Are you underestimating the importance of having a clear picture of your ideal client profile?
I was!
For the last few decades, I have specialized in business development through lead generation by cold calling, primarily in the business-to-business market. I wanted to increase the profitability of my business, have a more significant impact on my clients’ businesses, and increase my career satisfaction.
Seeking a Breakthrough
Seven years ago, seeking a breakthrough, I called my friend and colleague, Neville Chamberlain, www.britewrx.com. One of his specialties is helping businesses define and build business clarity. He and I spent several hours reviewing my business on a whiteboard. We noticed trends with clients with the best return on investment—the most prominent of those trends related to the prospective client’s business clarity.
Business Clarity is the Secret Sauce
To help explain what I mean by business clarity, I will refer to one of my favorite animals, the bloodhound. These dogs have a phenomenal sense of smell, and the reputation of helping first responders find missing people or the police to locate criminals. Bloodhounds can go for miles, even hours after the target person had walked on the path. Here is the key: The dogs have exceptional ability and were given a clear target.
Business developers or sales professionals need a clear target. Even the best of the breed won’t succeed without clarity. I intend to share a few tips that I have learned that might help you
recognize whether you have business clarity and, if you don’t, realize how significantly it can affect your business.
1. Does the product or service solve a clearly defined problem?
- Are you offering a more cost-effective solution that is superior to competitors?
- Do you have the facts to know what business problems you will solve?
- Are the client’s problems significant enough that your solution will give them a compelling return on investment?
- After getting positive feedback on the above questions, can your business make a profit?
Working as an employee and now with my own business, I have seen startups or multinational teams fail to achieve profitability, or worse, because they did not have a clear picture of the prospective client’s needs and profile. This had an unfortunate impact on careers and investors, as well as financial losses.
I once served a client who sold services and customized hardware to upgrade the performance of installed technology. Astonishingly, the original suppliers lacked the expertise to solve operating problems. Whereas, my client’s assessments frequently indicated an opportunity for substantial improvement in performance and return on investment. They were skillful at presenting and closing sales. But, since finding leads was too time-consuming, they hired me. This firm is now highly profitable. The ideal situation.
On the other hand, I have worked for many companies in the startup phase, and even multimillion-dollar firms that have launched new products or services and, as a result, either spent several years getting no sales or, in some cases, even no leads. As a consequence, support staff and sales professionals got laid off, and the company or team folded.
2. Explain your product clearly in 30 seconds
I’ve had clients I could only serve for a month because I couldn’t write an effective 30-second intro message. They could not describe their service in two or three decisive sentences. This was because they tried to introduce too many value propositions. One of these clients changed its business model by dropping all but one service. Today, their business is thriving.
On the other hand, I had a client who was tempted to run a one-stop shop but later realized they didn’t want to do everything. Instead, they aimed to be the best at one service. As a result, two amazing things happened. First, they maintained an exceptional level of repeat business, with clients often returning to them unexpectedly. Secondly, over the years, employee turnover was negligible because the staff liked the company’s focus: their vision toward constant improvement and career advancement.
3. Adapt when it isn’t working
Recently, I spoke with a client who told me he lost ten opportunities in one business quarter. He urged the marketing team to change the pricing policy because their product didn’t offer all the features of the competitors’. The client continued with the same prospect profile and they were still finding leads. They had an operational problem, not a struggle with business clarity.
When a business frequently changes the direction of the target market and buyer profile, the underlying problem is usually a lack of business clarity. If you can’t figure out how your product or service is enticing people to buy, or who the buyers are, you may need to make a tough decision about your future.
Evaluating the Secret Sauce Recipe
I recently evaluated the results from the questionnaire created by me and my colleague Neville, on how I have helped my clients since I started Resolve Business Development in 2010. This article summarizes the most important lessons I learned.
Having business clarity enables you to:
- Be efficient at finding profitable prospects
- Increase your effectiveness at explaining your value to your clients and how to improve your closing ratio
- Know what to do when you aren’t getting the results you want
I suggest you consider implementing these three tips before launching your product or service.
Get a clear picture of what you offer the market before promoting your business.
Resolve Business Development
Resolve Business Development specializes in business-to-business lead generation through cold calling. We complement the skills of our client’s sales team by providing a steady flow of high-quality leads.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I welcome your feedback.
Bruce Renton Bruce.renton@resolvebd.com www.resolvebd.com
Photo credits of Calgary cityscapes by the author