Be Clear About Your Ideal Customers – There Are Enough For Everyone
Customers are like potato chips – they will always make more and there are enough for everyone. With more than 6 nillion people on the plante — you wouldn’t want all of them as your customer!
So why is it that so many companies describe their services in such generalities and in the broadest terms that makes it seem like EVERYONE is their customer?
If this sounds like you? STOP IT. Reaching out to the broadest possible consumer creates two undesirable situations:
- More customers than you can adequately serve and make a gavorable impression on.
- Ticked off customers who go off and tell or blog to literally thousands of people about how YOU did NOT keep your brand promise.
Neither of these is any good for your bottom line.
Is Your Fear of Losing the Sale, Worth a Mad, Embarrassed Customer?
When we first got married, I had this habit of making my husband really think about what I wanted for Christmas. In his defense – he is a fabulous gift buyer. He truly thinks about the person he’s buying for and usually gets the most thoughtful and creative gifts. But on this particular Christmas, I was being exceptionally challenging. So, he goes to the mall and starts shopping for woman’s clothes. (Poor thing) He walks into a Lane Bryant store and starts looking around. A sales woman comes up to him and asks him what he’s looking for. He says “My wife is a size 8 or Medium and I’m looking for something nice for her.” For those of you not familiar with Lane Bryant — it’s a large-sized store with clothes that start at size 14 (I think). Instead of telling him that this isn’t the store for that size – she proceeds to sell him some items. Needless to say he was embarrassed and upset when I opened my gift.
How to Fearlessly Develop a Target Market
- Be fearless. Don’t be afraid of not having enough customers. Seriously – you don’t really mean that everyone can use your product or service. Everyone can PERHAPS use it — but not with good results. Besides, you can’t afford to serve everyone. So forget that. It’s not reality.
- Sit down and really think about the profile of the ideal user. Get that profile as tight and descriptive as possible. Now put that description in your materials. Literally use the words “[your profile description here] will get best results by [insert some behavior here]“ You can also do the same for secondary profiles and give appropriate guidance
- Clearly designate your target profile in your marketing. If your target is teenage girls with blond hair — then say that. You’ll get the largest percentage of that market and they will be the happiest.
- Develop a story around why you chose this target market. Some studies have recently come out that say that people will choose you if your story is what they want to hear. If your company makes a difference in the world for a specific buyer – then don’t be shy about it.
This is all really good for me to keep in mind. I did have a profile customer, but it keeps changing for me. I don’t know how to really nail a target customer down.
Hi Ivana, Your story about men Christmas shopping really hits home. What an ordeal for some of us. The sales ladies always ask: “What size is your wife?” And what’s really silly is that I typically don’t remember the size that my wife told me. Results are less than satisfactory. She finally told me not to buy any clothes. So now she makes a list of gifts that she would like. No problem!
I do get your point about the need to develop a target market and an ideal client profile. Let’s see if I can make it work… Make a profile and then pursue customers and clients that meet the profile. Excellent advice.