Chuck Sink, Chuck Sink Link

When I say “your best customer” or “your ideal client,” who comes to mind and why? What kind of customers are your most profitable and what makes the relationship work so well for both parties? I’ll bet it has a lot to do with trust and consistent, mutual fulfillment of that trust. Have you ever heard someone categorize the quality of their client relationships using A, B and C, with A being the smooth sailors and C being, let’s say, the high maintenance group? What if you could shed all of your C-customers and replace them with A’s and B’s, or even all A’s? Wouldn’t that be nice?

“Everyone” includes anyone. How narrowly you build your brand and market your products & services determines whether or not you attract the kind of clients that you can serve most profitably. If your target audience is “everyone with money,” you will end up with some difficult or unhappy clients who will be a drain on your ability to care for your “A-clients” – the only ones to whom you should specifically sell. Your only target audience should be defined based on your ability to deliver them value with full confidence. The more broadly you define your target market, the more hard pressed you will be to satisfy some of your clients who may not really belong on your list and shouldn’t be included in any direct marketing. Sometimes, people with wants or needs misaligned with your offerings can be lured by overbroad or hyperbolic advertising into an engagement that just doesn’t fit. Such overbroad sales and marketing messages can bring you customers who expect more or something different from your grooved and well-established property/service provisions.

The good way to discriminate…

What kinds of real estate or products/services do you know well and handle best? Now, determine the people and organizations who can most benefit from what you routinely and easily provide. Create your “A-Client” profile and seek out only those kinds of people. Learn specifically what’s important to them and continually fine tune your capabilities according to their needs. From this operational foundation, you will be poised to manage more profitable growth through more narrowly targeted marketing communications.

Chuck Sink is president of Chuck Sink Link in Contoocook, N.H.