Posts Tagged ‘Target Market’

We are all running around looking for the magic solution, the answer to our problems, a new diet, a new marketing plan, the secret to happiness and other imaginary answers that we think are out there somewhere.  We read books, go to workshops, attend seminars, listen to teleclasses, go on retreats and hire coaches, consultants, teachers, trainers and other experts to show us the way.  Here’s the thing, though, you probably already know the answer!

One of the payoffs of running around looking for the answer is that you don’t have to do that thing that you know you need to do that you don’t want to do.  Stop right now and ask yourself, “What is the ONE thing that I need to do in order to get the results I’m after?”  You might come up with 2 things, you might come up with 10.  Listen to me good!  ONE of those things on your list is probably the thing you’ve been avoiding and it’s the thing that will set you free.  I bet you want some examples.  Okay…

Weight Loss:

You want to lose weight?  Oh, I know this one!  What are the things that you think you need to do to get you the results you’re after?  Exercise, keep a food log, eat particular foods, drink water, don’t eat other foods, watch your portions, eat more often, eat less often, hire a trainer, run a marathon, join a gym, get a buddy, etc.  These are all great ideas.  I bet that ONE of these things, though, is the ONE thing that you really need to focus on.  For me, it’s eat less – period.  I can employ all kinds of different strategies and plans for eating less.  I can get all kinds of support for eating less.  I can take pills that will help me eat less.  I can hire a coach or a trainer that will hold me accountable to eating less.  But, I still need to eat less.  Period.

Get More Clients:

You want more clients?  Haha, I know this one, too!  What are the things you think you need to do to get more clients?  I bet you have a hundred things on that list:  network, speak to your target market, define your target market, re-design your website, start a blog, hang out on Facebook more, Twitter, drink more coffee (with other people), eat more lunches (again, with other people), join another networking group, get a new credential, learn a new skill, add more letters to your name, send an e-zine, have a free offer, lower your prices, raise your prices, advertise, etc.  Oh, I could go on and on and on.  There are hundreds of strategies that you could employ.  Let me tell you something.  NONE of those things is going to get you more clients!  These things will get you contacts, prospects, referral partners and the like, but they won’t get you clients.  You actually have to ask for business – whether it’s in person, on the phone, by email , through Facebook or whatever.  You can have the best marketing plan in the world, if you don’t have a sales plan, you won’t sell anything.

So, what is it for you?  What is the problem you want to solve and what is the ONE thing that you aren’t doing that you need to do to get results?  Don’t get me wrong.  I am not suggesting that you stop doing the 9 other things you’re doing that are actually working.  I just know that there is ONE thing that you’re not doing that you need to start doing.  I also know that the one thing you aren’t doing isn’t more of something that’s working (or not working).  You don’t need to exercise more, blog more, go to more meetings, etc.  You do need to do those things, but you also need to do the ONE thing that you’re not doing.  Figure it out and do it!

If you need help figuring out what your ONE thing is, call me or another coach.  I can’t always see my one thing.  Sometimes I can and I don’t want to do it, can’t do it or won’t do it.  Coaches and consultants can help you with new strategies, twists and awarenesses that can help with that part, too.

As much as I love Galinda and love being “popular”, this video makes me think of all the coaches, consultants and gurus out there who are promising to make you popular for a price.  Their plan is to take you and your business from being a green brunette, like Elphaba, and turn it into a shallow blonde (I use this term affectionately, haha) by doing exactly what they do whether you like it or not.

Here’s the thing.  Marketing is, indeed, about being popular.  It is essentially and simply telling people what you do over and over and over and over, wash, rinse, repeat.  And, sales is getting the people who know about you to buy from you.  Period.  There are a lot of ways to go about that.  You can do networking, refine your elevator speech, stop using an elevator speech, send brochures to your target market, write a blog, make cold calls, throw parties and on and on.  The thing about marketing, though, is that it needs to be about being and becoming more of yourself.  It shouldn’t be about trying to be someone else or following some magical plan that promises to make you popular.  If you’re green, you need to embrace being green and show off how special being green is so that you can reach your clients who need you to be green.

