GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Your ideal customer to grow your business

by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

One of the most important aspects of growing a successful business is to have a complete understanding of who your customers are. You need to know everything possible about the people you are selling your products and services to.

Look, chances are you started a business because you saw a need, a need that had to be met. Most business start that way. But the next thing you have to know is who has that need for your product and service, and why do they need it?

It’s your job as a business owner to develop a complete “Ideal Customer Profile” of who your customers are, what they look for in the type of business you have and what makes them prefer one company over another.

This means you have to study your current customers to discover why they are your customers, what pleases them and what doesn’t, and that will help you create the idea customer profile.

Let’s say, for example, you specialize in landscaping, especially stonework landscaping. To develop your ideal customer profile study, your past and current customers and ask these questions:

• What do they have in common?
• What types of projects are the most popular?
• Stone walls?
• Pool surrounds?
• Retaining walls?
• Patios?
• Flower beds?
• What projects are the most profitable?
• What are your customers demographics?
• Age?
• Income?
• Neighborhood?
• Type of home?
• Ask yourself what kind of customers do you like dealing with?
• Which value what you do?
• Which know what they want?
• Which trust you enough to take your suggestions?
• Which are you most successful with?
• Which appreciate and value what you do?
• Which are customers for life calling you year after year with new projects?

Once you have accumulated all of this data, you can compile it and have a very good profile of your ideal customer, and an even better idea of how to market to that ideal customer, including knowing:

• What kind of advertising you should be doing?
• Local newspapers?
• Which do they read?
• Television or radio?
• What do they watch or listen to?
• Websites and social media
• Are they online?
• Do they use Google?
• Door to door flyers?
• Will word of mouth work?
• Customer referrals?
• Direct mailing or emailing?
• Are they analog or digital when it comes to getting messages?

All of these things matter when you are trying to gain new customers. You have to create your ideal customer profile and use it for your marketing, to make sure you are targeting the right customers. For example, if you are selling landscaping or stone scaping you are wasting your time trying to sell to people who live in town houses or retirement communities. On the other hand, you might find out who has just had a pool put in and contact them about landscaping around that pool. Or find you might find who just bought a house in town; or had one built and contact them. Both of these are a matter of public record so it’s not that difficult to find these customers.

But whatever you do if you want to be successful you have to do your homework. Develop your ideal customer profile and then market to potential customers that fit that profile and you’ll always be growing your business.