Jul 04 2007
Ideal Customer Profiling
Pro-active business development demands that we create an ideal target at the front end – i.e. an Ideal Customer Profile.
The essential characteristics you will need to consider are:
- Industrial Sector
- Geographical Location (Demographics)
- Size of organisations (Turnover, number of employees etc)
- Financial Trends
- Psychographics – i.e. Philosophical compatibility
Many strategic sales professionals merely profile their best existing clients and try to replicate them – there’s nothing wrong with doing this but we should always remember that we are seeking an IDEAL and we can always improve on what we already have.
‘New’ Opportunities From Within ‘Old’ Accounts:
Because it costs approximately ten times as much, to first locate and then sell to a new customer as it does an existing one (although these costs are rarely reflected in the cost of sales), it is essential that we fully develop our existing accounts working upwards, downwards and sideways, thus making the most of the (hopefully) excellent reputation we have developed already.
Most corporate accounts have several divisions, departments, sites, even country offices and you must satisfy yourself that you have exhausted every possible avenue. Don’t be afraid to ask the question “Who else should I be talking to in your organisation”?
Developing New Opportunities:
There are a number of ways in which we can target new opportunities e.g.
• Direct Mail
• Telephone Canvassing
• Researching Archived Files For Customers Who Used To Buy From Your Company
• Exhibitions
• Seminars
• User Groups
• E-Mail Campaigns
• Referrals
• Qualified Leads
• Advertising
Not all of these will be appropriate to your particular industry, but you should not be afraid to experiment – i.e. challenge the paradigm – and do not accept that just because a particular idea has not worked in the past that it will not do so in the future. (Remember when you were learning to walk – it didn’t work first time then!)
The important thing is to make an early decision in terms of what you are going to try and then build this (those) ideas into your master plan.
Tomorrow: My guest author is a very talented guy called Tom Richard - “Dare To Dream By Day” - excellent piece, it really is.
