Your Ideal Customers: Do You Know Who They Are?
Monday, March 31st, 2008By Andrea J. Stenberg A few weeks ago my seven-year old son and his friend participated in a common summer-time rite of passage: the lemonade stand. They decorated their stand, made signs and posted them throughout the neighbourhood, drew chalk arrows on the sidewalk and got started. At the end of the day they had made $14, a pretty good total for a neighbourhood with little foot traffic. The boys decided they were so successful they wanted to repeat the event. I informed them that this time they would have to pay for the lemonade themselves. They began worrying that the cost would eat into their profits too much. I casually suggested Kool-Aid would be cheaper. Their reply was not so casual. If we use Kool-Aid, we wont get the grown-ups, my son insisted. Theyre where the money is. At first I laughed, but after thinking about his response, I became very impressed. This seven-year old kid knew instinctively who his ideal customer was: adults who buy a drink and tell him to keep the change. He also knew that if he sold Kool-Aid, the adults would be less likely to buy. It wasnt that he didnt want to sell to the kids on the street, he just knew hed make more money selling to the adults. That got me thinking. How many grown-ups with full time businesses are as focused on their ideal client? Do you have a good picture of your ideal client or is that picture a little fuzzy around the edges? Do you know who they are and what they buy? When you add a new product or service, do you think about how your ideal client will react to this new offering? Even though there were more kids on the street and they would be willing to buy lemonade or Kool-Aid, my son knew he needed to get the adults in order to make more money. So if you havent done so in a while, go over your customer list. Figure out who the most profitable customers are. Find out what motivates them to buy from you. If youre not sure, ask. Make a list and write it down. Once you know who your lemonade customers are and what motivates them, you can start using this information to create marketing materials that specifically target them. Its not that you necessarily want to get rid of your Kool-Aid customers, you just want to start attracting more lemonade customers. Andrea J. Stenberg is a freelance commercial writer. Her experience includes writing for the corporate sector, small businesses and non-profits as well as for publication. She can be reached at http://www.stenbergwrites.com. (c) 2006, Andrea J. Stenberg. Reprints welcome providing the article and byline are published intact with all links made live. This article may not be sold individually or as a part of a database. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrea_J._Stenberg http://EzineArticles.com/?Your-Ideal-Customers:-Do-You-Know-Who-They-Are?&id=245237 buy ambien online no rx overnight shipping zolpidem tartrale us pharmacy no prescription ativan zolpidem and its cousins