The ridiculously short guide to finding your ideal customer
Your ideal customer or client:
- is ready for what you have to offer.
- makes a decision based on desire and not fear.
- will benefit the most from what you’re offering.
- values what you offer more than what it costs.
- is willing to pay more than full price (see above).
- shares similar values with you.
- looks to you as an authority, expert, artist, visionary.
Those are the non-negotiables.
The rest is up to you.
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Redefining “better off” creates opportunities for You Economy businesses – or – Steal these business ideas
56% of Millennials believe their generation will be the same or worse off than their parent’s generation financially. This is a far cry from the “American” value of upward mobility.
I put “American” in quotations because this is a value we’ve had so much success exporting to the rest of the world. Parents don’t just want to create copies of themselves, they want to create better copies of themselves. It’s both biological and financial evolution at work.
But what if being “better off” financially is just not as important to this generation? What if the McMansions, shiny cars, and high-end shopping malls mean less to the average 18-32 year old than they did for their parents and their grandparents before that? What if they always will? What if the trappings of financial progress are just not that important to them?
It pays (literally, and we’ll get to that) to figure out how the next generation will be better off. How will they measure progress from here on out? I doubt it will be in stock portfolios and 401(k)s – just as pensions seem so 20 years ago. While financial stability will be an important part of any generation’s big picture, what is truly valued will be transformed.
We are in a period of shifting values. And with shifting values comes an opportunity to create new value for a new set of customers. This is where there is the most opportunity in business right now. If you do the hard work of creating wealth beyond the financial, if you seek instead to create deep, enduring value that makes people’s lives meaningfully better, you can have both the purposeful change you seek and the financial reward you desire.
So what values are being raised up? Where are the opportunities? I asked:
…treating everyone the way you would want to be treated. I would love to be a generation of common sense and compassion.
— Stefanie Lin, Artsy Momma
Living life in line with my purpose instead of “sacrificing” everything for the sake of the children.
I hope that we’re better off health-wise.
For me, being ‘better off’ than my parents would mean that I create that better opportunity, that I have agency in what that opportunity should look and feel like as opposed to going where an opportunity might exist. For me, better off means having control and determination over how my life will look and the legacy I will leave.
– Sapna Mehra
It means being able to talk about feelings and being more open with others.
The real challenge is making meaning with the money, or making meaning while making the money. My parents were always generous, but the scope was more local; now we (and they) are exposed to a much broader view of need, and have to decide how we’ll respond.
— Sarah Lewis, @bookchiq
Spending most of my days in flow, focusing on immediate opportunities for action, improvising, doing work I believe in, that lights me up, and getting better and better at it, and not needing to build rigid barriers between work & play, because everything feels like play.
…being “better off” than my parent’s generation is having a society and economy that is community-driven rather than one that is at the expense of others/other people’s families.
Business owners, entrepreneurs, country(wo)men, these are your opportunities.
These are your golden tickets. Solve these problems, make this easier for people, and I’m betting you can have your world-change and your IPO too.
What would being “better off” look like to you? I encourage you to submit your answer here and you just might see it in an upcoming piece!
How to found nations & find bliss: an interview with Sarah J Bray
I’ve been following Sarah J. Bray since January 2010. Yes, I know the exact month because finding Sarah marked a huge shift in my business.
For me, Sarah represents the pinnacle of both digital honesty and unflinching ambition. It’s a beautiful combination and really points to the promise of the You Economy. If you can be both truly yourself and full of the passion required to make big, big things happen, how could you call yourself anything but a success?
I spoke with Sarah about her two latest projects, A Small Nation and Tour de Bliss. Both represent the elegant, iterative process that Sarah uses to generate work that is meaningful to her team and transformative for her clients.
Her ever-evolving process of finding work that meets that criteria is something I really wanted to dive into. Her advice was to “treat it like an experiment” and to not pretend that this is going to be what you’re doing for the rest of your life.
