The first step in target marketing is to define
exactly who will buy your product or services. Don’t say “everybody” or
“anybody”! That is the fast way to find your self out of business.
Figuring out new and better ways to find good
customers and hang on to them is everybody's job. Jeffery Fox defines people
who find customers as
Rainmakers
.
To be a rainmaker is to use target marketing to find your customers and relentlessly bring them into your
business.
Use these simple criteria to determine if someone
is a viable prospect:
-
The person has a need for your product or service.
-
The person can afford it.
-
And the person is willing to pay for it.
Pretty simple, eh? Now how do you find these
people?
The first step is to begin thinking like them. Sit
down and brainstorm the reasons they need your product or service. Then
think of ways that they would act on this need. Remember, customers act out
of their best interest and reasons, not yours.
It is imperative that you know how your customers
think, feel, and make decisions. Target marketing relies on behavioral changes of
the customer. Knowing how the customer makes a decision and knowing what
goes into that process gives you a clear advantage over the competition.
There are many ways to find your prospective
customers. Here are a few to get you started:
-
Visit
Google.com
or
Yahoo.com and do a search
for your targeted industry.
-
Go to a list service supplier
USAData
and run a free list count for your criteria.
-
Ask a non-competitor in a similar industry and
purchase their customer list.
-
Create a list of everyone that you know and send
them a letter explaining the business you have just created.
-
Go to a yellow pages website, like
anywho.com, and search
by business type.
-
Collect business cards from people you meet and join
a networking organization like
BNI (Business Networks Intl
Always keep your eyes open for opportunities to
build your target market everyday!
