3 Steps to Identifying Your Key Customer

When I coach my clients, and I ask them who their ideal client is, they usually say, “Everyone.”

That’s because they honestly believe that their message can help everyone.

And it probably can.

The trouble is, the market doesn’t like solutions that appeal to the masses. They want their own customized solution, or at least someone who is an expert in their industry.

There isn’t a prospect alive who hasn’t said to you, “But my business is different.”

The key to winning that business is to focus on the prospects who are your best fit.
Here are three questions I ask my coaching clients to explore so they can find their best prospects and their idea customer.

Question 1. Who do you like to work with? Yes, it is all about you. Why shouldn’t you work with people you want to work with? People who get you and understand you? People you like and understand? What could be worse than dealing with a person who is the epitome of everything you hate? If that’s the case, you might as well get a job.

Question 2. Who are the people who like to work with you? Let’s face it. We’re not a perfect fit for everyone. Some people don’t like the fact you won’t work past 6 p.m. at night, won’t take business calls on weekends and won’t cut your rates to rock bottom just because they asked. Who needs them? I’m sure you can find lots of other attributes you hate in clients (i.e. Type A personalities, people who can’t make decisions, people who don’t pay their bills on time, people who see the negative in everything, people who don’t praise your work. You get the idea.) Who needs them? Life is too short to work with jerks.

Question 3. They can afford to pay you. Just because you can help everyone in the world doesn’t mean you have to help everyone in the world. Some people will not want to pay your full fee or can’t afford to hire you. Your skill set might help the help people just out of college, as well as helping the vice president who wants to get move into the president’s office. Who has more money to pay you? Unless your passion is to help people just out of college, go for the gold. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to help the college student if that’s where your heart is. Follow your heart and you’ll feel fulfilled, which might be better than money.

Helping people who want you to help them and get paid a fair wage  – Isn’t that what running your business is all about?

To see how I pre-select my clients, check out my coaching services page at http://www.PublicityLeadstoProfits.com

Any good music teacher will tell you that it is more important to practice for 10 or 15 minutes a day, every day, then it is to practice for an hour once a week.

If you can learn to play an instrument in 10 minutes a day, why can’t you get publicity with just 10 minutes a day.

The truth is, you can.

I’ve been preaching this philosophy for the past 12 years that I’ve run PR leads and helped literally thousands of people get publicity.

It shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to scan leads, respond to a reporter and get back to doing whatever you want to do.

I have a zillion time-saving tips in my new book, “Reporters Are Looking for YOU!” If you are serious about getting publicity, but say you don’t have the time, then you need to buy this book.
I priced it at $9.99. I didn’t want to charge a fortune for it. That’s my sense of fair play. Other people would charge $1,000 for a “system.” That’s just the way I am.

Here’s the link to buy the book (yes, I said buy, not invest or grab your copy or some other sleaze-ball technique.)

Here’s the link to buy the book for only $9.99:
http://ow.ly/a1My1  

Speakers love to criticize PowerPoint. I was one of them. I’m not any longer.

When speakers slam PowerPoint, they say things like:

“You shouldn’t read your presentation.”

“If they can read your presentation, then what extra value do you bring?”

“PowerPoint takes the attention from the speaker – and you’re the reason they are there.”

“John Kennedy didn’t need PowerPoint.”

Well, yes, those are all true. But. Those arguments ignore a few realities. I wish you could have been there when I was sitting in a presentation at the SMX Search Marketing Conference in San Jose recently.

I was not an august presenter. I was a mere audience member. I was there to learn. Every speaker had a PowerPoint. I snickered at the use of PowerPoint. But after a few minutes as a learner, not a speaker, I had an epiphany.

PowerPoint made it easier to learn.

How?

1. I could immediately tell which points were the most important. Most speakers had 10 minutes to present. They spoke fast so they could meet their deadlines. With all that info to digest, where can an audience member focus? It helps to have the key points highlighted on PowerPoint. Thank you, PowerPoint.

2. When speakers mentioned resources, I could see the website addresses and write them down. No time was wasted by people asking speakers to repeat the name of the product or the address and spell it out. As a speaker, I know that I’ve had to do that for audience members who somehow can’t spell “com” as in “dot.com.” Or “Is that a forward slash or a back slash?” Or “What is a hash tag?” Thank you, PowerPoint.

3. Slides that had graphs are worth their weight in gold. Pictures and charts tell stories in ways that words can’t. Thank you, PowerPoint.

4. We all have different learning styles. PowerPoint helps those of us with the visual learning style. Thank you, PowerPoint.

5. PowerPoint also helped to create a permanent record of the information. We could download the slides to review notes and pick up points that flew by quickly. Of course, it would be hard to follow some presentations solely with slides and not the accompanying audio, but the speaker makes better slides than I can take notes. Thank you, PowerPoint.

So there you have it. I am a reformed PowerPoint basher. I have seen the light. I hope I can save future audiences. I’ve had it up to here with the “auditory elite.”

Just because you like to speak, doesn’t mean we like to listen!

What do you like about PowerPoint? Post your answers below.