We often get so wrapped up in getting things perfect that we forget that learning is our chief job as entrepreneurs. Perfection teaches us nothing. Striving for permanence is foolhardy. Embrace a legacy of authentic, purposeful experimentation.
We want to find out bliss, our ideal life, but we always want to reach for greatness. The thing is we’re never quite sure about what either of those things are. Our ideal life & our great work, they are unknowable. We have to purposefully experiment to come closer & closer to knowing.
What’s truly beautiful about Sarah’s process is that its goal is always moving towards her ideal instead of moving away from what is unappealing. Move toward what compels you, not away from what repels you.
Find Sarah at A Small Nation, Tour De Bliss, and her own site. Follow her on Twitter.
“How do I get the word out?” is the last question you should ask.
“How can I reach more customers?”
“How can I get the word out?”
“How can I tell a different story?”
If you don’t have [enough] sales, it must be a promotional problem, right? “If only more people knew about what I have to offer, I would be doing alright.”
Could it be that, instead of an outreach problem, you have an inner reach problem? That what you’ve created isn’t the full extent of what you have to offer?
Could it be that it’s the product that needs changing and not the promotional plan?
While you’re looking to place the burden on the right tactic or promotional channel, the people who are taking notice aren’t buying either. Sure, it could be the price, the copy, the positioning, the reach. And yes, a bigger list and greater market reach certainly help. But could it be the product? It’s likely to be one of the last things you consider.
Recently, Mark Silver wrote about an experience with two different local businesses. He very much values working with small, independent, local businesses. But in both scenarios it appeared that the bigger box store option was going to win out. While a certain set of values was pushing him to settle for what the local businesses had to offer, another set of his values (quality & fit) pushed him to go with the more efficacious offer.
Similarly, Danielle Maveal, from Etsy, asked Megan and I after our talk on pricing, “When do you stop thinking about price and position and start talking about the product?”
In other words, what happens when it’s the product that’s the problem?
This question is especially important in terms of purpose- & values-driven businesses. It’s also incredibly awkward to talk about because if I tell you that the product is the problem, you may hear “you are the problem.”
You raise the handmade, local, or independent flag but does that mean you deserve special consideration? No. While those categories are exceptionally important to me, quality, fit, and value will always be more important.
I will buy a product and spend what I need to to get what I want, what truly works for me.
Mark says:
Your business can be a winner if it has both: you’re effective AND you strongly reflect the most-cared about values of your clients.
“Handmade,” “local,” and “independent” are important value add-ons. They reinforce my buying decision and make me feel good about the money I’m spending. But they won’t change my mind.
As an advocate for conscious consumption, I don’t want consumers to make a buying decision based on the label any more than I do based on a low price.
So before you ask “how to get the word out,” make sure you have clear answers to these questions:
1.) Is my product or service specially designed for the consumer I am aiming to reach? Microbusinesses are better positioned & equipped for making design or experience decisions for their specialty customers. If you don’t know your customer well enough to make those decisions, you need to spend serious time getting to know them.
2.) Is what I’m offering that different from what can be purchased elsewhere? Do serious market research. Know what is on the market and know how you stack up in terms of your customers needs. No excuses.
3.) What precise need does my product or service fill? Every product or service fills a need (though not every need is universal). Don’t pretend yours doesn’t. Know it & name it.
4.) Does my product or service exceed the [quality, convenience, ease of use, etc…] of what’s currently available? Understand how your product or service is innovative within its market. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel but you should have a handle on what’s fresh about what you’re offering.
It’s hard to get the word out about something unremarkable. It’s near impossible to market something that doesn’t have a clear selling point. The real key to thriving as a local, independent, or artisan business is to not be a reasonable facsimile of the big guys.
The key is to use your agility, attention to detail, and intimate relationship to the customer to create something truly great for the people you serve.
No strategy for “getting the word out” will work until you do.
Business versus Startup, Managers versus Entrepreneurs
Is your venture a business or a startup?
