target customer how to identify your perfect target...

HOW TO BUILD A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR

BUSINESSYour Step-by-Step Marketing Roadmap

PartOne

TARGET CUSTOMER HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR

PERFECT TARGET MARKET

TABLE OF CONTENTS(CLICK TITLE TO NAVIGATE TO PAGE)

Copyright 2017 E-Learning Marketing System™

Target Customer – How to Identify Your Perfect Target Market: Part 1

TARGET CUSTOMER

HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR PERFECT TARGET MARKET

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1

UNDERSTAND YOUR TARGET MARKET ........................................................................................... 2

THE 4 KEYS TO FINDING YOUR PERFECT TARGET MARKET ................................................ 6

80/20 RULE ................................................................................................................................................... 9

CRITICAL FUNDAMENTALS TO IDENTIFYING YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER ..........................11

IDENTIFYING PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL TRAITS ..................................................................13

CASE STUDIES ............................................................................................................................................ 17

Layout and Design by ACUMEN – Business Performance Parters, [email protected]

Copyright 2017 1 E-Learning Marketing System™


Please note this is part one in a four part series designed to help you identify your target customer. We will reference four key components that will help you do this, but each section will only highlight one of the four points. We bring this to your attention so we don’t create a disconnect when you see us reference four keys to identification but we only list one in this presentation.

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INTRODUCTION



Every small business owner wants to build a successful and lucrative business. This presentation will begin that process by helping you to develop a critically important component that directly impacts the ultimate success of your busi-ness. You must be able to clearly identify your target customer. Let me give you an example to illustrate the importance of knowing and understanding just exactly who your target customer is.

U.S. based pharmacy chain Rite Aid is testing a new customer rewards program called Wellness Plus in four markets and according to its web site, promises to roll it out nationwide.

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UNDERSTAND YOUR TARGET MARKET



The card offers the typical benefits—it’s free to sign up, customers earn points and get percentages off of Rite Aid brand products, coupons will flow freely in the mail and so on. But one of the new so-called “benefits” involves earning points toward free health screenings.

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Here’s the deal. When a cardholder racks up 500 points… or spends $500 on non-prescription products… since one point is worth one dollar… they will re-ceive a certificate that can be used for free health screenings such as glucose and cholesterol readings.

The program also gives 25 points for each prescription filled, but doesn’t include prescriptions paid for in-whole or in-part by state or federal health care pro-grams like Medicare or Medicaid.

But wait a minute. Isn’t it safe to assume that people spending $500 at the pharmacy… or filling 20 prescriptions at the counter… are already screened? Who exactly is this “benefit” supposed to be benefiting?

With the American health care system in a state of disarray and pharmacies like Walgreens stepping up to fill the affordable health care void with inexpensive health care screenings and advice, what is Rite Aid getting at?

Shouldn’t first-step screenings that are so vitally important to customer health come more often than when $500 is spent on toilet paper and a Kit-Kat bar? Rewarding more affluent customers who can afford to spend $500 on non-pre-scription items… or are constantly filling prescriptions at the store… doesn’t seem like the best way to promote public health. Real innovation here would be free screenings for poverty-line customers… or at least a more realistic point offering.

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This is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse as the old saying goes. Here is a major retailer that has failed miserably to even remotely analyze who their target customer is and what it is they want. After all, there’s NO magic to selling. Find out what your customers want… and then give it to them. Rite-Aid has completely missed the boat here.

Knowing and understanding your target customer… and then mapping out their thought process are two critical fundamentals that must be executed properly if you want to build a successful and profitable business. This presentation will help you begin this critically important process.


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(This presentation focuses on the first of these keys only)

So to get started, you want to focus on four major components that are specif-ically designed to help you find your target customers.

IDENTIFY THEIR PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Sometimes referred to as a demographic profile, you must have a clear picture in your mind of what your target customer looks like from a physical standpoint. In the future, this information will help you to pinpoint your target customer once you begin marketing to them, making it easier to find them and position your marketing message in front of them.

THE 4 KEYS TO FINDING YOUR PERFECT TARGET MARKET

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Let me explain why it’s so important for your business that you clearly identify your target customer, and how it will help you to build the business you’ve al-ways dreamed of having.


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Revised Physical Description

Physical Description

COMPLETE THIS SECTION

Emotional Description

Your Niche Market

Which want meets your “Passion”?

