I’ve started making a few sales after a soft launch, to a wide range of people. I’ve yet to pin down who my “ideal” customer. How can I identify who my ideal target customer is?
Never forget that you shoot at targets, but you must create and embrace clients and consumers to become ideal customers.
The path to long-term success lies in having the right products and service at the best price and place with the appropriate package of promotions.
The ideal customer is an active advocate for your business who is prepared to shout your praises and pay within a week of getting your invoice.
Another way of looking at this is to see the ideal customer as the ultimate consequence of doing everything right for those few purchasers from that wide range of people approached at the launch.
Do not confuse these great supporters with the target market because it is the people that did not respond despite your best efforts that represent the pool of potential new business.
To identify the scale and scope of the people that you have to create as customers rather than just gawkers and squawkers, you now should compare the characteristics of the buyers with those that were not convinced.
Next you should call, write, ring or email every one of the good guys and a sample of the others and invite them to a thank you gathering. This is your own form of focus group and encourages visitors to become customers and customers to become advocates.
Let them share in your business plans and shape your next marketing plans so that they become your ideal customer recruitment team.
Finally, you have to look at your competitors and see which of their customers could be encouraged to join your team because of the brilliance of your continuing Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE-breaking) commitment.
That generates word-of-mouth traffic and takes you into the long-term world of brand identity and superior customer service.
In the end you will find that your ideal customer will then pin you down and make you the target of their affections and you will have the brand presence to justify their voluntary secondment to your sales team.
