As you are seeking to build your business, have you decided what your Ideal Customer looks like? You probably already know which of your customers are your best ones and maybe even a few you have fired because you just could not make them happy, no matter what you did.
One of the most critical activities for any business is to decision who their customer is. This one activity that can really have a positive impact on your marketing and sales efforts. The idea is to define your ideal customer in an much detail as you can. Here’s a sample list of some of the questions you might want to ask yourself:
- How long have they been in the industry?
- What is their education level? What words does he use to describe himself?
- What is his immediate goal?
- What are her dreams and aspirations?
- What stands in their way?
- What is their age?
- Male or Female?
- What outcome do they want from using your service?
- What keeps them up at night?
- What behaviors are typical of him?
- What is her biggest worry or fear?
- What is his biggest concern about working with your lab?
- What do they value the most?
Finally, give your Ideal Customer, your “one person” a name; maybe “Joe Dentist”. From now on, begin to communicate with Joe.
Don’t worry about getting your social media posts to go viral, you don’t need all those people to see your information – only Joe. What focusing on the “one customer” means is that whether you are creating a mailing, sending an email blast, writing a blog, posting on social media, or making a sales call, you are talking to Joe. If you think about ways in which you can reach Joe and the message you want to communicate, clearly more people will be reached than just your “ideal customer”. But if you want to attract customers like Joe, you need to talk with Joe. Those who are different than Joe (like hose customers you have “fired”), will self-select out. They will read your messages and think to themselves, “That’s not what I want.”
You know this is is fine because your message is not for those customers. But other customers will see your messages and recognize themselves in your communication. They will say, “it sounds like they are talking right to me.”
As we have shared this idea with other labs, salespeople and owners have told us this has helped them re-think how they are marketing and communicating with both existing and prospective customers. It should help focus your planning and add some structure to your marketing efforts.
Let us know what you think of this idea. Share your thoughts and your results.