Human behaviour – Why is it relevant to my business?
We all have behaviours that are typical and we all have behaviours that are unique. You might be wondering why this is relevant to you and your business…
Knowing your customers behaviour helps you and I’ll tell you how.
Learnt behaviours dictate the decisions we make. The decisions we make dictate how we spend our money, what we buy and the process we initiate when making choices. There are three core areas of behaviour that we focus on when considering it alongside consumerism…
Investment: the work put in to effect change
Social Influence: how one person’s actions impact another person’s investment
Justification: systematic structure around claims about what is and what should be.
What does this mean for business?
Let’s look at one of the biggest and most lucrative industries in the world. The fitness industry.
You can workout anywhere really…in your lounge, back garden, in the park, running on the street, swimming in the ocean. For the cost of your time. Yet the fitness industry is a multi billion dollar industry. Why? Because they hit those sweet spots that we are seeking out: Accountability, Motivation, Structure, Desire to achieve goals, Feeling part of something.
These are all targets driven by human behaviour and the fitness industry has continuously morphed to rise up and meet our human needs. The fitness industry is more than gyms…it’s personal trainers, bootcamps, fitness gear, trainers, home equipment, retreats, apps, youtube, dvds. Something that you can do for free in your home, you pay oodles for. What makes you commit to those costs?
How does this relate to your business?
This is the best question you could ask – because if it isn’t relevant, it’s wasting your time. Your business is successful because consumers are motivated by what you’re offering. They desire it and this pushes them to commit.
Not every prospect you come across will have this level of awareness. They may need you to highlight why your offering is the solution for their problem. This is how human behaviour relates to your business.
If your offering is not igniting desire in your prospects, they may go elsewhere for a solution. Your offering needs to trigger that innate human behavioural response…”I need that”. Understanding where your prospects are and what they need to get them over the line puts you in a position to know what to give them, how to approach them and what they need to make their buying decision.
Making the buying decision
Imagine you have started up a personal training company and you have a small list of 100 contacts who have signed up that they are interested but only 3 have committed to sessions and made payment. Instead of going out and procuring more leads, how do you encourage the remaining 97 people on your list to commit?
You suss them out, you figure out who they are and you join the conversation in their head. There may be some mums who have expressed they want to lose their postpartum pounds. Maybe there are a handful of nervous first timers. Perhaps there are several fitness veterans who want to be put through their paces. Are the fees an issue? Are the times a problem? Is childcare a pain? Use this information to connect with your list. You could have group sessions which would lower the fees and reassure people by segmenting them according to where they are in their journey: A mum’s group, A first timers group, A hardcore group.
By gently tugging on their pains and along with your new knowledge of their behaviour and approach them from a new perspective. Motivate them by highlighting their desire and drowning their pains.
How do you implement this?
Human behaviour drives people’s decisions. We know this, but how do we get to a place where we know our consumers well enough to implement this strategy?
Demographics get you the basics but psychographics help you figure out what your prospects want rather than what they need. I need petrol for my car, I don’t desire it. I want a new car and I desire the hell out of that. 
You have to walk their path, talk their talk. An effective customer journey will get you a seat in your prospect’s conversations and take you along their experience which will help you identify how to create your content.
Drive your content with what you have learnt and don’t forget to ask them what they want. Run surveys and polls – figure out what they want out of personal training and then create an offering for them.
Humans are our greatest teachers of human behaviour
Ask your neighbour who has just had a baby what she would want from a trainer. Visit the gym and ask the people that seem to workout for hours what they would want from a trainer. Ask people who don’t train, why they don’t and what would get them training. Humans are our greatest teachers of human behaviour.
This is perfect information to create your offerings. The new mum next door may say she’s unfit and self conscious. Maybe she can’t afford it and can’t get the childcare. Then offer: Mum’s only session at their pace, Lower fee as group session, Bring your babies. The hardcore fanatics may say they need to be challenged and they want to try new things. They don’t like being bored. Then offer: Challenged sessions, New locations, Exciting activities that push them. The newbies could say that they’re embarrassed and never done any exercise before. They are scared of judgement but they do want to start they just don’t know how. Then offer: Private sessions in their home, Diet advice included, Progress reporting.
Human behaviour should drive every decision you make for your business and if it isn’t then you need to check your strategy and make sure that you are actually creating solutions that benefit your consumers.