What excites your cake customers?
What excites your cake customers about getting an order from you?
There are two things to consider when selling anything. And we do need to explore what excites your cake customers about getting an order from you.
Firstly a person buys to solve a problem.
Secondly, they have a lot of unspoken questions when they first connect with you.
So we need to consider something important in order to address the unspoken questions.
How your product will make your customer feel when they buy from you. What excites your cake customers about getting an order from you? If you don’t consider this, then you are missing out big time. And by the way – a huge percentage of people don’t even know about or consider this aspect either.
If you have been following me for a while – you will know that I comment via Social Media on cake decorators posts.
There are people on social media groups who are moaning. They are getting ignored by their customers. They have given out a price on a message service like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. And that is it…they never hear anything from them again.
I have my own theories on this.
The cake decorator believes that it was the price that put off their customer.
I think it could also be something different. The customer was I believe seeking some customer service.
And we really need to consider what excites your cake customers when communicating with them.
And got a response to a question of “How much for”. The reply was simple – just a price and nothing else. And this is not doing the job called “Great Customer Service.”
People buy from people that they like. The customers have had zero chance to get to know you via a singular curt answer with a price.
People buy things to solve a problem. In our case – they have a celebration coming up and they want a cake as a centrepiece for that party. They are searching for someone in their local area. They want to know it will be done nicely, professionally, effectively and wow their guests. Otherwise, they would just go off to the supermarket and buy a machine made cake…right?
But what most business folk don’t address is the ‘internal’ chatter that every customer has. The prospective customer may well be thinking any or all the following 18 questions-
- Am I confident that this person can do the job?
- Will it taste nice?
- Will it be what I want?
- Is this cake decorator registered and insured?
- Does this decorator have a food hygiene certificate in place?
- Is she knowledgeable about food safety?
- Is this decorator friendly and personable?
- Am I right to chose this decorator or should I find another?
- Is this person talented?
- Have other people been pleased with their orders?
- How can I have evidence that I can trust this person to deliver?
- Is this cake decorator qualified?
- Will the cost be way over what I am thinking?
- Will it be awkward to tweak the cost downwards to suit my budget or is this person difficult to talk to?
- How will the designer communicate with me?
- Has this designer understood my vision for my centrepiece?
- What’s the deal on paying and what are the terms?
- Can I trust this cake decorator not to take my money and fail to deliver?
All these questions and more are buzzing around in their head. And all you thought they were simply asking was “what is the price for an xyz. “
But… some decorators are getting grumpy about people not responding to their one-word answers. Their price is offered as an answer – and that is it. No connection, no other communication, no build-up of trust and so no rapport.
Yes, your audience will type into Google – celebration cake for xyz area – or whatever.
But there is so much more they are searching for than just the price.
They are looking for confidence, variety, assurances, great design, competence and knowledge.
So do you think it’s still OK to answer a prospective customer with a short curt price and nothing else? And then bemoaning the fact that they ghosted you?
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You are just about to spend a significant amount of money. If you were spending that on something for yourself, what would you be doing too? You would be reading all the reviews, wanting to know the sizes, and how the thing worked. You would do some due diligence before you spend. In a shop, you would be quizzing the salesperson with all your questions.
And ps if you get the customer service right – people are willing to part with their money too.
And I am willing to bet too that they are far less likely to quibble about a price.
How upset would you be if when asking a sales advisor in a store a ‘how much?’ question – they quoted a price, turned on their heels and walked off. This is exactly what it looks like to your prospective customer. They want more than just a price – but haven’t yet verbalised all their questions.
But now we know what is going on in their head. So could we empathise and connect with our customers?
Give them the answers to their deepest fears and unspoken questions? As that is what will win the order. And could we can address all these thoughts with answers and a smile? Do you think you are more likely to change that prospect into a firm order? Of course.
So consider if you have ever been shocked and upset by a disappearing customer. But be honest now, have you failed to give customers answers to their unspoken questions?
Each disappearing customer more than likely went to an alternative source. That decorator who communicated and struck up a rapport with them happily. That cake decorator could answer the question of “What excites your cake customers about getting an order from you?” And at the end of the day, these are the cake decorators who will win more orders.
By the way…
CakeCoachOnline has opened up a Free Facebook group.
It’s called the Abundant Bakers and Cakers – and designed to get our like-minded designers together, sharing experiences and help.
If you are really looking for help with your cake business plus craft tuition along your journey, why not explore what our Cake Circle has to offer.
Why not consider reading some more of our blogs