Oct 20 2009
The Use Of “Pareto Thinking” & Ideal Customer Profiling
Use of ‘Pareto Thinking’ is highly relevant and important when applied to sales people. For example, 20% of sales people’s activities will create 80% of sales achieved, which has enormous consequences on how to optimise and manage lead generation activities.
Generating leads is an important sales activity that plants the seeds of growth for sustainable business development. A lead is purely a name that you could refer to as a SUSPECT because their potential to buy is unknown.
Before you can qualify leads to determine whether they have the money, authority and desire to buy your products/services you need to generate them!
When deciding upon which lead generation methods work best for you and your organisation, it helps to have clarity on the type of customers that you’d like to attract. This means creating an “Ideal Customer Profile “that can begin to provide direction to your lead generation activities.
The following questions will stimulate your thinking when it comes to developing an Ideal Customer Profile:
● What size of organisation would you prefer to deal with?
● Typically, how many people will they employ?
● What market sector(s) do these organisations operate within?
● Who specifically will be buying your products/services and what are their titles?
● Where geographically would you like these organisations to be located?
● What does your organisation offer that is unique?
● What types of organisations will be attracted by this uniqueness?
● What do your best customers possess that you would like to replicate in others?
● Which of your existing customers were the easiest and quickest to convert?
● What similarities do these customers possess?
● Are there any specific criteria that prospective organisations should have in place, so that your products/services can be optimised?
Having a well-defined profile of your ‘ideal customer’ can prove to be invaluable when determining which methods to use for lead generation, and improves the effectiveness of marketing initiatives.
You may also discover that the process for asking for referrals becomes easier and generates a better response, because you are providing the person with a tighter specification of what you are looking for – this concentrates their thinking towards the direction you have defined.
Today’s News: This in my post yesterday – very interesting!
“I’m sure that like the majority of us you have wondered about your salary level and whether you earn more or less than your peers and other employees at the same level as you in your industry.
Obviously talking about salaries is quite taboo, so in the past this was never really possible to answer.
This is where JobFact comes in…
With JobFact all you have to do to find out how much your peers are earning is to register and enter anonymously where you work, what you do and how much you earn. JobFact never asks for your name so nobody can know who you are.
JobFact is revolutionising the employment industry: employees become empowered when it comes to negotiating or renegotiating their salary, armed with real market knowledge from JobFact.
JobFact is also revolutionising the recruitment industry: members can manage their careers by making their anonymous CV visible to companies and headhunters thereby receiving job offers without having to lift a finger and remaining completely anonymous and safe.
JobFact is all about salary transparency, fuelled by the power of the online community. Of course, the more people who register on JobFact and enter their salary details, the more powerful it becomes for all employees. So check out http://jobfact.com and help us to spread the word about this powerful employee-focused tool.”
Finally, you still have time – just – to register for my TSE Masterclass today. But there only a handful of places left, so please don’t delay….
“So You Want To Be A Top 5% Player In The Game Of Sales?”
Attendees will also receive a FREE copy of my most recent EBook “The Changing Face of Professional Selling” (Value $19.95) plus the chance to take a FREE ASP Profile (Value $175)
Please accept my invitation to claim your FREE place (Value $59.50) for this significant event and register here – http://bit.ly/4wW1fc
Until later….
Is JobFact focused on only US/UK/EU jobs? It only allows those currencies – what about others? For non-USD/GBP/EURO currencies, currency conversion does not give an adequate estimate of parity.
Hi Simon,
I am the UK Managing Director of JobFact. The “End Game” of our business plan spans all borders and currencies given the underlying efficiency of the business model, but our initial focus is on Europe.
We are currently in the process of adding currencies.
Adam