How to choose the right market
June 23, 2009 by Sherri Garrity
Filed under Bright shiny objects, Featured, Growing your business, Marketing your own business
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Looking for the secret to success in business? Like most things in life, the secret is quite simple. The best precursor to success in business is being able to match your passion and your purpose with people who are willing to pay you for it.
To tip the odds in your favor, if you want to have an extraordinary business, you need to attract people who are looking for the service that ONLY YOU can provide to them.
This is why the very first steps I ask business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs to take when creating a new business or rejuvenating an old one are to think about their ideal workstyles, lifestyles, and clients. After that, we start to put the structure around what the business can look like – for example, types of products and services – and who the market will be.
Of course there are other factors, like packaging and pricing your products and services in a way that make you money – meaning, adequate profit. But before you can do that you need to decide what you’re selling and who you’re selling it to.
The most successful business owners can clearly identify their ideal clients and offer them a range of products and services. They also make it easy for their potential customers to see the results they will get by working together and give them simple choices that allow them to graduate to higher and higher levels of service.
Popular marketing theory advises that you choose a very specific group of people that you can market your services to. This is called your target market, or niche. Many business owners struggle with choosing one because they fear that they’ll miss out on potential sales, and that the wider the net is, the more they’ll catch. Other business owners like to think of themselves as “multi-preneurs” or entrepreneurs with multiple passions and multiple markets and so resist the need to choose one.
Either way, you need to pick a market. There’s simply no other way to be able to effectively market your services. To be able to attract those clients in a way that makes you the absolute clear choice above all others, you need to be able to stand out and connect with them.
The more you can put yourself in their places, feel their pleasure and pain, relate to what keeps them up at night and show that you deeply understand their needs, the clearer your message will be. And the more sales you’ll make!
Even if you are a multi-preneur, how you present yourself to your various markets needs to be distinct. For example if you own a travel agency, and you are also an interior decorator, you would have separate websites and marketing materials for each, focused on different audiences and containing the messages that apply to each of them. It wouldn’t make sense to your clients, and they could think you are less than serious, if you marketed yourself as a jack-of-all-trades.
To pick a niche, the best way to start is to brainstorm the problems you solve and the results you deliver through your product or service. Then begin to list all of the kinds of people who could benefit. Think about who they are, where they live, what they do, how much money they make, and the circumstances they are in that would lead them to wanting your service.
Then look at your own goals for your lifestyle, how you prefer to work, and your financial objectives. Seek patterns that fit, for example, connections or affinities you feel for certain potential markets. You’ll be able to narrow down your list even further.
Finally, look at where these people are, where and when they would be likely to look for someone like you, and how you would find them. This is really important, because for a market to be viable for you, a small business owner with limited marketing funds and time, you need to be sure that your ideal client is actively looking for your type of service or product, and that you can easily get your message out to them en masse in some way.
Here are some clues that you’re on to a good market:
- There is a trigger event that causes them to start looking for a solution.
- You can define what they’re looking for and relate it to the problems you solve.
- You can identify individuals but find places they gather – for example, professional associations, clubs, online forums, member associations, online communities.
Voila! You’re on your way. Now you can match your message and your marketing to the people who matter – your potential clients.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success SystemTM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and unlock their business potential for greater personal freedom and prosperity. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful entrepreneurial adventure. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for free tips on how to unlock the business in you.
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Craig Elias - Creator of Trigger Event Selling on Wed, 24th Jun 2009 1:48 pm
How to grow a highly successful small business:
1) Pick a niche – There are thousands of generalist sales training companies run by sales guys and gals that have 20+ years of sales success. The problem with the vast majority is that their generalist approach means they can only operate in their own city, or maybe a few neighbouring cities, because there is another other, perceived to be similar, generalist in every other city. By picking a niche – capitalizing on Trigger Events to get in front of highly motivated buyers at EXACTLY the right time – my expertise goes beyond just my local geography. Search for any other expert on “Trigger Event Selling” and you won’t’ find one. This allows me to create demand for my expertise almost anywhere in the world.
2) Be THE expert in what you teach – Specialize, speak, and write. I specialize in just one thing timing: repeatedly getting to the right person at EXACTLY the right time. I have written a number of articles, and done several webinars. As a result I now have a publishing agreement signed and a book due out in September: “SHiFT! OUTSELL YOUR COMPETITION by Leveraging Trigger Events”, and having a book makes you the ultimate expert.
3) Create a market – Creating my own terminology means that when people check the web for any of the major components to what I teach – “Window of Dissatisfaction”, “Trigger Event Selling”, “Won Sales Analysis”, “Emotional Favourite”, “Trigger Event Referrals”, “First Call Effectiveness” I dominate the top 10, 20, and in some cases even the top 50 Google search results.
4) Protect your market – I own 192 domains names related to what I teach. This makes it easy for people to find me and makes it harder for a copycat to market themselves. E.g. TriggerEventSeling.com, TriggerSelling.com, Trigger-Event-Selling.com, WindowOfDissatisfaction.com, WonSalesAnalysis.com, EmotionalFavourite.com, FirstCallEffectiveness.com. I tried the Trademark route but found that there were so many different classifications a competitor could use to copy Trigger Event Selling and because I would have to Trademark in so many different countries, I would spend 20 times as much money doing trademarks vs. leveraging a large number of domain names.
