Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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January 26, 2009

Do Your Customers Look a Lot Like You? Could that Be a Good Thing?

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 8:11 am

People Who Think Like We Do

Starting an online business doesn’t seem that complicated. People do it every day. Some even start by doing what we love — building a product or service that captures their imagination and best skills — because doing what we love makes good business sense. Then they figure out who’s like to buy it.

That’s often where folks make their mistake. They don’t know who their ideal client or customer is. As a product developer, I leanred that building products and services takes a lot of knowing how customers think.

If you don’t already have a customer base that you know intimately and well, or you’re new at making product, it’s likely that the first customers you attract will be folks who look a lot like you. Why is that?

Ever notice a pattern in the people you think of as engaging, entertaining, or just plain smart? Ever notice a corollary pattern in the people you think as … not?

Consider this:
We think people who think like us are smart and people who don’t are being difficult or unable to keep up.

Of course, we allow for migitating circumstances. She’s only 5 years old. He’s having a bad day. He’s not good at math. It’s semantics that threw us off. But if it happens again and again, that person who doesn’t process thoughts the same as we do, must be disagreeable or not too swift — no pleasure to spend time with. Who can blame anyone for that? It seems guaranteed that he or she isn’t having a great time with us.

Sometimes if we listen closely as we talk, we find that the “difficult, not so smart” folks think more like we do than we first suspected. Sometimes we even form a relationship.

Is it a good thing that our customers look like us? What should we do about that?

How Do You Use that to Grow?

So the customers we attract first will be the customers who think like us. It’s only natural they’ll think what we do is smart. They’ll see the brilliance of our products or services. They’ll work with us to fix our problems and will see enough of themselves to forgive our occasional misteps.

That’s why our first customers look so much like us.
That’s why they love what we do.
And I agree with Steve Farber that’s the best foundation on which to build a business …

Do what you love in service to those who love what you do. –Steve Farber

But suppose you’re a rare and divergent thinker … not that we know anyone like that … how can you find a group of customers large enough to sustain a business like that?

As soon as your customers get to know how you think, make it your driving goal to know everything about each one of them. That’s the beauty of the social web. It lets us do that so much easier than we could in the past. But don’t leave out on the gound networking events.

What will happen next is that, your thinking will grow and change, and together you and they will attract people who look like you and them. Then show everyone how to do the same thing again. Open ideas, open minds, and open doors are how people find their way in.

Of course none of us are the same. But especially on the social web, we know what it means to say that like minds attract. It’s a fact that can dilute a business or be a strategy.

Have you got customers, readers, clients who look like you? Can you make them a bigger part of your business?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
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Filed under Marketing, Successful Blog | 12 Comments »




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12 Comments to “Do Your Customers Look a Lot Like You? Could that Be a Good Thing?”

  1. January 26th, 2009 at 8:55 am
    Lori Barber said

    Well Said Liz- It was a great read. Thanks for sharing. Lori Barber

  2. January 26th, 2009 at 10:17 am
    Janice Cartier said

    “What will happen next is that, your thinking will grow and change, and together you and they will attract people who look like you and them. Then show everyone how to do the same thing again. Open ideas, open minds, and open doors are how people find their way in.”

    Feng shui kind of. Allow the space for the other…increases chi. Great start to the week.

  3. January 26th, 2009 at 10:56 am
    Todd Smith said

    I love this topic, Liz. It’s still one I’m grappling with as my business is still very new. You’re so right, it’s easy to think “smart” people are the ones that think like we do, and our first instinct is to surround ourselves with only them. But nature somehow encourages cross pollination… that’s how breadth and strength are developed. Incestuous thinking can only get you so far. Engaging with people of all types and really listening to their point of view is not only stimulating for us, but bases our business in reality… not just wishful thinking. I learn something all the time from you Liz. Thanks for continuing to open my eyes. By the way, I dreamed that I met you last night… you flew all the way out just to say hi. You’re the best! :)

  4. January 26th, 2009 at 11:48 am
    Armen Shirvanian said

    We sure do tend to think that people we don’t sync up with in thoughts are different from us in some way, because we think that they would think similarly to us if their communications matched up with ours. It can be a struggle to maintain communications with people of all types, as opposed to mainly with ones that are similar to us, as inconsistencies tend to create distance along the way. At the same time, the struggle has to be maintained, or else we can quickly become set into a tiny social grouping.

