Get Out of Your Box to Attract Ideal Customers

If you’re a business growth junkie, you’ve heard a million times that you have to know your target market. Most companies can spit out a profile of their ideal customer but nothing about it feels personal. General knowledge of your market isn’t enough. You’ve got to get intimate with them. You have to mentally and emotionally ‘get into’ their business. And once you know what keeps them up at night and puts a smile on their face, you need to find out even more. How do they like their message delivered? Fast, fun or detailed? How far can you take your humor? How much information can you give them without throwing them into overwhelm? Do they like to be romanced or do they like it straight? Once you know them as well as your family, then you can take it one step further. Think about where you can reach these people in their day-to-day lives. And who can you partner with to reach them? How can you connect with them in an authentic way, where they feel your presence even if you say only a few words? One of my favorite business events of the year is a JV Summit. It was designed to connect experts in my industry to create joint ventures together. It’s now one of the best masterminding opportunities of the year for me. One of the reasons I get so many new business growth ideas is because I’m forced to think about how my business could serve the other experts’ businesses. And when I learn about their services and products and I like them, I search my brain for how it could benefit my customers. I’ll give you an example. Eva Gregory and I went to the JV Summit together. Her business is focused on serving people who want to connect with their inner guidance or channel their spirit guides. Sounds very woo woo, right? It could sound nuts to many business owners. But guess who really thrives when they use her service? Business owners! When Eva explained her business to the marketing, branding, speaking and copywriting experts in the room, she had to know how to make her spiritual message seem practical for business owners. Sound like a stretch? It’s not when she explains the results people get when they use her services. Last month Eva was the guest speaker for my Flashpoint program that helps business owners nail six figures. Her guides, Theos, took us through an amazing process that connected everyone on the call to the version of themselves that is already beyond six plus figures. Brilliant! My program might seem like an unlikely place for someone teaching this type of process but it complimented my material beautifully. It actually took what I was teaching to a new level. You may be someone who offers something very practical. Maybe you’ve never thought about marketing to a spiritual crowd or partnering with someone who delivers that kind of message. Could it work? If so, what’s your spin? Another person who was at the JV Summit really blew our minds when he told us that our clients might be interested in his services. Tiamo De Vettori is a songwriter, performer and coach. He was primarily at the event to sing and inspire us between our intense masterminding. And he did so! I’m thinking, “I love his music and have his CD’s. If I’m ever inspired to have a theme song for one of my events or a wedding, I’ll use his services. I don’t know how I can support him, because I’m focused on business owners and their teams.” But then Tiamo blew everyone in the room away. He told a quick story about how a big motivational company interviewed him, and as a result many people hired him to coach them into making a full time profit while working part time as a musician. He told us we all have clients and people following us, that secretly wish they could make money by being a musician. Holy cow! Nobody had thought of it quite that way. I know I have several clients who are musicians “on the side”. Tiamo’s passion about whom he served and how well he knew them caused me to think differently about his services. I began connecting the dots to new ways of partnering with many other businesses. It also made me see how narrow I’ve been in my focus about who would be a great joint venture partner for me. When I communicated who my business serves to the group, I had to articulate how my message is different from theirs and who it would compliment. By the way, I only had two minutes to say that message clearly. What a great exercise in dialing in who you truly serve and why! I’m thinking more deeply about this exercise now and I’m clear there is room for improvement. I think it is a rare business person who can clearly see all the different ways and people he or she can connect with to get new ideal customers. Let the brainstorming begin!