Everyone’s concerned about Google keeping tabs on your privacy. Here’s one group of businesses that apparently don’t keep tabs on you – restaurateurs.

Here’s the story.

I bought a Groupon for a restaurant. I actually buy lots of them – Groupon has taught me never to pay full price for a meal – but that’s another story. I actually buy more food than the Groupon is worth so the restaurant can actually make money – but that’s another story.

Here’s the story.

My wife and I went to the Goda Cafe, a superb hole-in-the-wall restaurant (and I say that with all due respect. Most hole-in-the-wall restaurants are great). They served Ethiopian food. The owner was marvelously charming.

He immediately welcomed us and called us “friend.” Nice touch.

We asked him what was good. We understood steak, chicken and tilapia, but didn’t know anything about the spices. He gave us a good overview and we ordered.

Then we sat down to wait for the takeout order. The restaurant was in a dicey part of town and we thought it might be better to eat at home and watch TV.

Two minutes later, he brought out two bowls of soup and two bottles of water – on the house!

Nice touch.

Twenty minutes later, the food was cooked and placed in white, Styrofoam containers. But instead of getting our money and sending us on our way, he asked my wife to sample the food to make sure it was good.

It was!

Very good.

We paid and as we left, he gave us two more bottles of water.

“In the Sahara,” he said, “People give water to friends when they leave their house.”

Nice touch.

That would have been the end of a nice customer service story, but here’s the rest of the story.

I told this story to my buddy Stuart Gray who consults with restaurants. I thought he’d be bowled over by this wonderful customer service story.

Stuart Gray's Remarkable Service for restaurant owners

Instead, he replied, “Did they put you on a list? Do they know how to reach you again?

Uh, no.

Well, I guess Groupon knows, but I hear that Groupon will gladly sell that info to the restaurant. I wish my new friend had thought to ask.

Oh well.

Do you know who your customers are? Do you give visitors a way to identify themselves to you and join your lists, read your blogs or connect with you on Facebook (which is going to become the dominant search marketing tool and customer retention tool)? If not, why not? You are letting repeat business slip through your fingers.

Home sales in my area are finally up.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the price of homes sold is down.

Actually, that is good news.

It means that the economy is moving  – free market capitalism has reset the price of homes where I live.

The reset doesn’t apply just to homes.

My wife and I went into Bloomingdales a few weeks ago to take advantage of a sale. We walked into atrium in the women’s section where the expensive handbags are displayed. In years past, we gawked at the multi-thousand dollar price tags on those bags. This year, the same brands were there, but the prices of the bags were in the low hundreds, not the thousands of dollars. No, we didn’t buy anything. It was another example of the great reset-sion.

Every high school student knows that price is a meeting of supply and demand.

So why are so many coaches raising their prices?  And urging their clients to do the same? Don’t they know about the world we live in?

That’s why I’m keeping my coaching and consulting prices firm. I’d rather know that I’m helping more people at a fair rate than squeezing every last penny from them.

In the past week, I’ve been able to help several people who have generously written:

“Dan’s coaching helped me get a reality check on what works in today’s marketplace. I now have a more realistic game plan.”

Bruce Freeman
ProLine Communications

“Dan, your coaching and advising has truly added to the growth of my public relations campaign. You are a true partner and I appreciate your tireless effort to help improve and accelerate my success with the media. I am so glad to have you on my team.”

Dr. David Washington
Author of Life is a Choice: “A Guide to Success in Life”

“Dan, You’re the best. Thank you for all of your help! I am making progress on the endorsements. I will be touch.”

Steve Suggs
Sales Manage Solutions

What do I do in my coaching? I like to think of it as ABCD.
Accountability – some people don’t get anything done unless they have someone to hold them accountable.
Brainstorming – I excel in outside the box thinking.
Creativity – I’m off the charts on thinking different.
Decision making – No waffling around. Let’s make a plan and go for it.

To learn more about my coaching to see if it is a fit for you – and I’m not expecting to work with people who are not a good fit – go to www.PublicityLeadstoProfits.com.

I’ve been correctly predicting Internet marketing trends since 1994 when I wrote one of the first books on Internet Marketing. I’ve been right before so there’s no reason to think I won’t be right again. You can bet the farm on most of these trends and get even money on the others.

1.     Mobile marketing will take off in ways you never imagined.
2.     People will be saying, “Visit my app,” in addition to – or instead of -  “Visit my website.” The app will be the brochure, website, and starting point of interactivity.
3.     Small businesses on Main Street will have apps that provide basic info and coupons – even if they don’t have a website.
4.     Doctors, dentists and other appointment-based businesses will rely on text messages and other mobile communications to confirm appointments so they don’t lose money on no shows.
5.     Your prospects will think all types of written or spoken intellectual property –ezines, books, articles, webinars, teleseminars – ought to be free.
6.     You will think that all information ought to be free – except your information, of course.
7.     It will be harder and harder to convince people to pay for intellectual property that is available online. They will pay for customized services specifically for them. Start planning your services menu accordingly.
8.     Entrepreneurs will finally heed Michael Gerber’s mantra to work on the business, not in the business. But they will take action by HIRING outside professionals who can do the work for them instead of waiting to do the work themselves. Productivity and profits will increase while procrastination will decrease.
9.     This phrase will be on everyone’s lips and t-shirts: “If you get something for free, then you aren’t the customer. You are the product.” I didn’t make this up. I wish I did. Think about it. We aren’t Google’s customer, or Facebook’s customer. We are the products they are selling to advertisers. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being considered an “eyeballs.”
10.  Spam will invade social media sites in overt and covert ways, making visits to those sites less enjoyable.
11.  There will be more people showing you how to sell speaking services than there will be companies who can hire speakers. Okay, that one was low. <g>
What are your predictions?

