It is an interesting question, and when you are running a business, it is a constant that when you truly understand whom you serve, then the rest of your business will start to click together.
So, where do you start? Demographics? Psychographics? Geographics? Or some other measure listed on a “customer profiler” or “avatar generator” form or website that has come from a book, website or business coach. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of value that you will find in these exercises. Though to start with, ask yourself a simple question, who have I already had success with?
You see, the thing is, knowing whom you serve starts with at least one person. From there, you can start asking the really important questions, the questions that are in your potential client’s head from the second they first hear about you, it is the same question that is the fundamental basis of all action, primal in nature, and that is “what’s in it for me”.
At each and every point, unconsciously, every decision is measured against this basis, meaning that people are looking for a way out, a way to say no, a way to stay the same comfort in their known misery than actually take a leap of faith unless they can be assured that they will fly.
How can we then help satisfy their mind that not only do you have a product or service that will help them fly, that you are also there to support them through their transition from where they are to where they want to be?
By going back to whom we have served, both in our own memory and where we can by talking with them to build a case study and receive a testimonial, we can learn what was the real problem that they were struggling with, what was the thing that gave them the confidence in our product or service to help them believe it would work for them. Then what were the struggles they had as they made their own transition, along with how we helped them? Finally, accumulated, what result did they first get, did it solve the original problem and also what additional results they had.
By collecting these together and building an idea of what the real-life problems are that are being solved and the unexpected results that come from it, you can use this to help further develop your product and services, use it to write copy that explains more poignantly the results your clients will receive.
I’ve even known many business owners who name their client profile, to make it even more personal, calling them Steve, Mary and Brendon, to name a few. Then each time they are looking to create something, they simply think, “I wonder what Steve/Mary/Brendon would ask me?” and so find the answer comes because they are thinking about the person and personal result rather than simply words on a page.
So whom is it that you serve? What is their name?
