Talked to a couple of business start-ups the other day.
“Who’s your client?”, I asked. “Everybody”, came the reply.
I smiled because that brought back memories of when we started almost 16 years ago. At that stage if it fogged a mirror it was a prospect.
Fast forward to today. One piece of advice I’d give any business is not everyone is your client and you have to narrow down your focus if you’re going to succeed.
Sure, you may well be able to service a huge range of people. However experience proves that trying to attract everyone ultimately means you attract no one.
You have to get specific.
Narrowing down who you serve best, you attract exactly those people who are willing to engage and pay you well for your help.
So your goal should be to continually refine your focus on who you serve best. Who would make an IDEAL client. Who is most likely to buy and at a premium price.
This of course begs the question of how do you go about selecting your ideal target market.
Our strongest advice would be, go over all the clients you’ve worked with and look for commonalities.
Could be demographics.
Industry, size of business, location, age ranges of individual consumers, gender, occupation, income level etc. The defining characteristic of a demographic is it’s quantifiable.
Or psychographics – how they think and make decisions. Their personality traits, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyle.
Run each through filters: (These are ours)
- Could you help them and what results did they get working with you?
- Did they do what you told them (how else could you get a result otherwise)?
- Do you like them! (Life’s too short to work with people you don’t like)
It’s often easier to figure out what you don’t want in a client so start there. Then reverse each trait to find the positives.
Once you’ve figured out who your best customers are and why they buy, figure out how to get more of them.
You’ll develop a reputation for helping this type of client. And as birds of a feather flock together, who are they likely to know but other people like them? People they could refer?
I strongly suggest you regularly (every 6 months or so) sit down and analyse who you best serve and refine your focus. It’s one of the best ways to sustainably grow your business.
Finally, sitting down and doing this yourself can be quite a challenge. Often we’re too close to our own businesses.
Engage with us to help you re-focus on who your ideal clients are. We’ll analyse your clients as well as interview a selection to get detailed feedback.
You’ll know exactly who your most profitable clients are (and they may not be who you think). And with a revamped marketing plan you’ll be in a position to generate more of these types of clients.
Call us on +61-414-913-334 to get the ball rolling.
