Building A Steady Stream of Customers—Step OneThe 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
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
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
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
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
wrong target population for your business. They will not buy because they are
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
critical area of your target customers. The solutions don’t involve
type of money or time
large corporations spend on market research. Time and money are precious resources to
small business owner. The following is an easy and fun exercise you can use to get a better understanding of
right customers for your business. Complete
exercise. Then each week for a month review and add more details to your results. Then review your results
first day of each of
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.