.

There are suppliers selling the items I buy for work cheaper but non of them come close when it comes to customer service and knowledge of their products. The level of customer service they offer is outstanding. This costs money, hence the higher price of their products. They're not much more expensive but the service we receive is worth the extra.

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

Mainly from established businesses that we've dealt with for years, which is why it is so difficult for businesses to gain new customers. If we do get a new supplier it is usually due to word of mouth reputation on things like customer service.

Barrie

 

[Christine Hough]

I tend to use local printers for big run printing because they have always been very good in the past and I can rely on them. I do not want to print 55000 leaflets only to find they cannot go as inserts because they were late! The publication only goes out 3x per year. Their prices are competitive and I do not even look elsewhere now.

And I tend to use Goodprint for business cards and postcards because I like their online designer and I can get exactly what I want.

I avoid Vistaprint because they have sharp practices such as making the customer opt out of automatically added on items and then not cancelling them and continuing to repeat charge. I had to get the cc co involved before they stopped and it even then took them two sets of chargebacks before it was sorted.

 

[Prestige-SEO]

Nice to see that in a recession that customer service is still Key.

 

[cjd]

Recommendation

 

[Vending Siting Services]

Service and quality are key and price comes after those initial two in priority in most cases - all depending of course on the product/service.

A few examples:

Getting a quote for work to be done, ie electrician, builder etc - How quick they respond and how they come across when the initial contact is made. Price has to be sensible against all quotes received. I would not necessarily go for the cheapest or the most expensive, many factors come into play and also how you believe you are going to get on with the contractor.

Buying a personal item - quality all the time and that normally means more money.

Petrol - the cheapest as possible!

Repeat business - I give my loyalty to those companies who look after me.

Barbara

 

[Websitehandyman]

What makes me buy ? all sorts of things, here a few example;

Food - my tummy when hungry, my eyes when not, the price when I have to.

Luxuries - flashing lights mainly

clothes - the misses

holidays - see above

household goods - see above above

drugs - the kids

A hit man - most of the people I met on Saturday

 

[crphillips]

We had a garden fence installed recently. The guy came, nice guy, gave us a price there and then and sounded like he knew his stuff. The price was around what I'd had in mind so I gave him the job. I didn't even get any other quotes. He came within a week and completed the fence and made a nice job. We paid him there and then. Job done.

We then wanted a big field gate installing so got him back to do that.

I can't say everyone is like me though. Some folk are very price orientated.

With the kind of business we run we actually aim at folk that want a decent job rather than folk that want a cheap job. We've now got a reputation for being expensive but very good. I'm happy with this reputation as it means all the people after a budget bodgy job don't even pick up the phone and call us thus not wasting my time carrying out quotes that are way out of their league.

There's another shop near us in the same line of business. They have scummy premises on a scummy road in a scummy town and therefore they get all of the scummy jobs. I'm very happy with this arrangement.

There's so much bad customer service around nowadays that customer service is absolutely crucial to do well.

 

[Websitehandyman]

We had a garden fence installed recently. The guy came, nice guy, gave us a price there and then and sounded like he knew his stuff. The price was around what I'd had in mind so I gave him the job. I didn't even get any other quotes. He came within a week and completed the fence and made a nice job. We paid him there and then. Job done.

We then wanted a big field gate installing so got him back to do that.

I can't say everyone is like me though. Some folk are very price orientated.

With the kind of business we run we actually aim at folk that want a decent job rather than folk that want a cheap job. We've now got a reputation for being expensive but very good. I'm happy with this reputation as it means all the people after a budget bodgy job don't even pick up the phone and call us thus not wasting my time carrying out quotes that are way out of their league.

There's another shop near us in the same line of business. They have scummy premises on a scummy road in a scummy town and therefore they get all of the scummy jobs. I'm very happy with this arrangement.

There's so much bad customer service around nowadays that customer service is absolutely crucial to do well.