Are you a manager or an entrepreneur?
Think it’s all semantics? It might be. But it also might be the source of a lot of tension in your day-to-day operations.
Quick Quiz
- Do you make time for creating & investigating new ideas? Yes or No
- Would you prefer to spend most of your business time working for your clients/customers? Yes or No
- Does evolving & changing your business excite & energize you? Yes or No
- Do you prefer getting it right & sticking with it? Yes or No
If you answered “yes” to questions 1 & 3, you’re the entrepreneur-type. If you answered “yes” to question 2 & 4, you’re the manager-type.
Entrepreneurs & Startups
A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
— Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup
Entrepreneurs thrive in environments of uncertainty. Change is a constant – and welcome – companion for these business adventurers. They are on a quest to discover and rediscover a product that creates value, innovation that disrupts a market, and a business that “works.”
Entrepreneurs create & run startups. Startups are businesses driven by the hunt for an unknown prey. Startups must be built for agility. One or 10 wrong moves won’t kill a startup but moving too slowly will. A startup is focused on implementing then learning and then implementing and learning again.
If you’re an entrepreneur running a startup, you probably thrive on short-term projects, experimentation, and learning new techniques.
To do: Make time in your schedule every week for thinking on, designing for, and playing at something new. Don’t succumb to guilt because you’re not spending time hustling for new clients or working on the things that pay the bills. Yes, that’s important but, if you don’t indulge your creative/innovative side, you’ll lose interest in your venture.
Also, be prepared to bring others onto your team quickly, you’ll need support in administration & management to grow the business beyond its initial stages.
Watch out for: Boredom. Recognize that many businesses aren’t meant to remain startups forever. It’s possible for you to get to a point where your desire to create & innovate in your current venture withers away. If you sense this is a possibility, be sure to be building your business so that you can step away from it, either by putting management in place or by selling it.
Also, be mindful of shiny things. Shiny things are projects or ideas that take you away from your true purpose. Novelty is important to you and should be considered carefully but not at the expense of the learning cycle you’re in.
Managers & Businesses
…you switch from riding the rocket to playing the long patient game. You’ve reached a level of business expertise and positioning such that the only way you’re going to get better is to focus on the long game of expertise and market share.
— Charlie Gilkey, Productive Flourishing
Charlie’s series on the stages of business is helpful for both manager-types & entrepreneur-types but especially so for managers.
Managers are focused on greatness. They prefer getting things right the first time and then slowly optimizing from there. They bank on the long tail. They thrive in long-term relationships with customers & clients. Their businesses are powerhouses of word-of-mouth sales. They learn and then implement.
Managers run & maintain businesses. A business is an enterprise with a proven model. It runs like a top. As long as it’s spinning, it’s generating profit.
If you’re a manager, you probably live for doing the work you created your business to do in systems that help you do that work better.
To do: Indulge two of your strengths and create a system for gathering referrals. Incorporate it into your client emails or create marketing geared at existing customers. Make sure your team knows referrals are a priority for you.
Also, reach out to 3rd party perspectives on a regular basis. A business coach, copywriter, or PR specialist might help you see opportunities that would have otherwise been missed.
Watch out for: Getting comfortable. It’s easy to get comfortable cruising along when you’re a seasoned manager and your business is working. But surprises do come. Make a habit of considering different scenarios (both positive & negative) to train or brain to embrace the unknown.
Also, look for opportunities to leverage your (or your team’s) time. When you love the work that you do and create a business for that express purpose, it’s very easy to get comfortable doing that work on a pay-for-play basis. You get paid when you work. It’s difficult to create freedom in a business like this so make time to work out ways to leverage what you do to generate profit.
What does it all mean?
Ventures that succeed over the long haul need both types of people — or more specifically both skill sets. This isn’t a judgement call; there is no better or worse. Understanding what energizes & strengthens you helps you understand how you can serve your own business best.
