Companies can benefit from all kinds of planning and forecasting because it gives them ideas of how they can accomplish more in the future. Depending on the company and the industry, there are a lot of options. Your business should always be planning for the future, in both the short-term and long-term and customer demand is a part of that planning. The strategy you use to plan for your customers and what they’ll need and want will go a very long way toward making sure they keep coming back to buy from you.

Why Plan for Demand?

When you practice demand planning, you help prepare for all the things your customers need from you. They might want something much more frequently during certain times of the year, so you need to have more of it for them at that time. Or they may be more steady in what they buy from you, but you definitely don’t want to run out. Planning for the level of demand your customers will have is one of the very best ways to build customer loyalty and keep people coming back to your business.

If you’re not sure what your customers really need from you, there’s no harm in asking. Customers like to give their input, and feel like their voices are being heard. That makes them feel valued, and shows them that your company cares about more than just their money. When you use demand planning and get input from your customers, you’ll be able to get a much more accurate forecast than you would be able to get otherwise — and that can make all the difference in your customers’ loyalty.

How Accurate do You Need to Be?

Accuracy matters, but it’s really not possible for most companies to be exact when it comes to what they’re offering or what they have on hand. There may be some exceptions for really specialized items, of course, but most companies don’t offer that. Instead, they have a variety of goods and services, and they want to be sure their customers can buy those goods or receive those services when they want and need them. If you’re going to err, then you should err on the side of having too much. 

Running out of something your customers want or need doesn’t generally help you keep their loyalty. You may find that they head over to your competition if they aren’t getting what they need from you. That could be a one-time thing, or they just may decide they like it there better and will keep going there in the future. Then you’ve lost a customer, just because you didn’t have something they were looking for. It’s better to avoid that, if possible, and that’s why a reasonable level of accuracy in demand planning matters.

What Kinds of Benefits Will You Get?

When you practice good demand planning at your company, you’ll get great benefits. The biggest of those will be the loyalty your customers will have to your business. When customers feel like they’re heard and seen, they’ll keep returning to your company again and again. They may even come back, despite being able to get something at a lower price somewhere else. If you can make it convenient for your customers to buy from you, the odds are high that they’ll continue to do that.

Of course, you don’t want to discount the word-of-mouth advertising you’ll get from your loyal customers, too. Your demand planning will need to take that into account, since that could mean more customers coming to your business and additional demand for your products or services. As word gets around that customers can get what they need from your company, you’ll have to increase your production or level of services in order to make sure the added customer base still gets what it needs from you.

What’s the Bottom Line?

The bottom line for your company, when it comes to the value of demand planning, is that you want to keep customers happy and stay ahead of your competition. It’s easier to do both of those things when you plan for the level of demand you’re going to see. Whether that’s a steady increase because of business growth, or it’s affected by the seasons or other times throughout the year, you’ll want to understand how it changes, so you can be accurate with planning and being prepared.

Not all companies are good with planning for the demands of their customers. That can lead to empty shelves, items that are out of stock online, and services that can’t be provided for days, weeks, or even months. You can avoid all of that with your company, when you plan for customer needs and anticipate the changes you’ll experience. It’s beneficial to your customers, and to your company, as well.