I’m going to tell you how to find the perfect customers, target them and make sure you only speak to customers that you can help.
I’m also going to share our customer qualifier questions for our marketing funnel customers.
There’s no doubt that every business in the world can benefit from marketing funnels. However, there are two critical questions we must ask.
- Who would benefit the MOST from a marketing funnel.
- Who can YOU help the most?
Perfect customers, customer avatars and client targets all basically ask for the same thing.
“If anyone is your customer, then no one is your customer.”
We’re constantly being told to focus on our customer. Who are we serving? Who is our ideal client? Who would be clone? Who are we targeting?
It’s very difficult however to decide on a perfect customer. Are we narrowing our market? How do I find that customer? Isn’t this more a case of customers finding me? Shouldn’t I be grateful that I have the customers I have now?
Have you ever felt that a website or funnel customer is pissed at you because you didn’t get the results they expected? Maybe their expectations were too high, maybe you didn’t manage them properly.
Regardless, why did that happen? We’ve all seen how funnels can benefit businesses. So why can’t we seem to knock it out the park with some customers? What would happen if we chose the customers we worked with?
Athlete
I want you to think about a professional athlete and their trainer.
Nike are currently working on helping a VERY select number of runners, break a 2 hour marathon.
2 hour marathon. That’s running at OVER 13 miles per hour. For 2 hours straight.
Let’s say you’ve been told that you’re going to be responsible for training the runner, who will break the 2 hour record.
Do you think that you could help Jim, who has never run a marathon and only done a 10k? Or are you going to help Eliud Kipchoge who was short of the record by 26 seconds? Which one of these is more likely to break the record?
Jim might be fit, he runs a bit, but breaking a 2 hour marathon requires the right RUNNER as well as the right trainer.
Do you think Nike, Addidas, New Balance and Brooks are investing millions in trying to help 100 000 000 potential runners, of different abilities break a 2 hour marathon? Or are they working with 10 athletes in the entire world to break the record?
Who is your star athlete and what can they do at the moment BEFORE you can help them? Have they already proved that they’re worth helping?
I don’t doubt that you can help every single business in the world. But there are only a select handful of businesses that you can REALLY smash results with. Of 7 billion people on Earth, whatever you choose will still be a massive market.
Say yes, say no
If you say yes to one customer, you’re saying no to another. By saying yes to one project, you are turning down another.
The time, money and energy you spend on one customer or project is taking time away from another.
I understand that we need cash flow. We absolutely need cash flow and we need to eat and pay the bills. You’re going to have to take projects on that you don’t like just to get by.
But are you planning on sticking with those customers? Tell me you’re not. Tell yourself that you want to work with other customers.
Your business is a lot like a truck. It has a limited capacity and every time you load the truck up with another box, you have to make space.
At some point, you’re going to have to remove some boxes from the back of the truck in order to load up new projects. Are you going to transport gold or dirt? It’s up to you.
Are you growing a business for them?
Part of the problem of turning down customers, in order to focus on better customers, is that we feel bad. We like to be nice people, so turning down a business seems harsh.
Who are we to tell someone that they’re not worthy of working with us? It sounds ungrateful and perhaps a bit above our station?
People will be unhappy with us, call us names. We’ll be seen as arrogant and if we need customers in the future, they’ll remind us of the time we turned them down.
The reason we need to focus on high quality businesses is that you can’t grow two businesses at once.
Businesses who approach us and AREN’T people we can help, are usually in the early stages. Like I said, I’m sure they’d benefit from a marketing funnel, traffic, leads and subscribers.
But what those customers are actually after, is for you to grow their business for them. What they’re asking you to do, is grow their business for them and help them stabilise their revenue. They haven’t earned the right to expand their business, they’re still nurturing it.
Do you want to grow someone else’s business, or your business? The good news, is that nurture businesses are ALWAYS going to be around. They’re always going to have a little to spend and if your pipeline dries up, you can always find them.
Instead, let’s find customers who want help expanding their business. Who want to work WITH you, rather than you provide all the answers.
Qualifier questions
So below are our qualification questions for funnel customers. They have to mark off at least 80% of these questions.
Must have at least 1000 current customers
Must have current leads and email subscribers that are active and engaged
Email addresses in CRM system
Must be spending money on advertising and marketing
Budget of at least $3000 a month
Willing to follow our process
Must be very clear on their customer and user (or invest in avatar discovery)
Start with follow up
Must have delivery method for course content (course website)
Willing to build an authority figure as a community leader
Willing to produce or pay for regular (twice a week minimum) content
Currently producing content
Currently making or have made sales in the past
Willing to expand product suite
Must be using or willing to use an autoresponder
Willing to invest in traffic
Willing to create a Facebook/LinkedIn private group
Can you see how I can help this customer more than anyone else? This is my elite athlete who I’ll get past the 2 hour marathon. This isn’t a newbie.
I’d rather find one of these customers than 10 lower value customers.
They need to prove to me that I can help them. They need to demonstrate that there’s something we can help with.
Customers who have sinking ships are easy to find, but impossible to make work.
Increasing a business 10% from $100 000 a month to $110 000 a month is a bigger achievement than a 50% increase on $5000 a month.
Is this being picky? Absolutely. But if 100 people approach me, I have the time to help 1 of them. I’d rather knock it out the park with ONE customer, than try to help a few others.
Your funnels can benefit ANYONE. But who can you help the MOST?
Notice as well that it’s not always about an industry too? It’s not only about choosing an industry as a niche. It’s about knowing the characteristics that your ideal customer is.
Fear of loss
“But what if my customers leave me and I have to sell my body to science to pay the bills?!”
First, that’s probably not going to happen. Let’s be realistic.
Second, those customers are always going to be there. Your network is more likely to make recommendations to you if they know what you’re looking for.
So what are the characteristics that you’re looking for in a customer? Who can you help more than anyone? Do you have an ideal customer already? Let me know in the comments below.
