How to Build A Steady Stream of Customers--Step One

The success of a small business depends upon a steady stream of good customers. To build that stream of customer a business owner must examine five critical points in their business operations. This is the first in a series of five articles that examines those critical points.

Target Your Customers---The Key to Your Success

The heart of every small business is getting a steady stream of good customers. Other things can be less than perfect with your business, but without a steady stream of good customers, your business will eventually die.

If you worry about getting more customers to your business, you are not alone. The stress and worry of getting enough good customers is the number one reason small business owners lose sleep. (As a small business owner, you already feel this!)

The surest way to move your business to the next level is to focus on "who" is your customer. Who is going to open their wallets to buy your product or services?

I know you have heard this before and you may even be tempted to stop reading this article. Do not stop!

If you make a mistake about your target population or if you don't fully understand the critical details about your target population, you are building your business on sand. No amount of product quality; no amount of customer service; no amount of sale skills can overcome the wrong target population for your business. They will not buy because they are the wrong customers.

If you need more evidence, look at large corporations. They spend millions of dollars doing market research, creating focus groups, testing their markets and profiling potential customers. They do this before they begin doing product development or before they roll out a new product or service. They are successful because they understand and know their target customers.

Lack of Money and Time!

If you have at least read this far, I want to tell you there are solutions to the critical area of your target customers. The solutions don't involve the type of money or time the large corporations spend on market research. Time and money are precious resources to the small business owner.

The following is an easy and fun exercise you can use to get a better understanding of the right customers for your business. Complete the exercise. Then each week for a month review and add more details to your results. Then review your results the first day of each of the month to confirm they are still valid.

This will not require a lot of time. It will not require any money. It will require you to put on your thinking cap and be creative. The reward will be a stronger foundation for your future business.

Profiling Exercise

You have heard about racial profiling, criminal profiling, and terrorist profiling. I want you to have some fun and create a customer profile for your business. If you were an FBI agent, how would you profile the typical customer that fits your business? Here are some of the characteristics you must include in your profile:

Demographics

  • Age, sex, location, homeowner, etc

Buying habits

  • How many are there

  • Where do they shop

  • How do they shop

  • When do they shop

Buying motivations

  • What problem do they want solved

  • What benefits do they want from you

  • What features are they looking from your product

  • What do they like and dislike about your industry

  • What special circumstances must be present for them to buy from you

  • What guarantee do they need from you

Follow up services

  • What do they want from you after the sale

  • What do they expect from the relationship to remain loyalty to your business

To help obtain the answers to these questions, think about your last ten customers, or ten of your best customers. If you want to add real depth to your answers, call up five of your best customers and ask them the question directly. Tell them you are trying to improve your business and you need their help. Give them some small token of your appreciation for helping you with this task. Let them help shape your business! They will be honored that you asked for their help.

If you have other employees or sales persons in your business, ask them to complete the same exercise and put together a profile of your typical customer.

There are level and levels of details to these profiling questions. That is why you periodically need to come back to the same questions and add more details.

Conclusion

To move your business forward, you must have a through knowledge of your buying customers. Completing the profiling exercise of your best typical customer is a fun and easy way to establish a solid foundation for the next stage of your business. For a longer, free report on targeting your customers, send an email to al@hanzal.com with the subject "Free Report on Targeting Your Customers."

About The Author

Al Hanzal helps small business owners make more profits by showing them how to create a steady stream of customers.

al@hanzal.com

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


How To Get Rich Giving Away Something Free

The best of all worlds is to have a product... Read More

What Do Mobile Auto Detailers Clean When it Rains?

A mobile auto detailer and their profits are tied to... Read More

Overcoming the Fear of Selling

For many of you the Fear of Selling is a... Read More

The Prejudging Predicament

There's a direct correlation between sales experience and prejudging. The... Read More

How Sellers Can Take Control

For centuries ? at least since the serpent convinced Eve... Read More

What Should I Charge?

People ask me, "What should I charge?"I say, "Ask your... Read More

Miracles are Your Responsibility!

John Di Lemme on "Miracles are your responsibility"Miracles are your... Read More

Sorry, But Im Not Buying From You!

Former General Electric CEO and legendary manager, Jack Welch, nailed... Read More

Mortgage Leads, Choosing the Best Option

When it comes to buying mortgage leads, there are many... Read More

Selling More CDs at Gigs, Case Study: The Rogues

A few weekends back, the Brobdingnagian Bards performed at the... Read More

Cold Calling Reluctance

Most salespeople I know consider cold calling a dreadful, but... Read More

Book Yourself Solid

THE 7 KEYS TO GETTING MORE CLIENTS THAN YOU CAN... Read More

How to Sell: Selling Tips of Master Moms

"If you don't think well of yourself, no one... Read More

Five Keys to Make Your Cold Calls Sizzle

Do you clam up on the telephone? An advertising rep... Read More

Do Your Customers Buy On Price Alone?

Here are four simple things you can do to take... Read More

Ten Tips for Choosing the Right Direct Sales Company

Direct sales can be your ticket to a profitable home-based... Read More

The Email Blow-Off

This week's article is my response to a question by... Read More

How to create your own Unique Selling Proposition

Why would a prospect buy from you rather than from... Read More

Money Does Talk!

When buying something, you can buy in one of two... Read More

An Ideal Selling Situation

The largest sale that I ever closed was negotiated over... Read More

Obtaining Self-Confidence

A reader recently asked me the following: "I enjoyed the... Read More

How to Set Appointments

The Importance of setting appointments is crucial to running a... Read More

Female Mannequins: An Overview

Female mannequins are very common in clothing stores. They are... Read More

10 Important Things To Tell Your Prospects

Hello everyone, hope your day is going well! I know... Read More

Building Relationships

A conversation: The Salesperson: "I don't cold call-I want to... Read More

10 Mistakes That Reduce Profitability

In my professional experience as a sales and marketing coach/consultant,... Read More

Sell With KISS, As In Keep It Simple, Stupid

One of the most useful and fundamental communications lessons that... Read More

Is Sales Profession an Oxymoron?

If you are in Sales, you have probably heard these... Read More

How A Simple Greeting Or Post Card Can Turn Into Cash ? Guaranteed

I've been using a technique that has helped me to... Read More

Selling for Beginners

Speak to almost any self employed professional and most of... Read More

YOUR Future Profits -- Protect Source With CARE

At 21 years, just out of Business College, I went... Read More

Pinging for Success: Creating Search Patterns

One of my first internship jobs as a college student... Read More

Schedule Telemarketing Time For More Success

Telephone canvassing, or cold calling, is the practice of sitting... Read More