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Not All Customers Are Equal — Which Are Yours?

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Not All Customers Are Equal

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When we talk about clients or customers, we often mention them as if customer means “one who buys.” But not all customers are equal. Look at the depth and breadth of consumer offerings. Take in the business services and products. You’ll soon realize that customers come in more than one kind.

You can fly Southwest. British Airways, or take a private jet. You can buy M&Ms in all sorts of special packages and colors. You can turn almost anything into a refrigerator magnet now. But if you go to “In and Out” in California, you’ll only get a burger.

Traditional business models outline three:

  • Top of the Line Buyers
    Elegant, elite, one-of-a-kind, cutting edge. Stand in line, pay higher price, doesn’t mind a few complications or an occasional bug. These are the folks who stand in line for the first iPhone. Folks in this group go on vacations to places that other folks never see. Sell one for $$$$$/each
  • Service and Fit
    Value beats price. Relationships matter. Service is remembered. They look for their values as well as their size. Google is making this group larger as it makes it easier to find what we want in a world wide inventory. Sell more for $$$/each
  • Volume Shoppers
    Go for the discount. No frills. Don’t spend on what we don’t need. Lowest price. Generic is the same thing. They’ll give up service for speed and low price. Sell boxes and boxes for $/each.

When you decide on your product or service, think about which customer you serve. If you’ve already got an offer out there, should you be looking more closely at the customers you are reaching?

Not all customers are equal — which are yours?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Models and Masterminds starts the week of June 16.

Seth's Book and Reaching the Reachable

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Reaching You

The Living Web

During my trip to the UK, I was rereading “Meatball Sundae,” Seth’s book about the New Marketing. Certain pages have become thoughts that I like to share with folks who are new to the blogosphere. Seth’s book is one that folks helps bridge the gap to the blogosphere through a lens they understand.

Of course, I was rereading Seth’s book for me too. I find every time I revisit a favorite book with a new problem on my mind, something I hadn’t seen before shows itself to me there. Once again, that proved true. . . .

My thoughts were on how easy it is to have ideas and build products without knowing how to reach the customers those products will serve. My instinct kept pointing to the folks who sit right at our doors.

Do we overlook the customers we already know? Or do we surround ourselves with people doing the same things that we do?

My memory kept returning to Dave Bullock’s declaration at SOBCon08, “You have the community and the relationships . . . I want what you have.”

While reading, I stopped at a passage from Seth’s book (also on his blog)that shone brightly like it was brand new.

. . . start making products, services and stories that appeal to the reachable. Then do your best to build that group ever larger. Not by yelling at them, but by serving them.

Dave and Seth were saying the same thing. Recognize what you already have. Reach out to the folks you know. Make products and services for them.

In response to that idea, I started Models and Masterminds, and it’s getting a fine response. (woo!hoo!)

Glen Stansberry and Leo Babauta have launched an ebook publishing house for the folks they know best.

Reaching the reachable also means keeping fresh and keeping up with them . . .

Roger von Oech has published this generation’s

A Whack on the Side of the Head!

What new offer have you made to the reachable customers you already know? Go ahead. Promote it here.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Check out Models and Masterminds too

Traffic, Readers, Colleagues — Are They Customers?

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Reaching Customers in the Offline World

The Living Web

As I put together the SOBCon materials for Models and Masterminds course, I’m thinking about the folks we call visitors and whether they’re really customers.

When I first started my writing blog, I had one reader, a friend who likes to read. Then I joined a “click traffic group” and as long as I clicked other blogs I got a related number of pageviews. Those clickers became the first visitors to my blog. I’m fairly sure few actually read anything.

At day 21, a comment appeared. Shortly after that a few folks started coming back. I had regular readers. Then I had 10 subscribers. I even knew who some of them were. When page views reached 1000/day and comments were plenty and regular, I put up some ads. I thought I’d make some holiday money.

I was confused.

I hadn’t really been looking at who was visiting my blog.

Traffic, Readers, Colleagues — Are They Customers?

When you look at the people who visit your blog, what do they do and how long do they stay?

  • Traffic – If they come in swarms following a link or bookmark and leave in a few seconds flat, it’s traffic. If someone stumbles a page and thousands come only to go away, isn’t that the same as people visiting a store because they were downtown to watch a parade? Traffic is noise unless convert it to readers or customers.
  • Readers – If each visitor reads 1.5 pages or more, you’re building a community of readers. If an audience is your goal, you’ll well on your way. If selling is what you’re about, you’ll need to convert readers into customers. Readers ignore ad that sit in the sidebar. To sell to readers, talk about what they want. Be helpful in solving their problems with products and services that naturally draw from the content you discuss.
  • Colleagues – Being helpful and solving problems can convert readers into customers. But look closely at your audience. Are they potential customers? If you run a “trade” blog — one that discusses the ideas, trends, and people in your industry — your discussions might be with an audience of colleagues not potential customers. Colleagues are unlikely to buy your products and services, at least not long enough for your business to thrive.

We can build a thriving blog that knocks everyone’s socks off, but it can be an investment of love and time that has no customers.

In a world where mostly bloggers read blogs, it’s a good habit to watch our audience. Unless we’re selling specifically to bloggers, our businesses will grow faster if we connect to customers outside the blogosphere.

How would you help a new blogging business connect to customers in the offline world?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Models and Masterminds begins with offline connections to customers.