Marketing - for Professionals - Knowing your customers

Greetings,

Welcome to the third weekly e mail instalment of Marketing for Professionals.

I hope that you are all still awake out there.

In the past two weeks I have talked about,

1).           Showing your prospective customers that you understand their problem, and

2).           The Power of testimonials

This week I would like to talk about really knowing your customers.

I network frequently and being a helpful sort of chap always ask the people that I am introduced to, “what do you need to take your business forward?”

“More customers!” is the normal response, but then the conversation can get a little murky when I ask “what type of customer?”.

People tie themselves up in knots trying to explain for whom they looking.

Why should that be so difficult? Surely we all know the type of client that makes us most money and of which we want more?

Perhaps not. Perhaps we are happy just to be busy rather than maximise the profitability from the time that we spend working for our customers.

Or is that being harsh?

Something that has always worked for me, is to establish an avatar of your best customer.

                Male or female?

                Married or single?

                How old?

                What car do they drive?

                Do they have children? What age? Where do they do to school?

                What do they do in their spare time?

Apart from sharpening your focus, this has two beneficial effects

1).           When you try to communicate with them, you will use appropriate language styles, and

2).           It may give you a clue where you have to put your marketing message for them to read it.

It is also more likely that you will choose the most appropriate media for your marketing messages, and may even give you innovative ideas as to how to promote your business.

Really Knowing Your Customers And Selling Them What They Need or Want is the Quickest Route to Success.

So next time I ask you “What type of customers do you need?” please have a good answer ready J

If you would like to talk about this in more detail, just give me a call or send me an e mail.

Happy hunting!