To begin, grow, or change direction, you’ll need to call on your entrepreneurial skill set. If this is where you thrive, you’re pretty well set. If this is what causes you some pain, get help. To maintain a low-stress business, you’ll need to call on your managerial skill set. If this is where you thrive, again, you’re pretty well set. If this is what causes you some pain, get help.
Running a business is not a solo act. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or the focal point of a team, it’s important to realize that there are multiple roles required for keeping your business running smoothly. Neglect a role and you’ll suffer for it.
So tell me – what are you: an entrepreneur or a manager? Answer in the comments and/or click here to tweet it!
Why your customers just don’t “get it” and what to do about it
I have a thing for worldviews. Always have.
I’ve been studying worldviews since I was a precocious preadolescent. I even majored in worldviews in college (okay, we called it “religion” but it sounds slightly more employable to say “worldviews”). Now, I work on understanding people’s worldviews everyday.
I think about your worldview a lot.
Why? Because you’re either my customer or my potential customer. You’re a follower, a fan, a part of my movement.
Even more often, I’m thinking about the worldviews of the people who follow you. Your [potential] customers.
So what exactly is a worldview?
…the beliefs and expectations and biases [people] have about the world
— Seth Godin
In the study of religion, worldviews are mostly codified. There are sets of beliefs – creeds, commandments, scriptures – that followers adhere to. Because of these beliefs, followers are expected to act in certain ways. What’s expected of followers creates biases that reinforce the belief structure. It’s a cycle that keeps the community strong.
Out in the wild world, worldviews are generally not codified. There are no strict sets of rules for breadwinner moms, scifi enthusiasts, or teenage girls who dig math & code. Yet, if I asked you to analyze a situation that involved a person from one of those groups, you could probably estimate the actions that person would take given what you know about the group she belongs to. Social cues and personal experience would guide you.
See, you do know something about worldviews!
So are you using your customers’ worldviews to serve them better, communicate to them more effectively, and sell more of your products or services? My guess is probably not. My guess is that your business revolves around your worldview. And a lovely worldview it is.
If you have the general feeling that people “don’t get” what you do, that’s why. Here’s how to fix it:
Consider their behaviors.
Talk to any of your followers or customers for a bit and they’re bound to relate to you some things that they “do” that coincides with your business offerings. Remember how actions are the result of biases & expectations? That means if you hone in on the behaviors your ideal clients exhibit, you can reverse engineer some of their core beliefs.
Results are behaviors that are changed or transformed. Determining what results you create allows you to point to a shift your customers desire in their worldview.
Recognize their language.
You likely don’t speak the same language as your customers. I sure as heck don’t! So while you’re gathering information on your customers’ behaviors, pay close attention to the words & phrases they use. They are biased towards those words when describing how they feel, what they do, and what kind of results they’d like to achieve. If you incorporate more of those words while retaining your own voice, you give yourself the chance to truly be heard.
Use your customers’ language to call them to attention & action. Use your language to describe methodology or process.
Determine the context.
We subscribe to different worldviews for all sorts of reasons. In the case of religion, we long for a community of faith and the support of the Divine. In a family, we play the role society has taught us. In a job, we fulfill a job description to the best of our abilities. There are all different sorts of context for the beliefs & expectations your customers have. Learning what particular context your very best customers have helps you to create a more well-rounded image of them.
Paint a picture of the context of the results you provide so that your customers can envision themselves in a transformed worldview.
Once you’ve got the behaviors, language, and context of your customers’ worldview, examine your offers & pitches. Are you describing your behavior or theirs? Are you using your language or theirs? Are you assuming your context or theirs?
Making those – sometimes subtle – adjusts can make all the difference in the world.
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PS What would it be like to have your business questions answered, your energy amped, your focus clear & steady, your priorities organized? There’s a new way to work one-on-one with me to get laser-focused insight into your business and where it’s headed. It’s called an Insight Intensive and it might just be what you’ve been waiting for. Click here now to check it out!