I’ve been correctly predicting Internet marketing trends since 1994 when I wrote one of the first books on Internet Marketing. I’ve been right before so there’s no reason to think I won’t be right again. You can bet the farm on most of these trends and get even money on the others.

1.     Mobile marketing will take off in ways you never imagined.
2.     People will be saying, “Visit my app,” in addition to – or instead of -  “Visit my website.” The app will be the brochure, website, and starting point of interactivity.

3.     Small businesses on Main Street will have apps that provide basic info and coupons – even if they don’t have a website.

4.     Doctors, dentists and other appointment-based businesses will rely on text messages and other mobile communications to confirm appointments so they don’t lose money on no shows.

5.     Your prospects will think all types of written or spoken intellectual property –ezines, books, articles, webinars, teleseminars – ought to be free.

6.     You will think that all information ought to be free – except your information, of course.

7.     It will be harder and harder to convince people to pay for intellectual property that is available online. They will pay for customized services specifically for them. Start planning your services menu accordingly.

8.     Entrepreneurs will finally heed Michael Gerber’s mantra to work on the business, not in the business. But they will take action by HIRING outside professionals who can do the work for them instead of waiting to do the work themselves. Productivity and profits will increase while procrastination will decrease.
9.     This phrase will be on everyone’s lips and t-shirts: “If you get something for free, then you aren’t the customer. You are the product.” I didn’t make this up. I wish I did. Think about it. We aren’t Google’s customer, or Facebook’s customer. We are the products they are selling to advertisers. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being considered an “eyeballs.”

10.  Spam will invade social media sites in overt and covert ways, making visits to those sites less enjoyable.

11.  There will be more people showing you how to sell speaking services than there will be companies who can hire speakers. Okay, that one was low. <g>
What are your predictions?

Nearly every client I have says  their perfect client is “everyone” because “I can help everyone” or “My book can help everyone.”

That might be wonderful but it is bad business. You can’t afford to market to “everyone.” And “everyone” doesn’t want you. They want to work with someone who specializes in “them,” not in everyone.

That’s why I was delighted when I signed a new coaching client who works with lawyers who are in a certain transition point in their careers and must make career and life choices. How cool is that!

If you are still struggling to find the perfect client – and we all suffer from this because we really do want to help as many people as possible – I suggest you use three guidelines which I created and hereby trademark as “Dan Janal’s Rules For Finding the Ideal Client.”

1. Pay you. Yes, you could help the world, but executive women have more money to spend on coaches than women who are at the beginning of their careers – unless that’s the market you want to help.
2. Understand each other. You work with them because you’ve been there, done that and proven it. They know that you know. And you know what they need to know.
3. Get excited about working with them. All clients’ problems being equal, wouldn’t you want to work with someone you click with, someone who you really like and who really likes you? Shouldn’t business – and coaching – be fun? You can probably tell me horror stories about bad outcomes when you hated going to work or working with certain people. Didn’t we start our businesses so we  could avoid that?

If you ask yourself those three questions, you might just find your ideal client.

Then you’ll know what to write about in articles, press releases, blogs and tweets. You’ll know how to position your website and your marketing material. Your audience will find you. At least that’s what happened when I realized I needed to focus on my ideal client.

If you think I could help coach you to find your ideal client, send me an email or go to http://www.PublicityLeadstoProfits.com . I’m available for one-time coaching as well as longer-term coaching that is personalized to meet your needs.

Social Media Examiner listed its top 10 small businesses pages.

What do they top one have in common?

They look like magazine ads.

They are beautifully composed.

They are inviting.

They are colorful.

The usually feature people.

Those are the ones I liked.

Other winners looked like web pages or Facebook pages. To me, those didn’t stand out because they look like everything else.

See for yourself: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/top-10-small-business-facebook-pages-2011-winners/

What do you think?

Which small business pages do you like?

Why?

Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery.

Creating a YouTube video for a company that isn’t paying you is the sincerest form of flattery.

Snpmktg created this video — and didn’t even tell me about it! It’s been posted for more than a year. A client emailed me about it and wondered how he could get this done. Now snpmtkg gets free publicity!

Great example of win-win-win.

Here’s the video. It is worth a look!

PR LEADS Video

Imagine what could happen to your business if you did spec work like this to attract a client. Maybe it would help, maybe it wouldn’t. But it is an idea to ponder for the right prospect at the right time.