What do they Want?



Your target customer is the customer who shares your passion for your product or service. These are customers who want what you offer… instead of just need what you offer. They don’t just use your product or service, they love it. They don’t just purchase what you sell; they actually feel they couldn’t live without it.

Your target customer will result in fewer returns and complaints. They’re thrilled with you and your business. They buy from you today, and they’ll keep buying from you tomorrow. They’ll demand you create additional products and services for them to buy… since they trust you and know you have their best interests at heart. They’ll tell their friends and family all about you and encourage them to do business with you. And maybe best of all, they’ll spend more money with you over their lifetime than your average customer will.

Your target customers will provide your business with tons of referrals… and they’ll offer you unsolicited testimonials. They’ll post their praise about you and your business on social networking sites… which garners you free publicity. When you identify your target customer, you find yourself loving what you do. The end result is you begin to work less and start earning more—a lot more.

This impacts your business long term. It impacts all future products or services you develop. It impacts the customer service your client’s receive. And it im-pacts all of your marketing and sales efforts, especially when you begin to de-velop your marketing materials and sales scripts.

Obviously knowing and understanding exactly who your target customer is plays a vital role in building a successful business. But let me explain an addi-tional component your target customer provides that can make you wealthy… WITHOUT doing anything more than what you’re already doing.

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80/20 RULE(THE PARETO PRINCIPLE)

You’re probably familiar with the 80/20 rule. It says that small actions lead to big results. For example, count the number of clothes you have hanging in your closet. Then count the number of clothing items you frequently wear. You will discover you wear about 20% of your clothes 80% of the time. Your business functions in much the same way.

Approximately 20% of your customers account for approximately 80% of your business’ total revenue. That 20% of your customers are your target customers. Imagine the possibilities for your business if you could attract more customers just like them.



But wait. What if you could alter that ratio and attract 40% of your target cus-tomers instead of 20%? That would mean your revenues would double. Now do you understand how knowing exactly who your target customer is can have such a dramatic impact on your business?

In fact, if you could attract 100% of your target customers, your revenue would explode by a factor of sixteen. If you’re making $2,000 per month right now, just replacing your current customers with target customers would increase your monthly revenue to $32,000.

And best of all, these target customers don’t require any additional time, effort or energy on your part. Again, this is how you stop working harder and start working smarter. This is how you make more money while working fewer hours. And it all starts by clearly identifying your target customer.

That’s the power of the 80 / 20 rule. Unfortunately, most small business owners today are only attracting on average about 20% of their target customers, even though these are the customers that are the most profitable to their business. So how do you go about attracting those target customers? That’s what this series of presentations is all about.

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80/20 RULE(THE PARETO PRINCIPLE)



You must have the proper fundamentals in place to make this work right. You must start by identifying the physical makeup of your target customer. Then you must identify what it is they want… and if you discover that either your business doesn’t offer them what they want, or you offer a solution but it’s the exact same solution as your competitors offer, then you must innovate your business so you offer your customers the most value when compared to your competition.

Do this, and you will explode your revenue and profits to new heights… WITH-OUT adding any additional time or effort. But to me, here’s the really exciting part about the 80 / 20 rule.

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CRITICAL FUNDAMENTALS TO IDENTIFYING YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER

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To get 16 times better results than what you’re getting right now, you don’t have to do anything different than what you’re already doing. You just do MORE of what you’re already doing that’s working fantastically well. Figure out why your current 20% of your target customers are buying from you… and start attracting more of them by creating and developing compelling marketing.

But that’s the problem isn’t it? Most small business owners don’t have a clue how to create compelling marketing. That’s OK… over the next several weeks we’re going to help you do exactly that. We’re going to reveal to you the market-ing secrets used by the pros, and in the process, position you and your business as the only logical choice for your customers to buy from.

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CRITICAL FUNDAMENTALS TO IDENTIFYING YOUR

IDEAL CUSTOMER



NOTES:

IDENTIFYING PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL TRAITS

But in order to create compelling marketing, you must first identify your target customer and you must identify them both physically and emotionally. So let’s get started.

First, we need to help you develop your target customer’s physical profile. We have to define their physical characteristics in detail. Remember, we want to start by identifying everyone on the face of the planet who NEEDS what you sell. We’re going to help you develop this vital information by providing you with our proprietary target customer profile form.

