Back to Articles

Not Everyone is QUALIFIED to Become Your Client

Most companies will tell you they prefer customers with whom they share a comfortable fit. Still, these same companies fail to pursue prospects that fit and settle for whatever they can get. The results are not pretty. Poor vendor/customer matches stifle productivity, competitiveness and growth, both on the part of the vendor and the customer. Customers who are ill-suited to your product/service mix invariably become critical, combative, and high-maintenance. They will drain your finite resources and poison your marketplace with unflattering tales about your company.

Understanding who your customers should be starts with understanding who your best customers are right now.

Start by creating a ‘best customer profile’. Take one customer at a time and recount why they needed your products/services and why they chose your company in the first place. List all their characteristics: buying habits, sales cycles, cycle-duration, products/services purchased, prices paid, company size, referral source. Decide which customers are the most profitable for you? Are there certain customer segments that need your services more than others and would they be willing to pay more for your unique talents? Which companies are easiest to serve? What are the trigger events that accelerate your customers buying processes? Now check for trends, natural groupings, patterns.

What will begin to emerge is a profile of what constitutes a worthwhile prospect. Put names to those prospects and concentrate all of your firepower to gain their attention, respect and purchase orders.