Thats funny because I once wanted a ceiling replacing, big old thing and I knew it was both a big job and a messy one or I would have done it myself. Went on one of them trade-finder sites and agreed for no less them six people to come and have a look.

Only two turned up, the first one said £150 mate. I said you do understand the work, take it all down, board and plaster the lot and skim it as new. He said no problem.

Well I thought, no way I'll have him that's 3 days works he'll want to charge extra after first day even if he knows what he's doing. So I didn't have him, I had the next blog, he charge £100

Well by this time I was pissed off and wanted it done, even if the next blog has said £500 he would have got the job but fool him. He took almost two days, nearly killed himself but he got a £10 tip at the end.

 

[gemd89]

Ive just had over 20 quotes for SEO on my site. A few businesses hounded me day and night by phone and email - had to tell them politely to piss off in the end. Other companies wanted to charge £1000 set up and then £500 per month for 12 months but sent a vague proposal (a standard mail out to all clients) The business i went with wasnt the cheapest it was the one who actually bothered to look at my website, listened to what I asked and wanted and provided a detailed response actually related to what I asked for.

Definately customer service all the way
Gemma

 

[crphillips]

Thats funny because I once wanted a ceiling replacing, big old thing and I knew it was both a big job and a messy one or I would have done it myself. Went on one of them trade-finder sites and agreed for no less them six people to come and have a look.

Only two turned up, the first one said £150 mate. I said you do understand the work, take it all down, board and plaster the lot and skim it as new. He said no problem.

Well I thought, no way I'll have him that's 3 days works he'll want to charge extra after first day even if he knows what he's doing. So I didn't have him, I had the next blog, he charge £100

Well by this time I was pissed off and wanted it done, even if the next blog has said £500 he would have got the job but fool him. He took almost two days, nearly killed himself but he got a £10 tip at the end.

I had a similar thing with a potato peeler. I kept buying them at supermarkets and they were rubbish. It was becoming impossible to find a good potato peeler. They were all between £1.50 & £3.50. I wanted one that was £15. I couldn't find one but I did find one for about £8 and it's the best potato peeler ever! I went back and bought a couple more!

 

[silvermusic]

Hello,

Im just wondering here but..... what makes us BUY, wether it be a service, product etc.

Very rarely is it ever because of price. Services I buy from people I like and most of all listen to me. Going back a bit when I chose my Accountant it was after speaking to five different ones that I made my choice, not the cheapest but he took the trouble to listen to what I wanted and needed.

Products, as I tend to buy most things over the net nowadays it's from recommendations, from someone who I've bought from before, or a firm that looks professional and doesn't bull*hit, easy to spot if you know what you're looking for but not always foolproof. With eBay/Amazon sellers and feedback it's a bit easier to judge.

One other example I'd like to mention dates back many years. I use to work in town and every night on the way home I use to get local newspaper to read on the bus and normally a bar of chocolate and some cigarettes. I had to pass two newsagents on my way to the bus stop. First one fine, just bought what I wanted, handed over the money, they said thank you, everything fine. The second one sold exactly the same stuff, same prices, but what a difference. A very much larger than life character, chatted to people about the weather, jobs, local news/gossip, was a whole encyclopedia of jokes, could often be heard singing to the radio while doing the daily tasks that need to be done in the shop, etc. He took the trouble to find out peoples names maybe where they worked, etc. Which one do you think had the most customers and lasted many years after the other had closed down.

 

[iArtist]

Hello,

Im just wondering here but..... what makes us BUY, wether it be a service, product etc.

Example,

Your looking for business cards or SEO service or Accountant (doesnt matter which) and you ask in the tender section for qoutes. Five People send you qoutes and all the prices are the same (un-likey I know), so which one do you choose?


Luke

It depends entirely on the service, thus:

Business cards - anyone based on price
SEO - only a reccomendation from a trusted source as too many SnakE Oil merchants out there..
Accountant - local person, communicative, reasonably priced, known in the area.

 

[Peter Yu]

It's the functionality of the product that counts most. For a gadget, you may ask before buying--is it functional?