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Then we’ll focus on helping you develop the emotional profile for your target customer. The emotional profile begins to define your target customer’s hot button situations so we know specifically what it is they really WANT from your product or service.

The emotional profile helps you determine what your ideal clients want… NOT need. Once developed, it perfectly complements the physical profile and begins to form a crystal clear picture of your perfect targeted customer.

But let’s first define the available universe of human beings that NEED what you sell, and that’s the job of the physical profile.

To begin, what exactly do we mean when we refer to their physical profile? It’s simply referring to the statistical elements that apply to your current custom-ers… such as their gender, age, education level, marital status, income level, em-ployment status, home ownership, and so on. This profile defines the physical characteristics of every human being on the planet who NEEDS what you sell.

As an example… does your business sell to consumers or other businesses? If you sell to consumers, do you sell to mostly men or mostly women? If both gen-ders need what you sell, are they a perfect 50/50 mix or a fractured 70/30 mix? Is there a certain age group or age range that needs what you sell, such as 25 to years old, teenagers or baby boomers?

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Are your customers primarily single, married, divorced or widowed… or does their marital status have any bearing whatsoever on their purchase? If you run an oil change shop, it doesn’t. If you’re a divorce attorney, it obviously does. Do you know their approximate income level? And does income play a factor in their purchase. If you own a convenience store, it doesn’t. If you sell Corvettes, it does.

If you sell primarily to other businesses, the physical characteristics consist of the businesses annual revenue, their number of employees, where the business is located, the number of branches they have and where those branches are located, the way the organization is structured as well as the product or service they sell.

This in-depth physical profile is a great indicator of the type of company culture you’ll be dealing with and selling to. It may also give you tremendous insight as to the number of subordinates you may have to speak with in order to get your sales message in front of the decision maker. In many large businesses, the de-cision maker often assigns a subordinate the job of collecting information and bringing it back to them for a final decision. This person is often referred to as an influencer.

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You MUST identify if you will be dealing directly with the influencer or the deci-sion maker if you want to be successful. The decision maker and the influencer will each have vastly different “wants.” The influencer WANTS to look good to the decision maker, and if you can help them accomplish that, you’ll win their business. You’ll need to teach them how your product or service creates unprec-edented value to their company, how that value benefits the company and how to position this to the decision maker so they see that value and benefits as well.

In other words, you have to teach the influencer how to sell your product or ser-vice to the decision maker on your behalf since you won’t personally get the op-portunity to do so yourself. Unfortunately, the decision maker will be looking for something totally different than the influencer. They WANT to know if and how your product or service will help their business either solve a problem they have… or make them more money. They aren’t interested in the features of your product or service… only the benefits they will experience as a result of their purchase.

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To get an idea of who your target customers are, we must first take a look at some examples of physical profiles for various types of businesses. The follow-ing examples identify the “universe” of prospects that NEED the product or service each business offers. Let’s use both a business to consumer example as well as business to business example.

Let’s assume you own a child care facility which is business to consumer. The available universe of human beings who NEED the services of a child care fa-cility would look like this. Gender-wise, they could be both male and female, 21 to 45 years old, single or married, have 1 to 3 children and typically employed outside the home with a total annual household income between $20k - $250k.

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CASE STUDIES



So in summary, any parent 21 to 45 who works outside the home, has pre-school kids and no one to watch them NEEDS the services of a child care facility. Again, remember that we’re only defining the physical traits of all potential prospects who NEED what you sell.

But suppose you were a business consultant. They sell business to business. Their target customer’s physical profile might look like this. The businesses that need a consultant might be start-up businesses just getting started and need some help getting out of the gate so to speak. They might be experiencing financial difficulties and need a consultant to bail them out. They might be a more established business that’s doing OK financially but wants to dramatically increase their growth rate… or they may simply have hit a financial plateau and need some help generating more income.

As for the way they have structured their business, they could be an LLC, a sole proprietorship or a major corporation. They might have a single location or multiple branches. The main decision maker might be the actual owner of the business, the CFO, the COO or the CEO.

The business itself may be run by a solo-professional with no employees or it may have 50 employees. The annual revenue for the business may be zero if it’s a start-up and could reach as high as $50 million dollars if it’s a corporation. The age of the business itself could be zero if it’s a start-up and range up to a 100 year old established corporation. In other words, every business on the planet may at some point in its existence NEED the services of a business consultant.

