Too many businesses are currently struggling to make it in
today’s economy. Many of them have unknowingly and unnecessarily thrown their
money down the drain chasing prospects that are, to put it simply, the wrong
ones to be chasing. It’s like the prince running after the pumpkin instead of Cinderella!
If you are one of many businesses asking, “How can I find my ideal prospects?” here are 3 solid gold tips from
your fairy godmother:
1) Create a profile: What many mistakenly do is to chase any
and all leads and prospects with the fervor of a hurricane, then unsurprisingly
they run out of resources or tire before anything meaningful comes of it. Instead,
take a step back and paint a picture for yourself of your target market. Who
are they? What do they like? What can you offer that they can’t get anywhere
else? Put yourself in their shoes, in as detailed a way as possible. This will
be invaluable information, so don’t be afraid to spend some time doing the
research.
2) Analyze your current customers: Who are your current
customers? If you were to arrange them in order of revenue, or “grade” them,
who would your best customers be? Make a profile for them; they will be a good
model for your ideal prospect, and a good source of information on how to get
more customers like them. Getting through steps one and two can be tedious
work, but the good news is that there are agencies out there that will do all
the grunt work for you.
3) Encourage and reward referrals: Wouldn’t it be a perfect
world if your best customers just dropped off all of their friends at your
office, and they were all banging on the door to become your clients? Yeah,
that actually can happen! Your happiest customers are not only your ideal
customer base, but they can be a great resource for new business! Encourage
them to spread the word about your business; word-of-mouth and referrals are
arguably the best way to get new clients. And the best part is that those
referred clients will usually fit you ideal customer profile perfectly. When you reward your
customers for this behavior, it is literally a win-win-win situation – the best
kind.
