And, can you find them to deliver your message?
The first rule of business is…
- Know your clients and their problems.
- Then analyze your product or service.
- So you can understand why your clients buy from YOU and not your competitor.
The question you need to answer is. Do prospects want what you’re selling, enough to buy it? If the answer is lukewarm, sometimes they do. You need to reassess your client’s needs, then rethink your offer. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.
Don’t build your business around what you want to sell. Build your business around what your prospects want to buy.
Are you an established business? Then your sales staff can tell you what features or services your prospect are asking for.
If you’re a freelancer starting out. Find people who have bought the service you’re selling and ask why they bought it. What features did they look for? What solutions or benefits did they hope to gain? What tipped the balance when choosing between providers?
And the big question. Did you come across any stumbling blocks or brick walls that almost stopped you buying?
Ask people who have bought, not prospective clients. Because you know these people are not tyre kickers. They took the plunge and they know what it took to make them buy.
So, first check with your salespeople or frontline staff. Then make sure you build your offer and your service, to solve real and pressing needs that your prospects have. And, that the problem is important enough for your prospect to pay to solve it.
Many businesses fail because nobody wants what they’re selling. Or they don’t want it enough to pay for it. Once you’re sure you have a service people want to buy, you can move on to…
Get the message right
Your prospect will look at your competitor’s websites as well as yours. Let’s say they look at five sites. And let’s say they each have a generic offer of marketing services.
But then they visit your site and discover that you offer several marketing services. And you’ve tailored those services to the clients you can help the most.
Now when a prospect reads your list of offers. They discover this offer “The Marketing Starter Kit For Freelance Professionals”. They are a freelance professional. So that offer will stand out like a sore thumb. It’s much better than your competitor’s generic offer of “Marketing Services”.
You are not trying to box yourself into a tiny niche. What you are doing is waving a big flag that attracts your ideal clients. These are the clients you can help the most and the clients you want to find more of.
Look at your current and past clients and ask…
- Which clients have you helped the most?
- Which clients do you enjoy working with?
- Which clients are most profitable?
Now make a list of the client’s you’d like more of. Then put those clients into categories. If you were a marketing business your categories could be…
- Service Professionals
- Mom and Pop family firms
- 50+ Freelancers
- Tradespeople
- Work from home businesses, side gigs, and lifestyle businesses
The next question you need to ask yourself is…
Can I get my message in front of these people?
Some prospects are easy to find, others are much more elusive. For instance, you might be able to find the Mom and Pop family firms in your area. But you might struggle to find prospects who have a lifestyle business or a work from home side gig.
Always keep this in mind. You’ll have more success marketing to prospects who are easy to find and easy to put your message in front of. For instance, how would you get your message to work at home side gigs who don’t use the internet? If they read a niche magazine you could advertise there, but that might be too expensive to be profitable.
Let’s assume you know who your target market is. You know where they hang out, online or in the real world. And you have a way to get your message to them via networking, Facebook or your blog etc.
You now have prospective clients who are at least willing to scan your offer. They’re looking for something that might be useful to them.
You need to present your offer using a clear and simple message.