Lesson: Why Traditional Methods of Defining your Ideal Customer Are Irrelevant For You

 

If you've ever thought about this question before, of who is your Ideal Customer, you may have said something like, "She's female, between the ages of 35 and 70, living in the suburbs, and subscribes to Money magazine."

But here in this Program, I'm going to ask you to toss all of those definitions of Ideal Customer out the window. The reason is that our reason for defining your Ideal Customer is completely different than that of the marketing coach in the past who asked you to come up with a bunch of demographic descriptions.

 

To understand why this is, we need to discuss where this whole concept of Ideal Customer originated.

Traditional marketing - I'm talking pre-internet here - was primarily focused on print advertising. Direct mail, and magazine and newspaper ads. Maybe there was a little radio advertising thrown into the mix.

In those days, if you were going to send a direct mail marketing piece (or advertise in a magazine), the thing you had to figure out was, who am I going to send my postcard or letter to? Like literally, where am I going to get the names and addresses from?

• you wanted the women, not the men;
• the ones older than 35, not younger;
• the ones who lived in these three zip codes;
• the one to subscribed to these magazines, or who had applied for these credit cards, Etc

 

You did this, because this is the only data a list broker had about your potential customer or client. A list broker didn't know who on their list is struggling with a self confidence issue because they're fearful their husband has been cheating on them, and who are wrestling with a decision of divorce vs. therapy as a result. A list broker knows factual, demographic data, that's it.

As an aside, this is part of why Facebook Ads has been such a revolution. In its insidious way, Facebook has collected a HUGE amount of data on its users - data that goes way beyond just demographics of name, rank and serial number. They know what we like - our psychographics - because we've literally "liked" hundreds, if not thousands, of posts!! So advertisers on Facebook have been able to select Facebook users to view their advertising based upon those people's emotions - what they like - as opposed to just factual data points.

The very fact that Facebook may very well have thrown the 2016 US Presidential election to Donald Trump is proof positive of just how easily you can persuade people, when you understand their likes and their motivations so deeply. But, I digress.

Now if you're planning on sending direct mail to your customers (or advertising in magazines) you will still need to come up with demographic designations in order to buy an appropriate list, or determine an appropriate periodical in which to place your ad.

But since this program is about authentic salesmanship rather than advertising, we are seeking the heart of your customer. What is the pain that they're in? What problems are they facing in their life, that you can help them with? And more explicitly, "Who has the characteristics or tendencies that makes my solution more tantalizing than any other?"

Knowing the answers to these questions enables you to switch your salesmanship switches from being sleazy to being of service.

It's only when you are crystal clear about not only who your solution is for, but what specifically about them makes them like your solution better than any other, that then you are able to do all the sales you want and it's not sleazy. If you don't do that work - if you don't know who your best client is and what makes them want you - then anything you do to sell, follow-up, marketing is likely to be very sleazy.