Comments on: What’s the key strategic behavior of your ideal customer? http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/ Small business marketing blog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:06:52 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Melissa Ward http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/comment-page-1/#comment-401350 Melissa Ward Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:00:50 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/#comment-401350 Excellent article. Being involved in the community through chambers, Rotary and professional groups shows a genuine interest in what is happening in your environment... those are the people I enjoy doing business with the most. Excellent article. Being involved in the community through chambers, Rotary and professional groups shows a genuine interest in what is happening in your environment… those are the people I enjoy doing business with the most.

]]> By: Gary Hart http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/comment-page-1/#comment-320309 Gary Hart Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:31:22 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/#comment-320309 John makes an excellent point in this article about marketing strategies based on targeting the behavior of existing quality clients for improved sales results. Generalized marketing requires expensive sales time to siphon prospects, also hurting sales performance. Precision marketing results in a better selection of prospects, increasing sales. If you’re fishing for trout and use worms, you’re going to get nibbles from a wide variety of fish other than trout. But, if there’s a stonefly hatch and you use stoneflies, trout visiting your presentation will go up exponentially. If existing clients have a propensity towards big dogs, then marketing collateral with big dog centric themes will make better bait. If you do not want clients who flinch at money, then value centric marketing collateral will dissuade price shoppers and attract buyers of quality. John makes an excellent point in this article about marketing strategies based on targeting the behavior of existing quality clients for improved sales results.

Generalized marketing requires expensive sales time to siphon prospects, also hurting sales performance. Precision marketing results in a better selection of prospects, increasing sales.

If you’re fishing for trout and use worms, you’re going to get nibbles from a wide variety of fish other than trout. But, if there’s a stonefly hatch and you use stoneflies, trout visiting your presentation will go up exponentially. If existing clients have a propensity towards big dogs, then marketing collateral with big dog centric themes will make better bait.

If you do not want clients who flinch at money, then value centric marketing collateral will dissuade price shoppers and attract buyers of quality.

]]> By: John Jantsch http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/comment-page-1/#comment-318076 John Jantsch Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:57:23 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/#comment-318076 Phil, On one hand I agree, and I've made that same point, but I want to open up the fact that sometimes flinching on money can also mean you've done a lousy job of educating on the value you have to offer. If they can't tell how you are different then they may compare you to the price they got from the last guy. Phil, On one hand I agree, and I’ve made that same point, but I want to open up the fact that sometimes flinching on money can also mean you’ve done a lousy job of educating on the value you have to offer. If they can’t tell how you are different then they may compare you to the price they got from the last guy.

]]> By: Phil Hodgen http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/comment-page-1/#comment-318064 Phil Hodgen Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:38:08 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/#comment-318064 This is not so much marketing (looking for fish) as it is landing the fish (or deciding to cut the line and let it swim away). Watch your prospect's reaction the VERY FIRST TIME you mention money. That response at that moment will tell you how he/she will treat you for the rest of your life. Anyone who quibbles about price or payment terms will be a pain in your side forever. Remember, you read it here first. :-) You're WAY better off quoting a fixed price. High. If they have a problem with price you take services off the table to get to their price. You're WAY better off saying "everything up front". Then you watch what they say. Just ask yourself how much you're prepared to walk away from if you want to adjust the payment terms. If you do installments, the final payment on completion should be smaller (like 10%). Balance your administrative headache and risk of loss against landing the business. This is a credit decision (am I willing to lend money to this person?) so treat it that way. I find that if my customers owe me more than about $2,500, they OWN me. I am doing more work to chase old work. I hate that. @philiphodgen (Twitter) This is not so much marketing (looking for fish) as it is landing the fish (or deciding to cut the line and let it swim away).

Watch your prospect’s reaction the VERY FIRST TIME you mention money. That response at that moment will tell you how he/she will treat you for the rest of your life.

Anyone who quibbles about price or payment terms will be a pain in your side forever. Remember, you read it here first. :-)

You’re WAY better off quoting a fixed price. High. If they have a problem with price you take services off the table to get to their price.

