A few days ago I had lunch with a long-time friend, who happens to be co-owner of a family business. I offered her some help as sales have been in half since the economy became the big worry and concern.
In looking over her stats it was obvious that her sales was in half. Struggling to cope with this drop, I asked what happened. Her business was driven by referrals from insurance companies. People were not claiming accidents, as they were pocketing the insurance money to pay personal bills, or just not reporting their claims for fear that their premiums would be increased.
I realized two things. One, she had not identified that her correct target market was insurance agents. The actual customer was not the one paying her; the insurance company was the source of the lead and the money. So I asked, "How large is that network?" She had about 300 referring agents on her list of contacts.
Two, she had not seen that this was her public, and thus was looking at doing all types of other marketing actions, none of which was directed at her actual target public. This was franticness setting in, all from the non-identification of who and how her revenue was being procured.
Business and revenue in half? Well, then TRIPLE the network of referring agents. I asked, "Can that be done? Are there that many more agents you could contact and activate as referral sources?" She confidently replied, "Oh sure."
Why increase the network by three times? Double it to make up for half the sales and add another third for safe measure and some expansion.
We then set out a plan:
* Hire someone to rapidly 3x the network of potential agents that could refer.
* Personally contact these people and let them know who you are and what you do.
* Send a weekly blog to this entire network, talking about common industry problems, potential solutions and other newsworthy items. Position yourself as a knowledgeable industry leader.
* Render fast, reliable service to everyone.
* Send thank you cards, flowers, etc. for every referral.
* Continue and don't let up on any of the above. 3X all promotional actions to this target market, no matter what, 24/7.
We canned the other ideas and focused her attention on what was and has created 95% of her wealth and lifestyle.
Identifying your key public, the one that actually pays you, may seem like something simple. Yet you would be amazed at how many business professionals cannot rapidly and confidently rattle off exactly who is their target market.
Once this is done, now you can do real and important market research, which I will cover later.
Know your key, revenue generating public!
Best, Ed Dearborn
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