But More Of The Right Customers
One of the most counter-intuitive aspects of business, especially when starting out is you do not need all the clients you can lay your hands on.
When I first started out in business I thought I had to get every customer I could find. I think it was desperation…
What I found out through a long series of trial and error was I didn’t really want every customer I could find. What I needed were customers who fit into the category of “my perfect client”.
Many of the clients I attracted, in the beginning, gave me lots of work, though the work they provided gave me the minimum return.
I mistakenly looked for quantity, not quality. This was a mistake.
I was spending time with people (who through no fault of their own) kept me busy, but busy doing things that were not the things I could do best.
The time I spent with these type of clients could have been better invested with people and projects where I could really shine. I think of these clients as the ones to which I can be the Hero.
Not only is it better for these people, it is better for me.
The work is more engaging, more satisfying, more challenging and of course more lucrative.
The people I really wanted to deal with, were in the 80/20 ratio (the Pareto principle), though I think 90/10 is probably more accurate.
In other words, a small portion of my clients provided 90% of my income and 100% of my satisfaction.
The remainder of my clients were taking the majority of my time, providing the smallest part of my business, and the work I was carrying out was the least rewarding and the most frustrating into the bargain.
There are 24 hours in a day, You can pick up pennies or gold nuggets, the effort is the same – Your Choice
Most, if not all businesses find that about 20% of their clients generate 80% of their business. These are the people that we really want to do business with.
Namely, our Ideal Clients.
The other 80% of the people we deal with by and large cause the most anguish, give us more hassles and generally make us less money than our ideal clients
When I first sat back and thought about it, the answer became very obvious.
What I had to do was track down more of these people I wanted to work with and repel the types of clients and projects that provided the least return.
As no surprise to you, the tool that came to my rescue was marketing .
Marketing is not just a way to attract new clients, it’s a way of repelling the clients that you don’t want and this is where marketing becomes very powerful.
As I mentioned in the beginning, when first starting out it seems sensible to get as many people to do business with you as possible.
What you find out, later on, is that not all clients are not created equally .
Marketing is the process where we build and deploy systems that will attract more of the people we want and less of the people we don’t.
This not only makes doing business more enjoyable because you are dealing with the people you want to deal with, it actually makes us more money too.
The first step in creating a marketing system to attract the people that we want to do business with is first to determine who your ideal clients are.
Once you know who they are, you become better equipped to understand them. With this understanding comes an improved ability to identify the problems they face, that you and your business has the capacity to solve.
All business, after all, exists to solve one problem or another. We are all “Professional Problem Solvers”.
Your marketing them takes the form of letting your prospects know that you can help solve their problems.
A strategic byproduct of this is it lets your prospects know that you understand them and their needs. Plus you show the potential to solve their problems for them too.
This is a long step in the direction of converting your ideal prospects into your ideal clients.
Having a good idea who your ideal client is is the first step in creating an effective marketing campaign.
When you get this right, your marketing can be set up as an automated system that will bring people to you that are pre-qualified, predisposed and prepared to do business with you .
This makes the process of selling to these people simpler and in some cases is not required at all .
The end result is this allows you to invest more time looking after the people you can help most.
In return, they will help you get what you want too.
I should mention a very important point to remember. Your marketing is not about you. This is a very common mistake.
Marketing is not a vehicle to beat your chest and tell everyone how important you are and how important your business is. Well not if you want it to make you more money anyway.
All your clients are interested in is a solution to their problems.
By understanding who your ideal clients are, you become better equipped to understand them and gain an insight into the problems they face that you (and your business) can help solve.
And this insight is best seen from their pespective, using their language, not yours.
People do business with people they trust, not just some shnook who could make a lot of noise.
What is your marketing saying to your ideal clients.
Is it all about them?
Or You.
To Your Success
Jamie Wadley
Marketing Coach
