I have banged on incessantly about the importance of knowing who your ideal client is; what industry they come from, what size of company they run (by turnover, number of staff or sites) and so on now we’re on to the next step; what are their problems?
If you don’t know what your perfect client is suffering from you won’t be able to let them know how you can help them. So, what;
- Irritates them?
- Wastes their time?
- Keeps them awake at night?
- Diverts their attention from what they really want to be doing?
Everything that takes their attention off developing their business is an annoyance and in order to present them with a compelling proposition you have to get inside their skin. That takes a bit of effort.
Most business owners are excited about what they do – or they wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) be in that particular business, but how does an outsider see things? Let’s look at an example: You might be excited about your latest line in storage boxes, but how does your potential customer see them? A box is just a box, isn’t it? The details of the design, the refinements of the way the boxes interlock, the state-of-the-art materials that make them lighter are amazing to you – but your customer isn’t likely to see it in the same light. What will that box do that they don’t get from other storage systems? Why is the interlocking system important? What difference do the new materials make? When you put it all together – SO WHAT?
It’s not about what the box is; it’s not even about what the box does; it’s about the problem it solves. The thing that causes your potential customer grief – that you are going to take away. That might be a facility to store more in less floor space SO THAT they don’t need to pay for additional storage to get everything in. It might be that there is a scanning system that makes it easy to track down critical paperwork quickly SO THAT their staff don’t disappear into the storage area for hours trying to find one piece of paper. Are you beginning to see how it works?
Ah, you knew all that, didn’t you? But are you actively doing anything about it? Have you actively researched the biggest challenges your clients face – that you can solve? Are you using that information in your marketing material, on your website in your sales conversations? Having the information and taking action are two different things – so it’s not enough to understand your customer’s viewpoint – you have help them to see what you can do to make those problems disappear.
Time to get your magic wand out and start making those frustrasting problems vanish!
