|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Who is Your Perfect Client
When I started my coaching practice I believed that I could coach anyone. My marketing wasn't targeted. Taking a few clients that were "wrong" for me cured me of that. I began to define my "perfect client" and then started to notice flags that told me that someone didn't fit my definition. Have you ever had a premonition that someone wouldn't be a good client for you? Today the person I hired to paint my house dropped by to pick up his check. He asked me about a neighbor to whom he had given a quote. He said, "She seems like a nice lady but something is telling me she'll be a problem." He went on to say that she wanted a guarantee that the paint wouldn't peel. He said with all the plants around her house and her irrigation system he didn't feel comfortable doing that. Although he would like the work and was confident in his ability to do a great job for her, he decided to pass on the job. Bob has owned his own painting business for 25 years and really knows who his "perfect customer" is. He sees warning signs that tell him when the work will cost him more than he will make. Large businesses often take all customers as long as they believe they have the ability to pay. They don't use a screening method. I remember thinking while I was at AT&T that some customers were more of a headache than they were worth. One customer I remember started her weekend early on Friday afternoon and came back to her office after lunch inebriated. In that condition everything annoyed her so she would start calling us for immediate service on her equipment or adjustments on her bill. She knew all the numbers to call (including the president of the company!). If she didn't get attention she called the person's boss. She sounded pretty normal on the phone so she was taken very seriously. She consistently drained resources. Do you get an inkling that a prospective client will be a problem? What are the warning signs? I know for example that people who believe they know everything and never make a mistake are not good clients for me. I listen for that when I talk to potential clients. Also if someone comes to me for a marriage issue, I know that is not my area of expertise. I could coach the person but because I don't work in this area much it takes me longer to get up to speed on it. Better to refer that client to someone else and to find the lawyers and other professionals that I have a specific business development program for and experience in coaching. It is more profitable for me and more satisfying for my clients. One exercise I do with my clients is to ask them to rate their current clients as A, B, C and D clients. They come up with their own criteria for A (the dream client), B (the dream client in training) C (the average client) and D (the client from hell). The goal is to find a way to have only A and B clients in their practice. Can you see that getting rid of C and D clients would give you extra time to work with the clients you enjoy? By doing this you aren't wasting precious time trying to please someone who needs lots of special attention. Think too about the kind of referrals you will get from C and D clients. We attract people to us that are very much like us so C and D clients probably will refer C and D clients. If you want to have a thriving practice with clients you enjoy working with the first step is to get very clear about your "perfect client". What makes him/her perfect and then what tells you that the prospect sitting in front of you or the one on the phone is that perfect client? Take Action 1. Read Attracting Perfect Customers by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogneiz 2. What are your criteria for A, B, C and D clients? 3. Classify your current and past clients as A, B, C and D clients. What did you learn from the exercise? 4. Can you create a script with several questions for your staff to use so that you don't have to talk to any potential client that is clearly not an A or B client? Do you have a list of other attorneys, doctors, painters etc that they can refer the C and D clients to? About Alvah Parker Alvah Parker is a Business and Career Coach as well as publisher of Parker's Points, an email tip list and Road to Success, an ezine. Parker's Value Program© enables her clients to find their own way to work that is more fulfilling and profitable. Her clients are managers, business owners, sole practioners, attorneys and people in transition. Alvah is found on the web at http://www.asparker.com. She may also be reached at 781-598-0388.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Business Marketing Strategies For many small business managers, finding the time and commitment to develop business marketing strategies is difficult. There are so many other obligations vying for our attention it is tempting to push formal strategy development to the back burner. Giving into that temptation, however, means putting your business at a disadvantage. Marketing strategies help point you toward the best marketing programs for your business. Without strategies, you risk becoming unfocused in your marketing efforts, choosing programs that do not support general strategies. Why Your Business Need a Website Web Presence gives your business a distince edge over your competitors, especially when you want to expand your current customer base. Customer Retention with a Personal Touch Personal contact with customers is a crucial element in the success of any new business ? and it's one of the most common casualties of growth. As a company grows, the president tends to fade away into his or her office. That can lead to loss of leverage right at the point when a company is starting to take off and needs it most. Big Ticket Marketing in 28 Minutes I read an article recently about how many mainstream retail companies are using the standard 28 minute infomercial to moreeffectively target customers and sell their products. Your REALTOR® Marketing Plan The steps to creating an effective marketing plan begin with identifying who you are going to be targeting, what you are going to spend, and how many sales you are going to receive as a result of your efforts. By identifying this information in the initial stages of your market plan development, you will significantly increase your return on investment and substantially increase your sales. Below is a step by step process to help you lay the framework for your own marketing plan: How To Go From Under Dog to Top Dog by Unleashing The Power Of a Postcard The Tale of Two Dentists... The Truth About The Fallacy Of 7 Ted Nicholas is a marketer with a proven track record. He has started, operated and sold 21 profitable businesses, and is responsible for the direct or indirect publishing of hundreds of books and publications. Ted Nicholas is