In today’s edition, we explore why one of the biggest discussion points in sales campaigns: why so many are reluctant to narrow their focus, and why having a clear focus and specific target audience is key to winning new business.
I had to learn the hard lesson.
And even after that, I still got it wrong.
It’s a hard one to accept sometimes, but it’s vital.
Let me explain.
When I started my first business, I was focused on helping small businesses. I loved working with them. I first came up with the idea back in 2004 when I visited shows and saw many companies selling products, but not taking contact details of the customers they were selling to.
I decided to fix it, and (in my head) EVERY business could benefit from the service.
If they sold a product to any person, it would make them suitable for what we offered. I wanted to build this clever contact management and communication system that did everything in one platform.
I was right. But I was wrong.
I carried on building the business, but it was hard work. I worked for over 10 years, grafting and dedicating hours and hours each week to talk with any small business.
This was my target market.
I even used the size of this market when I raised investment funding. Working with over 4.8 million small businesses meant we had a big opportunity. We did, but in trying to go big, we ended up making a mistake.
Just a few years earlier, Mailchimp was founded with a clear goal.
Become the single, go-to platform for small companies to do email marketing.
What has all of this got to do with business and sales?
I made the mistake of being everything to everyone and not something to someone, and it cost me.
I have even done the same thing with my content and materials.
Being a generalist is good in many ways, as it allows you to attract different types of people.
I know that within the readership of this email, I have people who run small businesses and who sell manufacturing equipment, engineering equipment, IT software, networking and drinks.
I have a mixed bag, and although the key connector for me is ‘sales’, I know I should be more focused.
The most important word in sales, I believe right now, is RELEVANCE.
How relevant is what you say and offer to the people you engage with?
Successful sales campaigns target a specific group of people who have a specific problem.
When you target small businesses, it’s a bit meh…
When you target CEO Owners of IT service businesses who have revenue of between £2-£3m who sell high value services and software, then those you are targeting start to go, “hold on, that’s me they are talking about!”
When you then share in that campaign about really key problems that they face, then although they are sceptical, their attention is grabbed.
You start to create questions in their mind, such as:
Who are these people?
How do they solve this problem?
Who have they done this for before?
If you then show examples of people VERY similar to themselves who had the issue and then fixed it, people are open to conversations.
Relevance is everything, and the reality right now is that the companies that have really clear positioning and speak directly to a specific audience win the game.
I was reluctant to do this years ago.
I told myself that if I focus on one particular group, I would put off others. If I appealed only to Accountants, then Lawyers and Financial Advisers wouldn’t engage.
So, I stayed with a generic message which wasn’t relevant, and that meant I got ignored (which is painful in a sales situation).
In fact, I was reviewing some of my content only in the last week, and it was clear to me that I am not being specific enough. It’s why I am going to change.
My YouTube channel is going to focus solely on videos relating to those selling IT systems, services and Software. I know that this may mean some don’t engage, but if I have picked my target correctly (there are enough of them, they value what you do, and you enjoy working with them), then I will have plenty of potential customers to aim for and work with.
One of my best friends sold his business a few years ago. We started our first businesses at the same time, and I remember speaking with him and saying, “Are you sure there is enough of a market in that particular niche?”
He said yes I am sure. When he sold his company in 2018, he only had 18 customers, but he did well enough from that sale to retire, and so you could say he was proven right.
Being relevant doesn’t mean you have to pick one specific vertical. It doesn’t mean you can only sell into one particular industry.
But my simple questions to you are these:
Who are you the very best solution for right now and why should they buy from you?
How are you different to everyone else in the market?
How relevant is your communication and messaging to that particular group? Are you specific for someone or everything to everyone?
When you get complete clarity on these questions and then implement effective sales campaigns linked to this, results start to happen.
But maybe you disagree. Maybe you think otherwise?
Let me know.
If you aren’t sure, reply, and I will send you my simple positioning game, which can reinforce this message.
I know this approach (and word Relevance!!!) to be right, as I had to learn the hard way. I don’t want you to be in the same place and go through the same pain as I did!
Let me know. I read all replies, even if I don’t have time to reply to them all.
Thanks as ever for being part of my community.
Have a brilliant sales week ahead and remember: Eat or be Eaten.
James
