The old adage, “The best predictor of future success is past performance,” definitely holds true when undertaking customer profile marketing. Your most profitable customers set the stage for targeting the right sales leads. The following is a look at the importance of relying on top customers to build your ideal customer profile, and tips for finding great prospects that match it.
Leverage Analytics
The good news is you don’t have to guess who your top customers are anymore. A database full of carefully crafted examples of a great customer persona and transactional data sets the stage for in-depth reporting. Analytics reporting software or tools allow you to identify the characteristics of people who buy your solutions you offer. Your role is to capture the data, and then let the software program do the work in helping you identify your top clients.
Start Small
What is a customer persona? As you look to expand your target audience, the similarities among the people you attempt to reach, get fewer and farther between. Start with a relatively small, niche market that seeks benefits of a particular solution. Identify the core profile traits and behaviours that your existing customers within that niche market have in common. Then, build a precise profile targeting a select persona that matches. After you achieve success with some sales leads, look for opportunities to expand your profile and extend to other distinct market segments.
Know What Matters
Don’t feel like you have to include every possible demographic, firmographic, or behavioural trait to identify your ideal customer profile for a solution. Instead, note the factors that matter most to a particular buyer, such as age, gender, education level, job title, and industry. Think about the financial situation of the business and the sense of urgency for a solution. Also, include the primary business problems your targeted profile needs to resolve. You might find in some cases that buyers in certain industries and job roles face a common obstacle in growing their organisations. If so, make these factors essential in your ideal profile.
Geographic factors can also play a role in the strategies buyers use to make decisions.
Go Beyond the Basics
Look for clues in less typical behaviours that affect your customer buying decisions. For instance, are there certain times of year that your targeted sales leads look for solutions, or invest in new strategies? Track enhanced data to figure out the processes your top customers go through, the timing of their activities, and the catalysts for their purchase decisions.
Wrap Up
It is common for business leaders to identify best practices and models for success in other parts of a company. However, it is less common that they look to models of customer success to target the right sales leads. This method is the best approach to optimise your time in connecting with the best possible prospects for each solution. Looking for quality leads? Talk to us today, and let us find you customers that want to buy from you.
