we want to focus on people that have a higher chance of buying from us.
H aving a genuine understanding of who your ideal customers are, what problems they are facing, and what solutions they already have in place to solve these issues currently is absolutely key to any messaging targeted at getting more new customers. Can you imagine pitching soccer boots to Lebron James? Or Chicago-style pizza to Robert DeNiro? Shares in petroleum companies to Greta Thunberg? Not likely to be successful. So, we want to focus on people that have a higher chance of buying from us. The good news is that the vast majority of us already have the greatest resource for this available to us. And I am not talking about AI. Existing customers! Most of us have a range of customers, from partners to transactional to downright difficult to please. But if we focus on the best customers and listen to what they are saying, we can start to build up our ICP pretty quickly. Notice I said best, not biggest. Sometimes, your biggest clients are indeed your best. But sometimes they aren’t. So go through
your client list, think about which ones are genuinely invested in your success the way you are in theirs, and start planning conversations with them. Also, look for the common traits. What do they share as characteristics, and is that important to your relationship with them? 80% might be in Saskatchewan, but that might be a coincidence or have more to do with your salesperson there. But maybe 67% experience continued budget cuts, and you help solve for that. Build these characteristics up before and as you start speaking with them. That’s going to help you with the Elvis effect. This was explained to me once as, imagine you make gold sequined jumpsuits for Elvis. He only wanted so many. But guess what? There are so many Elvis impersonators out there. If you can identify a market that “looks like Elvis,”then you can sell a lot more gold sequined jumpsuits! So now you have some suspected characteristics, and you will find more as
you talk to your best customers. But don’t forget to listen to what they actually love about your product or service during these conversations. Record them or write them down at the meeting. The way they describe how you solve a problem is going to be the best copywriting you can find. OK, you have a list of characteristics, and you have some messaging coming directly from your customers. Now what? Well, it’s time to find your market. Lots of places will sell you digital ads that you can target, and if your market lives there, investigate spending there. I used to sell to IT Managers and Directors, and more than half of them weren’t on LinkedIn, for example. So, for that product and market, LinkedIn wasn’t a fruitful channel. Selling to business owners, often LinkedIn can be great. But it isn’t all about online ads, although they can be very productive. Now that you are building your ICP, start thinking about (and asking as well) where they go to research products. Are trade shows super impactful in your industry? Do they all subscribe to
a print trade publication similar to this? Do they respond well to email or phone outreach? Podcasts, webinars? Referrals? The list is endless, and it’s another great data point to get from your best customers. So, start with your assumptions, have conversations with your best customers, and build a profile that tells you what problems they share, how they fix it without you, how it’s easier/better to fix with you, and where they might be most receptive to messaging. Build their language about problems faced and how you helped them solve them into copy for outreach, whether that is an ad, email, phone conversation, podcast guest spot, or wherever. Make their language your own, and others will start to feel that you “get” them. Time to execute. Take what they told you and find that tribe, talk to them in their language, not yours, and build that pipeline of warm to hot leads to sell to. Thanks for reading, and I wish you nothing but success on your Growth journey.
68 SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL 25 ISSUE 2
BUSINESS • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE 69
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting