Building an Ideal Customer Profile
The dominant concern for most small businesses is connecting with the market. If a business has trouble identifying prospects and generating interest among likely customers or clients, then it will likely struggle in other areas as well. Without sufficient prospects there will not be enough customers. Without enough customers there will not be adequate cash flow. It is just that simple, and it really doesn’t get better on its own.
Better, more targeted marketing is the answer, of course. Since that is too broad a topic to cover in this format, let me make two simple points. First is the need for clarity and focus. Consider the case of a travel agent trying to help a new client plan a vacation. The client has been saving for years to take a long vacation to celebrate her 50th birthday. Try to follow this brief dialog between the client and travel agent.
Agent: Where would you like to go?
Client: Birdwatching.
Agent: Great! Where?
Client: Where there are lots of birds, of course.
Agent: Of course. Would these birds be native to North America?
Client: Some of them, yes. And colorful. Bright, colorful birds.
Agent: Mmmmm. OK. Maybe they would be tropical birds?
Client: Yes! Tropical birds. Do we have those here in North America?
You can imagine how that trip turned out. The client could have accomplished just as much by giving the agent her budget and saying, “Send me where there are birds.” But that is how some businesses put a marketing plan together. It is the job of the business owner, not a marketing consultant, to know what the ideal customer looks like.
My second point is that you probably need three to five points to make a connection. Have you had a well-meaning friend or acquaintance ask, “What would an ideal prospect or referral for your business look like?” Do you know? Did you even have an answer? Start with defining several key characteristics. Please take a minute to do that right now, and see what you have.
If you have trouble writing more than four specific traits in response to “Tell me about your ideal customer?” please don’t give up! It can be as simple as looking at your best, most profitable customers and describing them. Maybe it is their industry, their size or their location that leads them to call you. These are all demographic attributes which can be observed and measured easily. You can review customer data and make these observations yourself, with the help of your staff.
Or the factor that draws customers to you may be an appreciation for your experience or qualifications, a shared common interest or political view, or another bond you have formed in the community. These characteristics can’t be easily observed from the outside, but they can be measured. They are called psychographic traits and are considered by some to be a relatively new frontier in the area of market research. Psychographics considers the motivations, priorities, choices and needs of an individual as well as their age, zip code, education level and income. Are they achievers, leaders, rebels, or community builders? Think about how to use this insight to build your list of details about your ideal customer.
In most cases, developing a psychographic profile of your ideal customer will require survey research. Do not let that intimidate you, as it could be as simple as three or four questions over lunch. Just remember to build that description around the things you want more of, and then build your marketing plan to find more of them. It can be very powerful when you integrate what you learn into your marketing activities so that you can attract exactly what you want. Because that is the cure for a lack of customers.