 

[ludwig]

I try to look after good suppliers the same as good customers. Reps that ******** me don't get repeat business. However...... This is one example of what we face sometimes as a business.We are a small time supplier of plants to the garden centre trade. Noone works harder than us to create a saleable plant to put on a bench . We have a unique website. We are peat free. We are (as far as I know) the only plant producer that uses bi-ligual point of sale material. The plants are very good quality. Last year a customer phoned for plants on Easter Sunday . We got them plants within two hours of the call. Last week when I called in they had devoted a large display unit to a competitor that grows a bland range of bog standard stuff on the other side of the country. They won't be cheaper than ours and they won't be better but they have a much better position on the centre. It's a challenge that I am ready for but I don't understand my customers attitude when we did so well for them last year

 

[crphillips]

I'd have to disagree with the point on:
"Business Cards - Anyone based on price"

I pay £175 for 500 business cards which is fairly pricey but they are amazing cards. The card is thicker than most companies offer, they're fully printed front and back and have a varnish applied over certain areas of the card to give gloss and matt finishes in different areas of the card. They come in a nice display box and individually boxed in 100's.

They look gorgeous.....once again price didn't even come into it. There aren't many printers that do the clear varnish so once again I went on service/product.

 

[iArtist]

I'd have to disagree with the point on:
"Business Cards - Anyone based on price"

I pay £175 for 500 business cards which is fairly pricey but they are amazing cards. The card is thicker than most companies offer, they're fully printed front and back and have a varnish applied over certain areas of the card to give gloss and matt finishes in different areas of the card. They come in a nice display box and individually boxed in 100's.

They look gorgeous.....once again price didn't even come into it. There aren't many printers that do the clear varnish so once again I went on service/product.

The companys I know that are inexpensive offer all the above. Not sure re the varnish but I'd rather go for plastic than varnish in anycase.

So yes price does come into. One decides what one needs and finds a supplier who can deliver based on price.

 

[crphillips]

The companys I know that are inexpensive offer all the above. Not sure re the varnish but I'd rather go for plastic than varnish in anycase.

So yes price does come into. One decides what one needs and finds a supplier who can deliver based on price.

That's kinda my point though. The varnish is the most important part and it's a specialist thing that looks far better than plastic. You can't beat a really good quality heavy card in matt with selected sections in gloss. This can't be done with plastic. Hence why I go to the place I do and not just to any old printer.

Like I say....I wasn't price orientated.......I found a company who listened and did what I wanted rather than one that tried to push me onto plastic cards which don't have the same affect whatsoever.

 

[iArtist]

That's kinda my point though. The varnish is the most important part and it's a specialist thing that looks far better than plastic. You can't beat a really good quality heavy card in matt with selected sections in gloss. This can't be done with plastic. Hence why I go to the place I do and not just to any old printer.

Like I say....I wasn't price orientated.......I found a company who listened and did what I wanted rather than one that tried to push me onto plastic cards which don't have the same affect whatsoever.

Plastic are more durable which is why I'd prefer plastic if paying more.

Meanwhile we don't necc disagree at all.

I would find someone doing what I wanted and shop around for price. It's not about finding the cheapest. It's about finding a like for like service at the best price.

It's not as important to me to get a referral for such a service as it would be for say seo or accountancy.

 

[facey65]

On the subject of buying and the trends that go with it. The new strapline I saw at Selfridges recently was aimed at the internet buying crowd. Its message was "I didnt find it....it found me"

 

[MikeBzr]

Proof is a big factor for me - so a portfolio of work, samples, word of mouth, quality testimonials etc.

It does depend on what's being sold, though - price only factors in for me in retail scenarios where the same product is available numerous places as varying prices. If it's a 1-2-1 service like training/coaching/mentoring then aside from the obvious prerequisite of, yknow, them actually knowing what they're talking about - then rapport is a major factor - I'm never going to get the best from a coach I don't click with, and vice versa.