If you hate your customers, maybe you need to change who you work with not necessarily upgrade your customers. Here’s the original question: I hate my customers, help me! I know this is harsh but I need to focus on getting customers I want. I’m lost and not sure how to upgrade my customer base.
Wow! What a question. I think all of us can relate in some way to what you’re saying. Although, hate is a very strong word, first let’s talk about “hating your customers.” Why do you hate your customers? Is it their personality, their demands, how they communicate, or is it on you? Have you chosen the wrong target market?
At a pivotal point in my firm, despite having excellent products and services, I failed to generate any revenue. Believe it or not, failing to target the correct market was at the heart of my lackluster sales, which prevented me from achieving the visibility and income I had hoped for. Additionally, I wasn’t improving communication channels—which is crucial—to connect with my target client base. I was improving customer service, honing my messaging, and even redesigning the entire customer journey a few times, yet I was still drawing in the incorrect kind of clientele. It took me a few years to correct this strategic mistake!
There is an excess of information, which can sometimes muddy basic knowledge. Even as an experienced business owner, I find myself returning to simple definitions. First, let’s define “target market.” It is the target at which you direct all of your marketing efforts and, more crucially, marketing funds. To check if you have departed from your initial consumer targets, I would next compare your current client base to your target market profiles, definitions, and personas.
Let me share a few strategies to begin targeting the customers you want to work with and who will pay you what you’re worth:
1. Provide a complete experience.
Leave your customers with a lasting experience. In today’s business-crazy society, business owners have to provide customers with a complete experience. First and foremost, evaluate the experience you’re providing your customers.
2. Rethink your price points.
Maybe you hate your customers because your pricing doesn’t match your offering. Are you selling too low? Are you selling at discounts all the time? Are you selling to the wrong target market (most important question) – can they afford you, do they value what you offer?
3. Who exactly is your “ideal customer?”
This is beyond the general target market profile. This is a Visionary step. I hear you regarding hustling for the next dollar but as you know, eventually you’ll have to focus on a strategic plan for acquiring the right customers and the right “dollars” with the right solutions.
It starts with your offer. Who is ideal for your product/service? Why should they buy it from you? And what distribution methods are you currently using? How they can buy your offering can affect who buys from you as well. We forget to define distribution methods based on our target, especially with doing business online.
4. Define (one) unique (cash cow) solution you want to sell to your idea of an “ideal customer.”
Logical but not easy. You may have multiple products or services but I would pick one and perfect that offering (get it done, completed, organized, whatever you need to do). Match the benefits to your ideal customer and create marketing language that speaks to them. To keep it simple, answer this question: Why should your target buy your (offering) over your competition?
5. Find Out Where Your Ideal Customer Is.
This takes research, and research takes time. You have to network, observe, and communicate within multiple areas to determine where your ideal customer is. I would start with two niche social networks, and two off-line resources i.e. purchasing lists or attending social events.
6. Detail an action plan to meet your ideal customers consistently.
You may use existing selling avenues but adjust the focus to your ideal customer, not the masses; where you market and sell, may need to change.
Because every business and every business owner is different, I encourage you to continue the conversation via our community.
Please don’t stop working on this; we ask the question but continue doing what we’ve always done. Don’t make this mistake!
© Effició, Inc.
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