You harlot.
There you are, out there spending money on marketing, getting your name out there. But you’re just a tease.
You’re flirting with everyone, but they’re not all ones you want to date. Worse, they might not even want to go on a date with you. Do you enjoy being rejected in such massive quantity?!
This is what happens when you don’t have your ideal customer persona articulated clearly. I talked about this in my last video. When you say you sell to “women” you don’t really sell to every woman out there: just the ones that can afford your services and who have kids. When you tease that you are the perfect solution for “senior citizens”, you lie. Your product is only meant for those who lack mobility. And when you toy with the notion of being able to solve “all of my legal needs” you really just mean estate and probate.
Businesses spend way too much money on marketing tactics that fill their sales pipelines with the wrong people from the get-go, so that when it comes time to winnow them down to paying customers, you’re left with slim pickings. As I describe in my book, there’s a funnel called the Sales (or Buying) Cycle:
AWARENESS>>EDUCATION>>CONSIDERATION/EVALUATION>>PURCHASE
In order to ultimately buy from you, they must first know you exist, understand what you do, and compare you against the alternative. It’s like dating, really.
It’s a funnel: You pour “raw leads” into the top and out filter a few precious sales at the end. Hopefully enough to hit your revenue targets.
Problem is, I see too many small (and to tell the truth, midsized) companies fill the funnel with the wrong stuff. Garbage in, Garbage (or nothing) out. Man, that’s a lot of wasted effort.
“But I have 3,000 Twitter followers!” (“Are any of them buying from you?”)
“But there will be 5,000 people at that trade show!” (“Does the majority need what you have?”)
So, in an attempt to clear things up, here’s another way to look at these phases, from the wonderful world of dating:
Awareness: Only make eye contact with the most viable prospects in the bar. Employed. Well-dressed. Not living with their parents.
Attraction: Wink at just a few. Not worth winking at the ones already with a date, right? RIGHT?
Conversion: One or two walk over to buy you a drink (or let you buy them one)
See the point? You might make eye contact with less people, but more of them will likely convert on the other side. That’s how to spend your money wisely. Stop worrying about quantity and paying for leads or exposure that will never turn into a paying customer. Focus on talking to a smaller, more quality-focused group first. You’ll have less of them entering the funnel – but a better conversion rate. And your conversion percentage will be a lot leaner, meaner and more efficient as a result.
‘You only generated 150 leads?” (“Yes, but 40% of them converted to sales. Boo-yah.”)
Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to be a tease?
What do you do to control quality in your marketing, so you attract the right potential customer or clients? Share via @redslice!
