How well do you know your customers? – Carly Snyder
How many are there? Where do they live? What factors are impacting their decisions? Where do they get information? Are they happy with your product(s)?
As a business owner these questions should be top of mind. It’s easy to get distracted by your schedule, your prospects, your products & services – but what if you carved out a little time today to dig into the reason your business exists. Your customers. We have two types of customers – those we know and those we don’t yet know. Building profiles – or personas, buyers, etc. – are helpful in pulling together the information you know today and creating demand generation plans to reach that target customer. Pro tip: if your CRM (customer relationship management) system doesn’t capture buyer information, think about revamping how you are using it! Not only should it track your prospects but it should also manage your contacts. Take a step back, figure out what you’re trying to accomplish, then make your data work for you!
Existing customers
This is a goldmine when you have decent data! However, sometimes that whole decent data thing proves challenging. If that sounds familiar, don’t worry you are not alone! My advice is to start by figuring out what you want to know then map that against what your systems can tell you today. The benefit to starting with the bigger picture is you won’t be limited by your not-so-perfect data and at the same time you’ll keep focused on the task at hand. Plus, now that you know what you need, you can create a data roadmap to begin capturing that information.
Customers you want to reach
A bit trickier is defining the customers you want to reach. Of course, we want everyone to buy our stuff – right?! Well sometimes leaving our message too general can result in resonating with very few. Whether you are B2B or B2C, here are a few steps to get you started:
Who is making the buying decision?
What influences their decision?
Do they know they need your product?
Where do they get information?
Why might they not buy from you?
What would make them act?
Run through these questions for each person making the buying decision. If you decide to embark down this path, I recommend you block a half day and go a lot deeper into the steps but you get the picture! Now you can use this information to build custom lead generation plans! Need help? Contact Carly for a free consultation. Direct email: csnyder@crosbyadvisory.com
