When I first saw the CustomerLove challenge, I asked myself the question that no doubt you may have as well: Do I really love my customers? What does that really mean… love?
If I were honest, I’d say that no, in the beginning, I probably didn’t love my customers. (Er, if you’re a customer reading this, keep reading, I’ll explain.) I think there were two reasons why CustomerLove wasn’t working for me in the beginning. It is now, and wow, what a change it is. Here’s the rub:
You can’t love your customers if you don’t love the offer you’re giving them.
You know that rubbish advice about “you can’t love others until you love yourself?” Well, I hate to tell you, but the metaphor does apply to business too. You can’t truly attract customers who you love unless you love whatever it is you’ll be doing for them. When my business empire launched, I offered packages I thought people wanted, many of which I hated doing. Sounds ridiculous now, but when you’re blinded by the need to make some damn money, you’d probably do the same.
Once I got rid of the consulting pages I hated, and deleted the ebooks from our store I thought sucked, a strange thing happened: sales went up. Way up.
You can’t love your customers if you don’t really know who they are.
You know that rubbish advice about “you can’t find it unless you know what you’re looking for?” No, it never made any sense to me either, but what does make sense to me is this: I used to be wishy-washy on who my perfect customers were. My Dream Customers (note the capitalization). One day, I finally sat down and did something I often tell my own clients to do: wrote out a persona of my Dream Customer and their likes, dislikes, wants, hates, needs, wishes, gave them a name and noted how they take their coffee. The point is to write down who YOU WANT to work with.
Once I did that, all of a sudden those Dream Customers were everywhere. How the heck did that happen?
In Summary: Who Comes First?
If you hadn’t noticed, the common factor here is that YOU must come first, my lovely digital entrepreneurial brainchild. So, off you go right now to take care of two things:
- Review your products and services.
If there is anything you don’t love, time to fix it or ditch it. - Get clear on your Dream Customer.
You can’t love ‘em and hug ‘em if you don’t know who they are. If you already have a Dream customer profile, double check it.
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What’s up, Andrew!
Brilliant post, with two strong calls-to-action.
I only recently defined My Dream Customer / My Right People… thanks to inspiration from Abby Kerr (http://www.AbbyKerrInk.com).
I’m realizing that a lot of the people I have on my mailing list are not resonating with what I have to offer. But I’m okay with that . (I”m actually sending out an email in a few days, asking people to unsubscribe from my list. Ha ha!)
Catering to non-ideal customers is not only a distraction and energy-drainer – it can force you to evolve your company around them. Thus becoming a vicious downward spiral.
Thanks for the post.
I’m interested in hearing more about how you handled the challenge of needing to meet financial targets for your business, while waiting for your Dream Customer to be found.
And where do you find Your Dream Customers these days?
Thanks.
Bolaji.
Congrats to you for being brave enough to tell people that if it isn’t for them, walk away. It is far easier to find and market to those already interested.
Regarding financial targets, yes, sometimes you have to do less than ideal projects because you need the money. Sucks, but it is a reality.
As for finding those folk, ask yourself where do they hang out already? Who is their trusted resource already? Go there.
I could not agree more. When you hate what you do, customers notice. Start doing what you love, and customers will see you glow.
Absooolultely, Brandie. Customers can feel it. And they vote with the dollars (or pounds, or euros) with how they feel.
hi andy!
i love how clear & concise your points are! i’m still trying to tease out the “who they are”!
thanks much from shana
Thanks. Clarity comes with time, and effort. Keep working on who they are… it’s important, Shana, and worth waiting for. 🙂