NOTES:

CASE STUDIES



But remember that the physical traits only define those who NEED what you sell. This information will be enormously helpful later on when we examine the best way to reach your target customer with marketing messages… and what those messages should say when you do reach them.

Your physical profile plays a huge role in crafting the right marketing mes-sage. Marketing to an eighteen-year-old young man requires an entirely different message than marketing to a sixty-year-old woman. The emo-tional hot buttons you need to hit are much different depending on their physical profile. And that’s just the message.

The physical profile is also an excellent indicator as to where you need to place that message to reach your target customer. The younger genera-tion is on the internet… period. The baby-boomers are sometimes online, but often you have better luck reaching them through newspapers, plac-ing an ad in the Yellow Pages and attending networking events.

Once you properly identify the physical profile of your target custom-er, you begin to remove the guesswork from your marketing. That will help you save your hard-earned marketing dollars when you position your marketing message in front of them.

NOTES:

CASE STUDIES



Let’s quickly recap what we’ve discussed. The main purpose of this presenta-tion was to help you begin to develop the foundation required for you to build a highly successful business. That foundation requires that you know and under-stand who it is that represents your target customer.

You know that customers buy what they want… NOT what they need. They buy based on emotion… NOT on logic. They buy based on value… NOT on price.

Just knowing and understanding this information puts you light years ahead of your competition, since you’re creating the basic building blocks for your busi-ness that will help you to separate your business from your competition… and dominate your market for years to come.

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RECAP

(Click on any title above to return to that section)

INTRODUCTIONUNDERSTAND YOUR TARGET MARKETTHE 4 KEYS TO FINDING YOUR PERFECT TARGET MARKET80/20 RULECRITICAL FUNDAMENTALS TO IDENTIFYING YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMERIDENTIFYING PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL TRAITSCASE STUDIES



As we continue, we’ll begin to build on this information… so be sure to com-plete the assignment I’m about to give you. The information you develop will be information that you will continuously come back to and frequently use. Each presentation in this program will continue to build on the previous ones, so take your time and complete each assignment.

Your present assignment is an important one, and will prepare you for more ex-tensive content we’ll cover in the future.

I want you to begin to define the general physical profile for your target custom-er. Now remember, the physical profile defines the available universe of every human being on the planet that NEEDS what you sell.

I want you to create a list of traits that you believe defines that universe as it applies to your business and record those traits using this form. You only need to fill in the top center box for now. We will complete this form in future presen-tations, so be sure you keep this form someplace safe. Keep in mind that when listing these traits that I’m not talking about the clients who WANT what you sell. I want you to focus first on those who NEED what you sell. We have several completed examples in your workbook for you to review if you need help.

Then I want you to use this profile form I’ve included in your accompanying workbook to verify that the traits you’ve listed are the right traits.

For example, if you sell business to business, use the form labeled B2B. If you sell to consumers, use the form labeled B2C. Use these to record the actual physical profiles for the consumers or businesses you’re profiling.

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RECAP




BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER (B2C)PHYSICAL PROFILE

Business Name: __________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________

City: ___________________ State: ____ Zip: _______ Country: _______

Phone: _________________ Email: __________________________________

1. Marital Status: Single Married Separated Divorced Widowed

2. Gender: Male Female 3. Spouse/Partner: ___________________

4. Age: _____ 5. Birthday: __________ 6. Children: ________________

7. Yearly Income: $0–$25,000 $25,001–$50,000 $50,001–$75,000

$75,001–$100,000 $100,001–$125,000 $125,001+

8. Education Level: ________________________________________________

9. Job Title / Position: _____________________________________________

10. What are their typical buying paterns? ______________________________

11. What do they purchase prior to what you sell? _______________________

______________________________________________________________

12. What related products / services do they purchase? __________________

______________________________________________________________

(Month / Day)

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RECOMMENDED PROCESSHere’s the process I recommend you use. Begin by researching 6 current cus-tomers… if you have current customers. If you’re a start-up, you may not have any customers at this time. If you don’t have current customers, don’t worry about it. Just ask yourself who on the face of this planet may, at some point in their life, need what you sell. This isn’t rocket science, so don’t make this hard on yourself. This is simply your starting point.

First, consider their age ranges, and select the youngest, mid-range and oldest male & female customers you currently serve. You don’t need to physically inter-view them, just record the information you know about them.

