Most businesses will sit and wait until people find them. They cross their fingers and hope that people will cross the street. But as obvious as it may sound, the best way to attract the companies or individuals that you’d like to work with is to decide exactly who they are.
Let’s start with a business that deals with other businesses. By examining your existing invoices, records and customer base, it should be clear which types of businesses are the most profitable for you. Let’s say that light bulb manufacturers represent a good portion of your business. You can see that they are good payers, but they seem to really need the service you provide and for some reason seem keen to recommend your business onto others. However, when you look at the total number of light bulb manufacturers you work with, you discover that you only currently work with 10 per cent of the market. Although you have never actively targeted the sector, through word-of-mouth and natural staff migration in this area, it appears to be quite successful for you.
Now, imagine you are a shopkeeper who sells shoes. You notice from your records that most of your customers come from the downtown area, with a majority close to the railway station. You also notice that a higher-than-average number of your customers come from certain villages. Finally you notice that schoolteachers appear to be the profession that uses your shop more than any other.
In both of the above cases, it would appear that there are distinct patterns emerging. Although you have never targeted specific sectors, it is clear that certain geographic, professional and business areas are interested in your products and service. It is worth pointing out at this juncture that most companies will not take the time to examine their database in this way. So the fact that you are doing it at all will set you ahead of the competition.
By simply purchasing data relevant to the sectors that are most interested in your products, or by targeting a leafleting campaign in those areas offering special incentives to come in and visit your business, you will find that you will generate a better-than-average response rate.
Rather than leave things to chance and treat all prospects as equal, it is far more cost-effective from every angle to target those people or businesses that are most likely to come to you with a concentrated effort. The conversion is money well spent.
