Digitalization is profoundly changing sales modelling and customer journey design.

As up till now, sales modelling has focused on the patterns of groups and segments, but the technology allows for individual fitted sales models. Paradigm is switching from understanding customers, to understanding one customer at a time. Modelling the sale of ice-cream would most likely indicate that the majority buys more ice-cream when the temperature is high, and that has been effective knowledge, but what about that one person that buys an ice-cream every time he has been to the dentist, no matter the temperature?

Those highly personal preferences have not been possible to track, process and target, but the technology is here, and we saw a glimpse of what it could do during covid “You have been within x feet of a person possibly infected with covid, you should get tested”. 

EXAMPLE OF PERSONALIZED SALES MODELLING

A family is visiting an Amusement Park, from their registration and purchase of tickets online 3 weeks before the visit, till they actually arrive, leaves a lot of possibilities to model, service and sell more and better to that particular family, enhancing the entire experience. 

When the family leaves home, the amusement park already knows the possibility of them arriving later than planned due to knowledge of roadwork or car queues between the family’s location and the Amusement Park. During the trip, there ETA can be recalculated again and again, so that the Amusement Park knows almost exactly when they’ll arrive at the parking lot. How to use that data for personalizing the experience is up to the creativity of the customer journey responsible, but selling a parking spot closer to the entry when the family is late is a possibility. Servicing them with a small gift on their cell phone when they arrive saying “Running late? Take it easy, the queues are not that long at the rides today, so sit down at x-cafe on the left after the entrance, and we’ll buy you a cup of coffee.” or selling them a tour pass with 10% off that makes them skip the long lines. 

Up till now the sales modelling has used person specific data and paired them with general knowledge of how a family Dad might accept the purchase of a better parking spot, so that the family doesn’t lose any more time. What becomes interesting is how he responds to the different offers and help he receives. The more interactions, the more precise the modelling of what triggers a sale for this particular family Dad can be calculated, and the end of the day the Amusement Park will have better conditions than ever, knowing what will make this dad upgrade their day tickets to a season pass. The family Dad has made a lot of the decisions during the day, and data shows under which conditions he is most likely to make a purchase, the task is to create these conditions.

NOW WE CAN EAZE DROP ON THE ONE CUSTOMER

The possibilities for individually fitted customer journeys and sales modelling based on a full personalized level is not a dream, it is possible with the switch to mobile ticketing and other technologies. Bestselling author Frank Bettger advocated over a hundred years ago for sale being the ability to listen your way into the customers true needs before trying to do the sale. This is indeed possible to do now more than ever.