If I gave you a magic wand and said you could wish for your perfect customer, what would you wish for?
At the start of last week, I got back to my desk after a long weekend – which was lovely, not doing much, walking the dog, that sort of thing, thanks for asking – and the first thing I did was to work through the usual pile of emails in my inbox.
Amongst the usual detritus, there were two new enquiries waiting for me.
Which was nice.
And what did I do with these two hard-earned enquiries? These enquiries that came from hours put into our digital marketing over the years?
I turned them away.
I said No thanks – not for us.
Now you have to understand that I know what it’s like to feel uncomfortable turning work down. Not so long ago, I would have been all over these enquiries like a rash.
The reason I turned these good people away is that we decided some time ago exactly who our ideal customers are. And we defined our sweet spot as:
“Tomango helps businesses grow by helping them find more of the customers they want. We do this by helping them with their brand, web presence and digital marketing.
Our ideal clients are established, profitable businesses who are growing or want to grow, see the value of investing in their brand, and typically spend at least £25,000 a year on their marketing, so they’ll probably have a turnover of £1m-£5m.”
And these businesses didn’t fit that profile.
Saying No might seem counter-intuitive, but by being clear about the type of customers you want, and sticking to your guns so you only zero in on the ones that tick your boxes means you’re building your business the way you want.
How to identify your perfect customer
To figure out what your ideal customer looks like, ask yourself:
- What’s the most profitable thing we do?
- The customers that want that thing – what can we give them that our competitors can’t?
- What are the needs of those customers? What are they trying to achieve/solve/improve?
- Who do we enjoy working with? What values/beliefs do they have?
- What’s their financial status? Can this be identified by things like where they live, what car they drive, or what they spend their money on?
Once you know who your perfect customers are, write it down (you might even want to create a set of Personas) and refer back to it. Refer back to it when you’re planning your marketing. Refer back to it when you’re redesigning your website. And definitely refer back to it when you get a new enquiry.
Don’t get distracted or tempted to go after something that’s not right for you.
In the short-term, it might feel a little odd, even painful. But in the long run, your business will grow to be the shape you want, and be a lot more profitable.
If you’d like some help working out who your ideal customers are, or need help with your positioning, get in touch with me for a chat.
And maybe next Monday I’ll have a couple of enquiries waiting for me from businesses that I want to say Yes to…