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The lesson from this minute and half purchase remains with me two months later. Getting a succinct understanding of a customer’s digital body language isn’t just going to help the sales team, it also helps the business save money. Instead of giving the 25% discount to a customer who completely thought through their purchase, they gave it to a customer who would ideally take advantage of it quickly. This means more money for the business now. Many organizations are collecting data and storing it in data banks to be used for specific brand or product campaigns. Rewards are targeted at the big spenders and loyalty programmes designed for premium customers. These are retention strategies for fish that are already in the net. As marketing and sales professionals, it comes down to increasing market share - netting more fish. You are not just giving discounts to all customers, some who do not need them or customers who will reap the discount when both the customer and business are facing financial challenges, you are extending a discount to a customer who has the potential to increase their purchase quota and can also make the decision to do so quickly. This approach kills dead leads and moving on quicker enables you focus on other interested prospects. These young men selling shoes have probably never been to a marketing class, but they could know and understand better what mobile marketing and ‘always on’ marketing is about. Mobile transactions and interactions are fleeting. They change every second. How can we take advantage of the here and now? Why are you monitoring traffic on your page and webpage? Why should you look at your competitors? How can I take advantage of the speed that mobile convergence offers to make a sale and retain a customer? We have said over the years and learnt that non-verbal cues communicate just as much as spoken word. Understanding digital body language can help many organizations learn what their prospects actually want before they even connect, enabling them to deliver even more value once they do. Mobile technology allows us to do this easily, quickly and efficiently. As trained, experienced and accredited marketing professionals, we have long believed in the key activations based on a rigid, planned calendar that are targeted to fluid customers. We must begin to get in sync with the digital body language of our customers and work our online strategies around the drastic shifts in consumer demand. Generation Z is taking up market share of big organizations that are busy meeting in boardrooms and rolling out strategies worth millions of shillings. The key is having the technological ability to adapt swiftly and the understanding of evolving concepts that are driving purchase decisions. We have developed words like artificial intelligence, data mining, data tracking that we need to really begin to understand and use to the advantage of business. Small and medium size businesses taking advantage of digital commerce are winning over customers from larger corporates through a good understanding of digital body language and use of mobile apps to drive sales and make good money. We need to take a new look at mobile and what it can offer us in the space of AI, KYC and business growth. Interesting times we live in! Diana Obath is a seasoned Public Relations and Communications Specialist. You can commune with her on this or related issues via mail on: [email protected].