Figuring Out Buying Behavior No. 2 ~ Assignment Fifteen

I interviewed three people and I first told them about my business idea which is to create a paint company. I didn't tell them many details after that because I wanted to hear their thoughts on it.

The alternatives I came up with were:

1. Not paint their house
2. Do it themselves.
3. Use wallpaper.
4. Use someone less expensive.
5. Use someone else for better quality.

I'm sure there are more but I thought five was sufficient to start.

So I asked each person who I interviewed to pick the alternative that they think they would follow the most and I was surprised that all three of them picked number four. This was great for me because my motto for the paint company was to do the project for 85% of the customers lowest bid. I also asked them what their second choice would be. Two of them picked that they would do it themselves and one of them said that they just wouldn't paint their house. These are both pretty dangerous options for my company because I wouldn't be the one doing the job for them.

It sounds like the price is a big factor in their decision. I guess that applies in a lot of decisions that we make, we have to worry and think about the price. Everyone has to decide whether a purchase they want to make is within their budget and if it is not, there is always alternate things to do like not painting their house at all or doing it themselves. It seems as though if a price is not what the customer is expecting and they don't want to pay for it, they will save some money doing the painting on their own time. They would be willing to sacrifice their time, in order to not spend the money on having someone else do it for them which I can definitely understand because I would probably do the same thing.

I asked the people I interviewed if they liked doing manual labor and I was not surprised that they all answered no. I think you have to be a specific type of person to like it. Personally, I like doing it and completing things with my hands. I like looking at a project, knowing how hard I worked on it and seeing the finished product. Most people don't like that though and that is COMPLETELY OKAY! That is what I am here for.

My customers are more likely to purchase my service in person or over the phone. If I set up a website, they could order it online but that would be more difficult. My service is also difficult because I would have to go and quote many properties for free, not knowing if they are going to give me the job or not. I asked them if they would pay a small fee for a quote and they all said no. This is because so many other companies do it for free so they can just call someone else for a free quote.

When I asked the people what they valued most, two of them said quality and the other one said they couldn't decide between quality or dependence. I thought that was really interesting because it is hard to get people to work in the construction industry. Like I previously mentioned, most people do not like to do physical labor. It is hard doing it every single day too. I have done it! Something else I noticed was the fact that quality was one of their top post purchase evaluation thoughts but they didn't choose it for alternatives. Many of them picked the price over the alternative of quality. I do quality work but I would say that is something wrong with society as a whole. Most people want quality work but aren't necessarily willing to pay for it.

My interviews were all pretty similar in regards to how they felt about hiring someone to paint. I would say that people would renovate their homes if it was cheaper. They would also like quality supplies and work but sometimes won't be willing to pay for it. Therefore, they have to settle for something not as good in order to stay within budget. There are a lot of people who don't like to do manual labor, including people who are in the industry of doing manual labor. I can attest to the fact that it does get tiering but it is so worth it when project is finished. I think that people would value my company because of our motto because price does matter to a lot of people. Sometimes it is all they can think about!