If you want some help developing your marketing plan that embraces who you are and what you’re about, check out  Get Clients NOW! It’s a program for creating a simple and effective plan with action items that you will do and that you love doing in order to increase your visibility with your target market and get more clients, now!  And if you just want to be more popular, I can help you with that, too!

As promised, here is my “Stadium Pitch”:  The Seven Most Expensive Mistakes Women Entrepreneurs Make.  Drum roll, please…

1. Being non specific and not identifying your niche.  This is extremely true of coaches and service professionals.  How many clients/customers do you really want?  You do not need to market to the entire world in order to get them.
2. Not knowing who your target market is.  Of course, defining your niche is a big part of this.  “Pretty much everyone could use my services ” is not a target.  I recently polled a group of savvy, mostly experienced women entrepreneurs and less than one third of them had a defined target market.  This is a VERY expensive mistake.  You need to know who your client is in order to know what they want from you and how to reach them.
3. Telling your clients what they want and need instead of listening to what your clients tell you they want from you.
4. Getting up and running on a crazy treadmill and not asking yourselves, “What’s the point?”  It is important to evaluate every commitment and decision and ask “Why am I doing this?  What do I hope to achieve?  What do I want to get out of this?  How do I need to approach this in order to get my desired outcome?”
5. Taking on too much overhead and throwing money at your business without looking at your return on your investment.
6. Recreating the wheel.  There is a lot of good information available.  For most new entrepreneurs, it makes more sense to build your own website than to pay $9K for one.  But, it probably doesn’t make more sense to build your own blog than to pay $500 for one.
7. “Spray and Pray” advertising.  This is a common side effect of not being clear about your niche and not knowing who your target market is.
8. Networking ineffectively – expecting to “get something out of” simply attending some networking meetings.  This could also be called not following up.
9. Hiding behind SAFE sales strategies – advertisements, newsletters, handing out business cards, creating facebook events, etc.
10. Thinking that a new expert or another credential is what you need to succeed.  In some cases, an expert is very valuable, but many entrepreneurs make the mistake (at least once) of hiring someone or buying a program in order to avoid doing what they already know.
11. Not taking responsibility for your impact.  Blaming other people, organizations, advertising platforms, social media sites, etc for your lack of success.
12. Quitting too soon.  Doing something once and expecting it to payoff.
13. Not quitting soon enough.  Hope is not a good strategy.
14. Attempting to do everything yourself.  Stay in your strengths and outsource the rest.  I just hired a VA to do my billing, because I hate doing it.  It actually costs you more money for you to run certain parts of your business than it does to outsource them, and you will likely be more productive and make more money when you free yourself from tasks that drain you.

Okay, okay… I can count.  That’s fourteen, not seven.  I could edit the list, combine some things and drop some things and I’m not going to.  I also think it’s a good strategy to under promise and over deliver.  So, the extra seven are my gift to you.  Enjoy!

I was on a conference call with Chet Holmes recently, of “The Ultimate Sales Machine”.  By now, you have all at least heard of the concept of your target market or your ideal client.  The new information for me, though, was Chet’s break down of your target market’s current interest in buying now.

So, here’s how it breaks down:

30% of your TARGET Market is DEFINITELY not interested in buying right now!  That’s one third of your ideal clients, people.

30% of your target market THINKS they aren’t interested in buying right now.

30% of your target market isn’t even thinking about buying.

7% or your target market is open to the idea of buying, but needs some compelling reasons.

And only 3% is planning to BUY NOW!

So, how can you position yourself to be in front of your ideal client when they are ready to buy?  And how can you refine what you offer your target market to make more people interested in what you’re offering?

Chet offered an exercise that I thought was pretty compelling:

Imagine that I am going to put you in a room full of 50,000 people who are ALL your ideal client.  You get to get up on stage and deliver a speech to them, presumably with the intention to get them to buy your product or engage in your services.  Here’s the catch:  Your opening line needs to be the title of your speech and everyone will get the opportunity to get up and leave if they aren’t interested after you deliver your opening line.  What speech will you deliver?

I started with:
“I’m here to help you turn all the problems in your small business into opportunities.”

By the end of the call, I refined my topic to:

“The Seven Most Expensive Mistakes Women Entrepreneurs Make”

I’ll get that article to you soon!