Who Are You Best Set Up To Serve?

“Who are you best set up to serve?” is a question I often ask - whether written in a blog or directly with clients. It is arguably the single most important question a business has to answer to work effectively.

Many of you will have heard me use these quotes: “The better you understand the customer, the better you can serve them”, “You need to know what your customer is buying from you - this is different from what you are selling to them”, “Why should I choose you?” The concept can be put in different words, but the principle remains.

From a marketing perspective, identifying who are you best set up to serve, is often linked to creating an ‘avatar’ of your ideal target customer/s or your “Target Customer Profile”. The degree to which a business understands their Target Customer is relevant to the focus of its marketing message: both in terms of channel to market and message to market.

The importance of getting your Ideal Client right cannot be overstated, particularly when looking to improve sales productivity. The role of marketing is to create high-quality leads. Done well, these leads can be of such high quality that they are literally looking to close themselves and merely want to know where to pay. For many in the B2B sector this is a rarity. This is the reason why the role of the sales rep exists.

Knowing Who you are best set up to serve allows you to craft the message to your ideal client. It allows you to decide on the channels with which you will use to communicate this message. It also allows a clear understanding of what questions you need to ask to qualify - as soon as possible - whether the person and company that you are speaking to is actually one that you can serve well.

Following the qualifying questions an in depth understanding of the businesses you are set up to serve allows you to ask questions to uncover the pain points you know this industry has; the opportunities you know this industry is missing out on; the implications of no action and of the wrong action; the ongoing requirements that need to be considered and the value that can be added over and above the mere delivery of a product or service.

When a sales Rep goes into a meeting equipped with an in-depth knowledge of an industry and how they can help, they ask the right questions. They uncover the necessary information  and are able to get to the point where the right decision can be made a lot quicker. This is the reason why doing your research, knowing your customer, knowing what you offer and what difference it makes, is so vitally important.

This speeds up the sales process, improves the conversion rate and is good for both your customer and your business. It increases morale, frees up your sales team and reduces the time your customer spends decision-making, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of the better systems/products sooner.

If you have not yet clearly defined and answered the question “Who are we best set up to serve” -  do it now ! If you need help, call me!