  5. January 26th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
    Mother Earth said

    I think surrounding ones self with like minded folks adds to your credibility, and gathering like minded around you speaks to your integrity as an entrepreneur – because my wellness work beats to a different drum we are always educating and enrolling. I like to show that I’m resourceful, yet down to earth.

  6. January 26th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
    Sheila Glazov said

    This topic resonates with me and my fascination with Brain Color Personality Types. Customers who are similar to you can be comforting and others who are uniquely different can be challenging. Both can be good and encouraging for you if you understand and appreciate their perspective. “Yellow Brainers” are prompt, organized and responsible; “Blue Brainers” are communicative, collaborative and creative; “Green Brainers” are logical, intelligent and composed; and “Orange Brainers” are dynamic, generous and spontaneous. Acknowledging the best in ourselves and others helps us build successful relationships and businesses.

  7. January 27th, 2009 at 12:53 am
    Terra Andersen said

    Great post. thanks for sharing!

  8. January 27th, 2009 at 10:23 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Thanks Lori!

    Janice,
    I never thought of it that way. Feng shui, yeah I can what you’re saying. That thought has been with me since I read your comment yesterday. :)

    Hi Todd,
    Bringing ideas from other sources into our thinking adds perspective and new feelings. We become broader and deeper when we internalize new point of view. It’s good to be multi-dimensional.
    Who says I won’t fly out there some time?

    Oh Armen,
    You bring up such a real thing, because different thinking makes us top to reconsider who they are, who we are, and what we might think of each other. That can be jolting, especially when we’re busy.

  9. January 27th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
    Tony Lawrence said

    I learned the “who is smart” lesson very early.

    I was classified as retarded when I first entered school. Actually, I was nearly blind and desperately needed glasses, but I hid that well. They put me with the other “problem” kids; some not so smart, but most of them with other problems: undiagnosed dyslexia (this was in the early 50′s), alcohol problems at home, etc.

    A year later they caught me cheating at an eye exam (memorizing it as the kids ahead of me read it) and gave me an IQ test. They didn’t like the results, and gave me another. Then they moved me into a Gifted and Talented class (one of the first in the country, in fact).

    Given my rather interesting background, I was in the position to have very early insight into intelligence. Some of those “retards” were anything but and some of the “gifted” kids definitely were not. That taught me a lot about people, tolerance, social stigmas, labeling, preconceptions.. it was an unusual and quite accidental education but it had a profound impact upon how I view and treat other people.

  10. January 27th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Mother Earth!
    You’ve done such a great job of attracting people who hear what you say clearly. I think that the way you relate to people speaks to their pain and helps them get past. That’s why they share.

    Hi Sheila!
    I agree that we all bring different personal strengths to a relationship and it sometimes takes a while to realize and value that.

    PS You have now convinced me why I see colored lights going off in my head. j/k

    Thanks! Tara!

  11. January 27th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Yeah, Tony,
    Sounds frivilous, but it’s deeply true that disadvantages are laden with opportunities. In like manner, having every chance can be a limiting factor in its own way. I learned most of what I know by watching to figure out how people think because I surely wasn’t wired like the other kids.

    It wasn’t as much fun as participating, but now it serves more than anything I might have done at that time.

  12. February 1st, 2009 at 5:02 am
    This Weeks Helpful Reads… Week 144 said

    [...] and links each week to provide the widest range of information for the home business entrepreneur. Do Your Customers Look a Lot Like You? Could That Be a Good Thing? by Liz Strauss… It seems the customers we first attract look just like us, think like us and [...]

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