Looking for Customers under the Lamp Post ?

We have heard the story of a person looking for his car keys under the lamp post and when a passer-by asked him about the location where he lost them, his answer was that he lost them somewhere else but he is searching here because there is light here.

The fact is when we try to find our customers in places where we feel comfortable we never find them. The first question to ask would be, who are our customers? Where do they hang out? What do they wear and eat? Who do they meet and are friends with? When we know answers to these questions it will become easier to understand our target audience and find places where we can target them.

Service and Care
Not all of us are gardeners but all of us know that if someone wants to grow a fruit tree, they need to start with a healthy seed, take care of it, shelter it from the hot sun and cold winter, water it as often as required and wait patiently for month and years until it becomes a fully grown tree and starts to give fruit.

It takes time and constant care before you will see customers walking through your door, the point to learn is that you need to start with a healthy seed which is your product and service, apply the right amount of water and shelter, which is your marketing and customer service and wait patiently and you will see the result in months and years to come.

Sell vs. Solve
Has the thought ever crossed your mind why we don’t get emails, newsletters, phone calls from doctors and medical practitioners? We don’t seem to see any TV or radio advertisements? They never seem to go out in networking events to find patients? Or send marketing material to everybody? Or send bonus medicines to attract patients? Offer buy one get one free promotions? Why not?

They don’t do all these activities because they are not trying to sell their services and products instead they have made it clear to everybody that they are solving our problems, they are there to help and share their knowledge and experience and we all know where to find them.

We can apply a similar principle to our business and our product and services, instead of selling we can focus on solving a problem for our target audience. We go out and help people in areas where we have knowledge and experience and we will see what goes around, comes around.

Summary
Understand your target audience and find them where you have lost them, offer service and care and be patient with achieving results and most of all don’t just sell but instead focus on solving a real problem.

YZM Technologies is a Perth based Software Company specialising in building custom software, databases and mobile apps and helping small businesses achieve better results by optimising business processes.