Get Specific
Our ideal customers — those folks who love that businesslike thing we love doing, that we do to serve them — they are the foundation of our business. Pick one of them.
One? But the marketing guy said . . .
Yep. One — only one. Get specific. Get up close. Make it a real person. Crawl inside his or her head.
From one real human being with whom you have had a success, we can extrapolate many facets of what will and will not work for a business. Think of the one you choose as your prototype ideal customer. Use this model to get closer to whom that customer is.
A Model to Describe One Ideal Customer
Use these questions to make sure you are specific because we’re building a model.
- What job or group does this person represent? (designers, new mothers, undertakers, college students, used car buyers)
- What is this one person’s biggest worry, threat, thing that wakes him or her up at 2 in the morning?
- How does this one person see him- or herself? What is the value that this one person thinks that he or she brings to the world?
- What problem did you solve for this person? How long did it take? How would you value what you provided? How would he or she value it?
Answer these questions. Then write, record, or tell a friend a description of your prototype ideal customer. You’re ready to explore what he or she needs, desires, and wants.
We learn as writers that individual readers share common interests. We learn as marketers to meet each individual where he or she stands. I learned as a publisher that a well-defined prototype is exact and as explicit as possible. A strong prototype is like a single stone in the water — we can extrapolate it in rings to larger and larger views.
Who is your prototype customer? C’mon describe one for me.
Next: How to define your niche market, moving from one to a group.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Related
To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.
Liz,
I’ve been working with a startup, and last Friday I sat down with the marketing head and went through a similar exercise. I had a picture of a businessperson and said: “This is our prototype customer. Tell me about this individual.” And from your set of questions we went on to who they’re doing business with today and why they would or would not switch to us.
I really like this approach because it works!
Mike
Hi Mike!
I’m with you! If we can’t picture a real person buying our product or service, we’re always going to be lost in a nebulous kind of fog . . . chaos of decisions. Finding one customer helps us focus on how one person makes decisions, how one person views things. We can then say “How many people also think like this person thinks on this?”
Liz,
This is great advice. I start by asking my clients, “What does your best customer look like?” And then we dig into the details.
Hi Lewis!
My best customer, my one and only . . . 🙂
Every customer is my one and only. 🙂
The details are where the heart of a business is.
Hi, Liz!
Thanks for the excellent info. 🙂 I’ve named my prototype ‘Penny.’
Penny is a creative, bright woman who wants to create a home business or cottage industry. She wants to make a difference by sharing her gifts with the world.
Penny is looking for help with:
– Finding herself a Rewarding Business or Idea She Can Run With
– Defining Her Business
– Coming Up with the Money to Get Started w/o incurring debt
Of course, Penny is still a work in progress, LOL. 🙂
Hey Dar,
If Penny wasn’t a work in progress (who isn’t? Well, I’m just a piece of work!!) then she wouldn’t need you. Would she? 🙂
Hi Liz
Perfect tip! And one very necessary if you’re out there networking: how else can you ask your network group to look for referrals for you if you can’t tell them who you’re looking for 😉
(Said the BNI-networker who forgets to do that once in a while too ;-))
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Oh Karin!
I so love reasons behind doing things. Thank you for pointing out this one!!