This is a guest post by Joel Fortner, a friend of Smirk New Media who works out of the Washington D.C. area. Joel is a small business marketing coach. He founded BlueBridge Communication to help small business entrepreneurs improve their marketing and achieve entrepreneurial freedom. He also authors the Get Serve Keep marketing blog, and recently published the ebook, Small Business Guide to Marketing: Ideas You Must Know & Mistakes You Must Avoid, which is free to subscribers of his blog.
Given the choice, you wouldn’t hang out with people you don’t like and enjoy. They’re draining, right? So why do business with people like that? You don’t have to.
Now sure when you’re first getting started in business, it’s normal to pretty much do business with anyone who’ll take you. You simply want the cash flow. Plus it’s exciting!
The Turning Point
But then it happens. You amass a decent number of customers and you begin comparing them. You rave about some and complain about others. Those you rave about are your ideal clients. And those you complain about are who you need to eventually shed to free up room to go after more of the ideal.
At this point, you need to get crystal clear on why your ideal clients are ideal. What characteristics do they have in common? Do they all have a single something in common? Do they read the same stuff? How did you acquire them?
Qualifying Leads
This is all part of qualifying leads. It’s not just about finding prospective customers who have the time, money, authority and need. You also want to find people you enjoy working with. Those people then become your target market, and you align your marketing and sales to find, identify, educate and motivate them to do business with you. Associating with good people is one thing you’re after in life, right? Well, why should business be any different? Working with great people makes business that much more fun.
Plus, you will serve these people better, which will help you develop lifetime customer relationships that are more profitable and generate more referrals. All because you decide to be picky. Not bad at all.
Question: What are some other benefits of working with only ideal clients? Share below!