a well- known and respected leader in the information marketing business. Are You Marketing Backwards? Marketing is like rowing a boat. When you know how thepointed bow moves smoothly forward through the waterencountering the least amount of resistance. Rowingbackwards, the square stern of the boat pushes against thewater, requiring more effort and increases the risk ofhaving a wave come over the transom (back) and swamping it.Yet most people market backwards, trying to grow theirbusiness while pushing against the greatest level ofresistance. Simple Marketing Strategies Versus an SEO Line of Attack! Each and every day those of us on the Internet are bombarded with information about Search Engine Optimization and all that goes along with it. For the majority of folks who are promoting a business online, this can often lead to confusion especially when it comes to understanding key words, meta tags and title tags. But the real issue is not necessarily in how many people are finding your site, but in how many visitors develop into clients or customers. 4 Alternative Ways To Gain Lifetime Customers You will always have more people that turn downyour offer than actually buy. They might not havebought because of your price, payment options,or any other possible reason. You will just end uploosing all these potential lifetime customers.However, there are many ways you can minimizethe loss of these prospects. Non Products Exist in this World "Both the market and the distributive channel are often more crucial than the product. Products are within the business as the accountants define it. They are within its legal boundaries. Economically the other two areas are as much part of business."- Peter Drucker, Managing for Results. Discount Promotional Items ? How to Save Money It takes money to make money is an adage we hear everyday in the business world. So, when it comes to getting promotional items, you've got to budget for it. Or do you? Marketing And Patience "Get your positioning and your programs implemented properly, and the numbers will come. But you've got to have some patience."? Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin How to Measure the Benefit Your Product or Service Offers Measuring the benefit of your product or service means putting a specific value on the advantage it offers. For example, it's ineffective to say your light bulbs are brighter and last longer than the competition's. You've got to let people know that they're 50% brighter and last two times as long! Your dry cleaning methods aren't just better, they're three times more likely to remove stubborn stains than traditional methods. Your chiropractic techniques aren't just effective, they're clinically proven to reduce back pain for 95% of patients. And so on. The Top 10 The Top Ten Signs That Your Marketing Message Needs a Facelift Is your marketing plan dull, flat, and downright boring? Is it lacking the zest and appeal which can penetrate the consciousness of your buyers? If so, you may be driving away folks who could easily buy your products or services. If so, these ten signs from The 90 Day Marketing Marathon Blunders from A to Z: B is for Boring will support you in raising your awareness of what drives folks away and tips on how you can create a message which will catch fire in the market place. A Creative RIOT Relevant, original and impactful: that's what my friend Creative Director Jim Mountjoy says that effective creative must be. With apologies to Jim, I have my own acronym because I think ROI is only 75 percent of the way there. Effective creative is a RIOT: relevant, impactful, original and true. Turbocharge New Sales with a Marketing Database What is the most valuable asset your company owns? Inventory? Equipment? Employees? If you've got customers, your number one asset is your customer list. When Designing Postcards, Aim for Refrigerator Door Mindshare If you want to design effective marketing postcards, then aim for "Refrigerator Door Mindshare." By this, I mean that you should create a card that someone would be proud to display on his or her refrigerator door.The image on the front of your postcard should be simple, but attractive. I?ve found that brightly colored cards pull a better response than dark, moody cards. Save your artistic angst for some other medium. You should also create an image that?s easily comprehended. Why? Because your recipients will only give your cards a one- or two-second glance before deciding to keep them or throw them away. Think billboard. A billboard must get its point across quickly?because people are driving by at high rates of speed. It also must be memorable. So, here's a homework assignment, the next time you're out and about, look at the billboards. Advertisers are paying good money to put them up, so why not use them as a source of free design ideas? Now, ask yourself a couple of questions:1. Which billboards are memorable? 2. Which billboards are forgettable? You can also do the same thing with advertising you see in bus and train stations, or in airports.You may have noticed this when you've been sending postcards, or doing some other form of marketing. Your responders will fall into one of the following groups: 1. People who respond right away. 2. People who respond several weeks, months, or even years later. You may get a lot of "right away" responders, which is the desired result of most marketing activities, but you'll still get replies from people who've saved your postcards. And "keeper cards" are a good thing. Why? Because if your recipients are keeping what you?re sending out, chances are good that they?ll eventually do business with you. Direct Marketing: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Unstoppable Every business needs customers, but more importantly every business needs to maintain those customers while constantly retaining new ones. The only successful way of doing this is by learning everything about your customers, including who they are? What do they have in common? Do they share a hobby, an age range, a life stage, or a geographic community? Can you break them down into groups? The answers to these questions hold a wealth of information for you. Although direct marketing can be overlooked by many businesses, here are statistics proving the effectiveness of direct mail campaigns over the years. Perceived Value Is In The Eye Of The Beholder Q: My partner and I are having a hard time coming up with what we feel is the perfect price for our new product. We know what competing products sell for, but we don't know if it's better to price our product cheaper than theirs or charge more based on what we think is a superior product. What is the best way to determine the perfect price and what is the rule of thumb for raising prices later on? -- Jennifer L.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