It’s OK to guess if you don’t know for sure. You’re just looking to establish the basic ranges for now. It won’t matter if someone is 56 years old and you write down 60. Same thing when it comes to approximating their income level. Most people will be offended if you ask them how much they make.

But if you know their current profession, you can certainly make an educated guess as to their approximate income level. You might also look online for aver-age income ranges for that specific profession. Another trick is to capture their zip code, since most zip codes are an excellent indicator of specific income levels.

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RECAP




Once you record this information using the age ranges for both your male and female clients, repeat this process as it applies to their ages and marital status. Again, choose current customers that represent the youngest, mid-range & oldest single, married & divorced customers you presently service. This should get you started developing a fairly accurate range of information. You’re going to revise this general list later and make it much more specific and refined.

When you complete your research, use this form as a summary sheet.

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RECAP

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B)Physical Profile SUMMARY

Instructions:1. Enter the results gathered from your Physical Profile Research

2. Where applicable, list information as an overall range such as Number of Employees (5-15).

3. Check similar items in each row to identify trends that can allow you to better target your prospects.

SUBJECT 1 SUBJECT 2 SUBJECT 31. Number of employees (range)

2. Headquarters location

3. Product or Service Type

4. Annual revenue (range)

5. Number of branches (range)

6. Location of branches

7. Year founded (range)

8. Organizational structure

9. Title of decision-maker

10. Decision-maker

11. Influencer

12. User




Summarize the research you perform and record it for easy reference. In the event you sell business to business, use this form to record the physical profile information for the businesses you sell to. Notice its labeled B2B for easy refer-ence. Begin by choosing 3 current business customers that sell a product, and 3 that sell a service.

Then look at their annual revenue and record the business with the lowest reve-nue, approximate mid-range revenue and the highest revenue. Finally, look over the number of people they employ and rank them from the lowest to the highest.

You’re only establishing general categories that form an overall summary of the types of businesses you currently deal with. If you’re a massage therapist, you may be working with a business owner who is a solo professional like an accoun-tant making $50,000 annually with no employees… all the way up to a major corporation that hires you to come into their offices twice per month to provide chair massages to their Executive team. They may employee 50 people and generate $50 million in revenue. That’s the range you want to record. Use this form to summarize your data. But keep in mind that using your current clients is just a quick way to get started. We still want you to assess whether additional physical traits may also apply.

Remember, define the available universe of human beings or businesses that NEED what you sell?

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RECAP




Use your current clients as a starting point, but don’t limit yourself to only their physical description. However, the main reason we want you to begin with your current customers is profound… you MUST be presently doing something to attract these types of customers. This may come into play when we have you begin creating your marketing program. This way, we will have that data avail-able if we need it.

Revised Physical Description

Physical Description

COMPLETE THIS SECTION

Emotional Description

Your Niche Market

Which want meets your “Passion”?

What do they Want?

NOTES:

RECAP




By completing this exercise, you will begin to develop an accurate profile for your “target customer.” You’ll be able to physically identify them when you see them… and you’ll know where to begin to look for them when you start your marketing program. Just remember to use the form in your workbook.

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RECAP




Our next presentation will overview the emotional profile for your target custom-er and explain why emotions are 90% of the small business success equation.

The emotional profile is where things really start to get interesting… since the emotions help us discover your target customers “hot buttons.” Hot buttons are the problems, frustrations, fears and concerns your target customers tend to share as a group… and when you discover their hot buttons, they open the door for your business to dominate your market. This is where it really begins to get exciting, so start preparing yourself.

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NEXT PRESENTATION



Remember that one of our primary goals in the E-Learning Marketing System is to help you quickly develop the processes that will bring more revenue into your business. A big part of that process is dependent on you doing a great job on this physical profile assignment, so do your very best.

Our passion is helping you build the business of your dreams. Working together as a team, there’s nothing to stop us from accomplishing that goal. So until next time, here’s to your success.

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NEXT PRESENTATION

WEEK #04

YOUR COMPANION VIDEO LESSON

HOW WE IDENTIFY YOUR PERFECT TARGET MARKET

FIND ALL YOUR LESSONS IN THE E-LEARNING WEEKLY SERIES SECTION OF YOUR MEMBER SITE

HOW TO BUILD A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR

BUSINESSYour Step-by-Step Marketing Roadmap

target customer how to identify your perfect target...

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