How to Build A Steady Stream of Customers--Step One

The success of a small business depends upon a steady stream of good customers. To build that stream of customer a business owner must examine five critical points in their business operations. This is the first in a series of five articles that examines those critical points.

Target Your Customers---The Key to Your Success

The heart of every small business is getting a steady stream of good customers. Other things can be less than perfect with your business, but without a steady stream of good customers, your business will eventually die.

If you worry about getting more customers to your business, you are not alone. The stress and worry of getting enough good customers is the number one reason small business owners lose sleep. (As a small business owner, you already feel this!)

The surest way to move your business to the next level is to focus on "who" is your customer. Who is going to open their wallets to buy your product or services?

I know you have heard this before and you may even be tempted to stop reading this article. Do not stop!

If you make a mistake about your target population or if you don't fully understand the critical details about your target population, you are building your business on sand. No amount of product quality; no amount of customer service; no amount of sale skills can overcome the wrong target population for your business. They will not buy because they are the wrong customers.

If you need more evidence, look at large corporations. They spend millions of dollars doing market research, creating focus groups, testing their markets and profiling potential customers. They do this before they begin doing product development or before they roll out a new product or service. They are successful because they understand and know their target customers.

Lack of Money and Time!

If you have at least read this far, I want to tell you there are solutions to the critical area of your target customers. The solutions don't involve the type of money or time the large corporations spend on market research. Time and money are precious resources to the small business owner.

The following is an easy and fun exercise you can use to get a better understanding of the right customers for your business. Complete the exercise. Then each week for a month review and add more details to your results. Then review your results the first day of each of the month to confirm they are still valid.

This will not require a lot of time. It will not require any money. It will require you to put on your thinking cap and be creative. The reward will be a stronger foundation for your future business.

Profiling Exercise

You have heard about racial profiling, criminal profiling, and terrorist profiling. I want you to have some fun and create a customer profile for your business. If you were an FBI agent, how would you profile the typical customer that fits your business? Here are some of the characteristics you must include in your profile:

Demographics

• Age, sex, location, homeowner, etc

Buying habits

• How many are there

• Where do they shop

• How do they shop

• When do they shop

Buying motivations

• What problem do they want solved

• What benefits do they want from you

• What features are they looking from your product

• What do they like and dislike about your industry

• What special circumstances must be present for them to buy from you

• What guarantee do they need from you

Follow up services

• What do they want from you after the sale

• What do they expect from the relationship to remain loyalty to your business

To help obtain the answers to these questions, think about your last ten customers, or ten of your best customers. If you want to add real depth to your answers, call up five of your best customers and ask them the question directly. Tell them you are trying to improve your business and you need their help. Give them some small token of your appreciation for helping you with this task. Let them help shape your business! They will be honored that you asked for their help.

If you have other employees or sales persons in your business, ask them to complete the same exercise and put together a profile of your typical customer.

There are level and levels of details to these profiling questions. That is why you periodically need to come back to the same questions and add more details.

Conclusion

To move your business forward, you must have a through knowledge of your buying customers. Completing the profiling exercise of your best typical customer is a fun and easy way to establish a solid foundation for the next stage of your business. For a longer, free report on targeting your customers, send an email to al@hanzal.com with the subject "Free Report on Targeting Your Customers."

About The Author

Al Hanzal helps small business owners make more profits by showing them how to create a steady stream of customers.

al@hanzal.com

---

How to Buy Wholesale Store Fixtures for Your Business

It may sound funny, but honestly, if you're opening up... Read More

Now Is A Great Time To Sell!

Its official. The news just came out. Yes, we are... Read More

Schedule Telemarketing Time For More Success

Telephone canvassing, or cold calling, is the practice of sitting... Read More

10 Incredible Ways To Sell Your Products Now

1. Make your reader visualize they have already bought your... Read More

Dress as Though You Mean Business

Could casual Friday be undermining your leadership ability?One of the... Read More

Where to Find Mannequins for Sale

Any time a clothing store opens or expands, they must... Read More

How to Revive a Dead Lead

It's easy to spend days, weeks, or months speaking with... Read More

6 Creative Questions To Move From HOW Are You To WHO Are You

Imagine you just met someone new. The formalities of names,... Read More

Increasing Short and Long Term Profits

"I was at your site for all of two minutes... Read More

Understanding The Corporate Buyer

Selling your services to corporations is an attractive proposition. The... Read More

How Sellers Can Take Control

For centuries ? at least since the serpent convinced Eve... Read More

How to Write Effective Selling Proposals

Depending upon how much you enjoy writing, writing sales proposals... Read More

Nine Keys to Make your Sales Copy Convincing

Would you pay $12,500 to discover the keys to great... Read More

Exporting to Europe: Not the Challenges You Think

If you plan to do sell your product or service... Read More

Create A Killer Product by Writing Your Sales Letter First!

You may not realize this, but when if you are... Read More

Quotations Tell... Proposals Sell!

The traditional "Quotation" was originally devised during the Industrial Revolution... Read More

5 Tips to Choosing a Direct Sales Business

With hundreds of direct sales companies out there, how do... Read More

Sales Brochures - 9 Steps to Success

Even in this day of websites, many customers want to... Read More

Selling Abilities - Part 1

Selling "-abilities": Reliability (Part 1 of 4) Most salespeople... Read More

Selling with Purpose

Selling With Purpose What is it about selling that makes... Read More

Can You Use Hynotic Like Statements To Sell More Products?

As I become more successful with my internet business I... Read More

Im A Second-Story Man

Can you say who you are and what you do... Read More

Are You REALLY Listening?

Being a good listener requires more than just keeping quiet... Read More

How to Reach Purchasing Agents of Big Corporations

Now business owners and sales professionals can develop a Faster... Read More

Using Emotion for Persuasion

The other day, I received the last issue of a... Read More

Business is Great; I?m Just Not Selling Anything!

Awhile back you had a great idea. An idea that... Read More

9 Ways to Keep Clients Coming Back For More

A lot of effort is put into getting new clients.... Read More

Everyones Favorite Topic - 3 Tips for How To

I believe that everyone understands that no matter what business... Read More

Instead of Discounting, Back Some Value Out of Your Proposal

Last minute discounting has become so prevalent that many companies... Read More

Why Are Customers So Indecisive?

Do you know why your customer won't buy? You've given... Read More

The Benefits of Metal Store Fixtures

Your choice of materials for store fixtures includes wood, metal,... Read More

Going Back To Get Ahead

Have you ever run DOWN an escalator that was going... Read More

Sell With KISS, As In Keep It Simple, Stupid

One of the most useful and fundamental communications lessons that... Read More