How to attract the right customer for your business

Some customers are an ideal fit for your business, service, and product. It’s a match made in heaven. These customers are low maintenance and easier to please because you cater to their exact needs. Their lifetime value is significantly longer and more substantial. Moreover, they become your biggest advocates.

They enthusiastically promote your business and attract more customers. Therefore, it’s worthwhile identifying and acquiring these exceptional customers. Attracting the right customers is an efficient use of your time.

In today’s blog, I’ll share some successful strategies that have worked for our own business and those of our clients. These strategies involve identifying and nurturing valuable customers.

First, I’ll begin with some guidance on acquiring more of these remarkable customers. Let’s delve into the details and get started.

When you’re thrilled with an experience at a restaurant, on a holiday, or with a new product, you can’t help but share it with others, whether in person or on social media. The key is to find people who are a perfect fit and will enthusiastically promote your offerings and business.

Of course, reaching a thousand people immediately is challenging, but you can start by identifying a few. Begin with one, two, three, four, ten, twenty, a hundred, or two hundred.

The goal is to build momentum.

Now, how do you attract the right people?

Well, you need to know who they are first. You need to identify them.

Just like when you’re looking to hire great talent for your team, you’d create a job description, right? You’d outline the ideal candidate. So, what I want you to do is start creating a description of your ideal customer, your perfect avatar.

You don’t have to invent this person out of thin air. You don’t have to make up their characteristics or business preferences.

Instead, take a closer look at your current customer base. Even if you’re new to the business, you’ll likely have some special customers who genuinely care about what you do.

These are the ones who congratulate you on new products or features by email, subscribe to your newsletters, and attend your webinars. They actively engage with your social posts.

Now, do some research and identify these individuals in your customer list. Create a spreadsheet and write down their names and email addresses.

Even if you only have a dozen or half a dozen people to start with, that’s perfectly fine. It’s a great beginning. Once you’ve identified these people, you need to learn more about them.

To truly understand these individuals, I conduct customer interviews annually. I reach out to my top customers and delve deep into their lives.

For instance, let me tell you about John and Dave who own Jerrys Bakery in Kent, UK. They’rePurple Yak clients on our business growth club programme. They started on our strat up accelerator programme and then moved into our next step up programme, the business growth club. During these conversations, we explore their journey, asking questions like, “Why did you start this business?” and “How long have you been in the industry?”

We also inquire about their team size, how they discovered Webinar Ninja, and what initially drew them to our product compared to competitors. Additionally, we seek to understand their pain points and aspirations.

I approach these interviews as if I were interviewing them on a popular TV show or podcast, aiming to gain insights into their thought processes and motivations. By understanding their circumstances and defining success for them, I can tailor my approach to help them achieve their goals, whether it’s through my product or in the future.

My ultimate goal is to be a part of their success, fully committed to their journey.

So, what’s the point of this exercise? Well, the reason you want to get to know your best customers so intimately is because the more you know them, the easier it becomes to find people like them. Imagine you had an exceptional employee who left your company. They were a valuable asset, consistently exceeding your expectations. If they decided to move on or pursue a different career, you could easily write a job description for that position because you’re essentially describing that remarkable team member.

Now, I’m looking for someone like that, and it’s easier for you to do that because you know who they are, what they’ve accomplished, and their story. You’ll do the same for your customers. During interviews, conversations, and video calls, we transcribe them. We want to see the words they use when they talk about themselves, their business, their challenges, and why they chose our product.

Why? Because I want to attract people just like them, so I want to use the same language. I want to use the same language on my website, social media posts, and email marketing.

I want my potential superstar customer to read my copy and feel like they’re speaking my language. This resonates with me because it’s exactly how I feel. How do they know?

Well, because they’ve done the research and put in the effort. There’s nothing quite like that feeling when you feel like these people truly understand you. It’s challenging for a company to compete with one that does this, so your competition will have a hard time competing with you because your target market, your customers, and your best customers are flocking to you because you’re speaking their language.

However, in this process, you’ll discover that not everyone is your best customer.

You’ll find a thread where you discover that all your best customers share a common trait. It could be that they’ve established successful businesses, earn at least X amount of money, have a small team, and have tried other products before yours.

This exercise is valuable in creating a comprehensive list of common characteristics of your ideal customers, which ultimately leads to the development of your customer avatar.

However, it’s important to recognise that there are many other individuals outside of this group. While it may be tempting to focus on attracting a broader audience, it’s generally more effective to concentrate on attracting the best customers. These individuals will save you time, money, and headaches in the long run.

What you want are people who genuinely believe in your product or service and value what you offer. It can be frustrating to try to convince someone that you’re the best, only for them to reluctantly purchase and then be disappointed.

This doesn’t necessarily reflect on the quality of your product or service; it simply means that you’re not a good fit for them. Successful products, services, and businesses don’t force their way into people’s lives; they simply communicate their identity and the value they provide.

If this aligns with your target audience, they’ll be naturally drawn to what you have to offer.

But all of this is impossible without knowing who your ideal customers are.

Fortunately, in business we find clues that can help you identify your ideal customers. These are the individuals who are passionate about your brand, engage with your content by commenting on your posts and social media, and open all your emails.

By reaching out to these potential customers, you can gain valuable insights into their needs, preferences, and pain points.

When you first reach out to a potential customer, it may feel a bit awkward to ask for their time for a quick chat. However, don’t let that hold you back.

Remember, they’re fans of your work and are willing to help you. If you want to go the extra mile, consider offering them a complimentary Starbucks gift card.

In conclusion, investing time and effort in understanding your ideal customers is a worthwhile endeavour. It can lead to increased sales and a more successful business.

On the flip side of attracting new customers, in our eyes the most important part of business is keeping your existing customers. You can’t grow your business quickly if you have a low return rate from existing customers in your business. The foundational pillar in any business is retention, keeping a base layer of returning, satisfied customers.

Keep your churn rate low to attract more repeat customers, boost revenue, and increase repeat sales. However, if you don’t take action, the opposite will happen, resulting in a higher number of customers you don’t enjoy serving compared to those you do. This is detrimental for your business, as it involves customers you don’t like, don’t resonate with, or are annoyed by.

When you have to respond to an email, you might feel annoyed or frustrated, as if you’re dealing with a difficult customer. To avoid this, it’s crucial to be proactive in choosing who you want to associate with, work with, and communicate with daily, including your customers.

One of the advantages of being an entrepreneur is that you get to select who you serve, rather than having them select you. I appreciate you’re listening to The Business Growth Podcast. If you enjoy the content, please subscribe to the show.

Before we conclude, I want to share an exercise that can significantly improve your business.

Identify your ideal customers, reach out to them, conduct interviews, transcribe the conversations, and analyse the language used. Then, incorporate this language into all your external communications.

It may sound simple, almost too simple, but I assure you that if you implement the strategy discussed today, you’ll notice a substantial difference in the number of customers who sign up for your products and services, the number of visitors to your websites through Google search results due to changes in your content, and the number of recommendations you receive from others.

It’s the simple yet effective actions that often make the most impact on your business.

Got a burning question? Reach out on our social channels or email michael@purpleyak.co.uk

Thank you for your time today. I’ll catch you on the next one.

Take care.