5) STATE YOUR POSITION – Polarize your audience. If you believe that the best sales people make the best sales managers, SAY IT OUT LOUD. You will create a loyal following that believes in the same things you do and you will get some extra exposure by being provocative. For instance I say that THE SILVER BULLET IN SALES is timing: Leveraging Trigger Events to get in front of the right person at EXACTLY the right time. Some people may disagree but even if they do disagree they remember who I am and that makes it more likely they will notice me in the press and at some point they’ll come around because of what is called the “Lemming Effect” if a large group starts, or is perceived to have started, doing something others follow because they fear being left behind if they don’t. E.g. I recently did a webinar that had over 1,400 registrants. Mentioning that when I speak and write – notice I am mentioning it here – will have others wanting to know what they are missing out on. If you want to know what you’re missing out on, you can get access to the recording and the handout by downloading the preview chapter of my book at http://www.TriggerEventBook.com.
6) Get exposure – This year my goal was to get 24 pieces of exposure (be interviewed, have a story written, be part of a podcast, etc.) and of last week I had my 24th piece of exposure. Having and stating your position will help you get in the more exposure. Ten pieces of exposure on smaller sites or niche outlets is as, if not more, effective than one piece of exposure in one major outlet. Check out HARO – Help a Reporter Out. It comes out three times a day and so far it alone has resulted in 5 interviews in the last few months. Getting all the exposure also helps me to increase the “Lemming Effect” that I mentioned in #5 above. P.S. I also own the domain names LemmingEffect.com and TheLemmingEffect.com…are you beginning to see the picture ?
Craig Elias - Creator of Trigger Event Selling on Wed, 24th Jun 2009 1:58 pm
Sherri is right when she mentions the importance of picking a niche. I am a sales trainer, advisor, and coach just like 20,000 other top sales people who have a strong sales track record. When I started I knew I needed to pick a niche.
I am fortunate enough to have had some success as an entrepreneur with my first business but I left it all behind to be a stay at home dad for a few years. My son is now 4 so I have one more year to go before I go from Dadpreneur to full time entrepreneur.
Along the way I have developed and shared the following ideas about how to succeed in a niche.
1) Pick a niche – There are thousands of generalist sales training companies run by sales guys and gals that have 20+ years of sales success. The problem with the vast majority is that their generalist approach means they can only operate in their own city, or maybe a few neighbouring cities, because there is another other, perceived to be similar, generalist in every other city. By picking a niche – capitalizing on Trigger Events to get in front of highly motivated buyers at EXACTLY the right time – my expertise goes beyond just my local geography. Search for any other expert on “Trigger Event Selling” and you won’t’ find one. This allows me to create demand for my expertise almost anywhere in the world.
2) Be THE expert in what you teach – Specialize, speak, and write. I specialize in just one thing timing: repeatedly getting to the right person at EXACTLY the right time. I have written a number of articles, and done several webinars. As a result I now have a publishing agreement signed and a book due out in September: “SHiFT! OUTSELL YOUR COMPETITION by Leveraging Trigger Events”, and having a book makes you the ultimate expert.
3) Create a market – Creating my own terminology means that when people check the web for any of the major components to what I teach – “Window of Dissatisfaction”, “Trigger Event Selling”, “Won Sales Analysis”, “Emotional Favourite”, “Trigger Event Referrals”, “First Call Effectiveness” I dominate the top 10, 20, and in some cases even the top 50 Google search results.
4) Protect your market – I own 192 domains names related to what I teach. This makes it easy for people to find me and makes it harder for a copycat to market themselves. E.g. TriggerEventSeling.com, TriggerSelling.com, Trigger-Event-Selling.com, WindowOfDissatisfaction.com, WonSalesAnalysis.com, EmotionalFavourite.com, FirstCallEffectiveness.com. I tried the Trademark route but found that there were so many different classifications a competitor could use to copy Trigger Event Selling and because I would have to Trademark in so many different countries, I would spend 20 times as much money doing trademarks vs. leveraging a large number of domain names.
5) STATE YOUR POSITION – Polarize your audience. If you believe that the best sales people make the best sales managers, SAY IT OUT LOUD. You will create a loyal following that believes in the same things you do and you will get some extra exposure by being provocative. For instance I say that THE SILVER BULLET IN SALES is timing: Leveraging Trigger Events to get in front of the right person at EXACTLY the right time. Some people may disagree but even if they do disagree they remember who I am and that makes it more likely they will notice me in the press and at some point they’ll come around because of what is called the “Lemming Effect” if a large group starts, or is perceived to have started, doing something others follow because they fear being left behind if they don’t. E.g. I recently did a webinar that had over 1,400 registrants. Mentioning that when I speak and write – notice I am mentioning it here – will have others wanting to know what they are missing out on. If you want to know what you’re missing out on, you can get access to the recording and the handout by downloading the preview chapter of my book at http://www.TriggerEventBook.com.
6) Get exposure – This year my goal was to get 24 pieces of exposure (be interviewed, have a story written, be part of a podcast, etc.) and of last week I had my 24th piece of exposure. Having and stating your position will help you get in the more exposure. Ten pieces of exposure on smaller sites or niche outlets is as, if not more, effective than one piece of exposure in one major outlet. Check out HARO – Help a Reporter Out. It comes out three times a day and so far it alone has resulted in 5 interviews in the last few months. Getting all the exposure also helps me to increase the “Lemming Effect” that I mentioned in #5 above. P.S. I also own the domain names LemmingEffect.com and TheLemmingEffect.com…are you beginning to see the picture ?
Sherri Garrity on Wed, 24th Jun 2009 2:26 pm
Craig, I couldn’t agree more. Picking a niche and identifying those trigger events are the way to stay ahead of the curve rather than following everyone successful. It reminds me too that many business owners forget, the work they did last year on developing their business and anticipating the triggers is what is getting them business now. Unfortunately most people wait too long. Kind of like waiting for an investment pick to prove it’s successful, before you buy it… but by that time everyone else is too, and its value drops. Thanks for the comment and best of luck with the book.