photo from PhotoBucket.com
I’m pretty up front about my (less than) humble beginnings in business. In fact, more often than not, I refer to those days as my “Anything For Money (AFM) Tour“… and that’s exactly what it was.
I did everything from community outreach / PR initiatives, to working with U.S. Embassies over seas to document water quality for Ambassadors and staff, to performing home studies in cases of domestic custody disputes, to coaching women struggling with work / life balance, to handling specific recruiting challenges for Fortune 500 companies… Yep – Anything for Money just about covers it… don’t ya think?
Anyway, today I do the opposite. I operate differently, and see dramatically different results. My marketing strategies – each one of them – are rooted in two very politically- charged words: discrimination and profiling.
I discriminate ruthlessly and profile my clients without apology. Why? Because I’ve learned that selling is easier, more enjoyable and infinitely more profitable when you are able to speak more specifically to your market and, perhaps more importantly, when you’re speaking to people who are pre-disposed to WANT to do business with you.
Truthfully, I’m not sure what I believe regarding the Anything For Money Tour as a business launch strategy. Is it NECESSARY for an effective launch? I don’t know. I certainly DO believe that a niche and your branding is NOT something you should create in a room with some expert. I think that the strongest brands and most profitable niches are created IN ACTION – as you serve your market… allowing the market itself to help create your brand AND define the niche you serve best. For me this happened, on my AFM tour. =) I mean, you have to start somewhere, right?
Regardless of where you start, though… you do want to put this business of discriminating and profiling at the core of your marketing strategy sooner rather than later. Here are a few ways to get started:
The Art of PROFILING –
Make a list of your top twenty most favorite clients ever… or your LAST 20 clients… or if you’ve only had ten clients make a list of those ten. The key is to WRITE IT DOWN and SPEND SOME TIME on this activity.
You want to write down their name, how they found you as a business owner (referral? local ad? commercial?) as well as anything else you remember about them. It doesn’t matter how inconsequential this information seems… write it down. When you’re done, you’ll be surprised at what these clients / customers have in common. Maybe you realize they are all empty nesters, or all have kids in private school, or perhaps that they are all former military. When this information – the information your top clients have in common – is then summarized, you have an incredible PROFILE of your ideal market, which is marketing GOLD!
The Practice of Bold DISCRIMINATION
Now that you know your profiling description, you can begin practicing bold discrimination…. eliminating NON-ideal clients from your list of prospects. When you’re ready to give up your Anything For Money Tour – or if you’re fortunate enough to have figured out a way to avoid it all together – you want to target ONLY those people that make ideal clients for you …. AND ignore those that have proven to be unenjoyable or unprofitable to work with. The more discriminatory you are in your marketing, the better & quicker results you’ll see in terms of sales and profitability.
