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Article added or updated:
03/30/2008 |
10 Essential Criteria For Choosing Your Target Market
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06/12/05
Tessa Stowe
A specific group of people you will focus on selling your services to is
your target market. This is not to be confused with the problem you will
be solving for this group.
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Why choose a target
market?, You need to decide exactly who your audience is before you sell
your services. Deciding on
your target market lays a critical foundation for your business. When
you get clear about who your target market is, you will:
* know where to focus your selling and marketing efforts.
* know where to focus your research efforts. You want to intimately
understand your market: the problems they have and the language they
speak. The greater your level of understanding the more magnetic you
will become.
Your target market will determine your income and success. Choose the
wrong one and you will waste a lot of time and money with very little
results.
Whatever target market you choose, check to see that it meets the
following 10 essential criteria:
1. Your target market has a big problem. They think about it all the
time, it keeps them awake at night.
2. Your target market wants the problem solved. The impact and cost of
the problem is big enough that they will act to solve it (some people
have problems they are quite happy to live with!).
3. You can easily find your target market. Do they belong to
associations? Are there conferences for this target market? Are there
publications? Where do they hangout? If it's not easy to find your
target market, it will cost you a lot of money to find them.
4. Your target market has money to spend. No point having a terrific
service if your target market hasn't the money to pay for it. I know
this sounds basic but it's often overlooked.
5. Your target market has a history of paying to have this problem
solved. You want to focus on a target market where there is a proven
track record of problems and people paying to solve them. A good sign is
if your competitors are selling similar services to the target market.
6. There's enough of your target market out there to sustain a business.
How many people or businesses are in your target market? Realistically
how many will become your clients and what will that be worth to you? Is
that enough?
7. You enjoy working with your target market. Think about what types of
people are in your target market and visualize being with them day in
and day out. How does that feel? Will you feel energized or drained at
the end of the day? Remember, you are also in business to enjoy yourself
so make sure you will enjoy working with this target market.
8. You have a passion for helping and serving this target market.
Passion is an essential ingredient for selling your services.
9. You have valuable expertise and experience you can offer. Your target
market will want to buy from people who are experts in their field.
Think about what specific expertise and experience you can offer your
target market.
10. Your target market fits with your ultimate lifestyle package. What
hours do you want to work? Where do you want to work? How do you want to
work? Does this fit in with your target market? Ensure that working with
your target market will enable you to live the kind of life you want to
live.
Once you have found your target market, the next step is to refine it
even further. Decide on the profile of your ideal client. What sort of
person are they? Decide on their demographics and psychographics.
Demographics are the basic facts like age, gender, income, location,
etc. Psychographics are their characteristics, values etc. This will
enable you to focus even more.
The clearer you are about who you want to do business with, the more you
will attract exactly the clientele you're looking for. You will then
need your Sales Conversation skills to convert them to clients.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tessa Stowe works with self employed professionals who are struggling to
sell their Services. To learn more about this and to sign up for more
FREE tips like these, visit her site at
http://www.salesconversation.com
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