You’re WAY better off saying “everything up front”. Then you watch what they say. Just ask yourself how much you’re prepared to walk away from if you want to adjust the payment terms. If you do installments, the final payment on completion should be smaller (like 10%). Balance your administrative headache and risk of loss against landing the business. This is a credit decision (am I willing to lend money to this person?) so treat it that way.

I find that if my customers owe me more than about $2,500, they OWN me. I am doing more work to chase old work. I hate that.

@philiphodgen (Twitter)

]]> By: Rachel Phillips http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/comment-page-1/#comment-317857 Rachel Phillips Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:48:26 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/#comment-317857 I love the psychology behind your article. It's human nature to want to categorize and segregate things mentally. In a culture where individuality is taken too the extreme, why not use those individual preferences to help determine who your ideal customer is. Thank you for the refreshing post. I love the psychology behind your article. It’s human nature to want to categorize and segregate things mentally. In a culture where individuality is taken too the extreme, why not use those individual preferences to help determine who your ideal customer is. Thank you for the refreshing post.

]]> By: branding4newbies.com http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/comment-page-1/#comment-314662 branding4newbies.com Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:30:19 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/#comment-314662 The points here are right on target. It takes more than having a list of prospects to convert into clients. You must develop relationships with prospects and the only way to do that is to get out and touch people. I find that too many small business leaders are set in there ways and fail to understand that the business landscape is evolving rapidly and that they must engage to keep pace. Waiting by the phone is an antiquated approach. Small business leaders must mingle in their industry to strike the big deals! b4n The points here are right on target. It takes more than having a list of prospects to convert into clients. You must develop relationships with prospects and the only way to do that is to get out and touch people. I find that too many small business leaders are set in there ways and fail to understand that the business landscape is evolving rapidly and that they must engage to keep pace.

Waiting by the phone is an antiquated approach. Small business leaders must mingle in their industry to strike the big deals!

b4n

]]> By: jbrown http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/comment-page-1/#comment-312802 jbrown Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:38:26 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/#comment-312802 Good idea John. We sell high-end fishing products, so a lot of our customers tend to be pretty stereotypical outdoors guys but.... after reading this I noticed that the really good ones, the 20% or so that really make it worthwhile are all heavily involved in some sort of conservation effort like Coastal Conservation Association or the State Parks & Wildlife department. It's this kind of criteria that separates the weekend Wal-Mart customer from the serious enthusiast that is willing to pay our kind of premium price, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that was true for many other industries. Would you say that these people being "members" of some sort of group that requires time + effort on their part is sort of a "pre-qualifier"? For you it differentiates the business owners it who understand the time/money investment, and for me it weeds out the enthusiast from the part-timers. Thanks for the post Good idea John. We sell high-end fishing products, so a lot of our customers tend to be pretty stereotypical outdoors guys but…. after reading this I noticed that the really good ones, the 20% or so that really make it worthwhile are all heavily involved in some sort of conservation effort like Coastal Conservation Association or the State Parks & Wildlife department. It’s this kind of criteria that separates the weekend Wal-Mart customer from the serious enthusiast that is willing to pay our kind of premium price, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that was true for many other industries.

Would you say that these people being “members” of some sort of group that requires time + effort on their part is sort of a “pre-qualifier”? For you it differentiates the business owners it who understand the time/money investment, and for me it weeds out the enthusiast from the part-timers.

Thanks for the post

]]> By: Yvonne DiVita http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/comment-page-1/#comment-312563 Yvonne DiVita Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:50:46 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/02/18/whats-the-key-strategic-behavior-of-your-ideal-customer/#comment-312563 John, we have a book about that in our bookstore: Courting the Customer. All about how to 'court' your ideal customer. Search wmebooks.com for Pallini, the author. Short and sweet...it covers the bases. John, we have a book about that in our bookstore: Courting the Customer. All about how to ‘court’ your ideal customer. Search wmebooks.com for Pallini, the author. Short and sweet…it covers the bases.

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