Decide who you DON'T help

5 replies
Hey folks . . .

I was drawn here by the lure of Joint Ventures, but the caution is to post something else first. So much here! What can I contribute?

Well, here's one marketing mistake I see a LOT -- trying to help everyone.

A few uncomfortable truths:
* there is no strategy for reaching everybody
* an appeal to everybody is not compelling to anyone
* lose the fear of losing business--you are already losing business.

The trick is to decide what business you WANT to lose, so that you can focus your energy on the specific segment you DO serve.

"I work with people who..." is already too broad. This is not language these people use to describe themselves. There's no place they congregate around this issue. It needs to be a tribe that will recognize itself.

Interesting thing is---your offer is then compelling to people outside the tribe as well....and they will become clients too.

My two cents!
#clientele #decide #marketing strategy #niche #tribe
  • Profile picture of the author BamaGuy
    To lose means to already have. I am not sure many people want to lose business no matter how bad it may be sometimes. I mean sure we may spend most of out time trying to focus on how to make most everyone happy, but I never include a plan to lose business on purpose.

    Maybe some are not good with diversification. This can cause you to lose clients very quickly.

    Just my thoughts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Diversion52
    Sometimes it's good to lose some business. There might be a segment you do business with that consistently try to overwork and underpay you. Sometimes you need give up some prospects to serve better the prospects you really want.

    Usually the client who is generating the most income for you is not the same customer who is making you work the most.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Long
    I'm not sure that thinking of it in terms of "what business do you want to lose" is quite the right way to go about it.

    I get what you're saying, which is essentially that newbie marketers need to focus on one specific area of marketing and basically "tune out" to everything else.

    But there's another angle to this (and the one I immediately thought of when I saw the thread title), and that is, choosing who you help even AFTER you have chosen a specific niche within IM.

    My top priority in my business is customer service. I sell myself as a guy who will go above and beyond to reach out to my subscribers and customers and help in any way I can.

    And I do.

    But even for me, there has to be a limit on how much of your time you freely offer to people. When you bring enough people into your sphere of influence, inevitably, you're going to draw in some people who are absolute time vampires.

    The toughest part is realizing too late that you've been interacting with one of these time vampires, and extricating yourself from the situation.

    So once you've managed to get your IM business focused, don't think that's the end of it. The need to focus and spend 80% of your time on the most profitable 20% of your business never really ends.

    The need for focus at all points in your business is absolutely vital to your long term success.
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    • Profile picture of the author butterballs8
      No one likes to lose but I do think losing can only empower you and give you more strength and life experience to succeed.

      I think its important to find your passion and focus without letting negativity and the feeling of failure weigh you down.
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    • Profile picture of the author shane_k
      Originally Posted by Mike Long View Post

      I get what you're saying, which is essentially that newbie marketers need to focus on one specific area of marketing and basically "tune out" to everything else.
      I think his message would apply not only to newbies but also to intermediates and advanced marketers.

      Sometimes we all forget the basics and we try and help too many people and our efforts become unfocused.

      So I think it is a good message to remind everyone to not try and help everyone but to focus down on a target market.


      And it is interesting that the OP brought this up as I just finished watching Kitchen Nightmares

      And in it Gordon Ramsey was pretty much trying to say the exact same thing to the restaurant owner that the OP is saying.

      The restaurant owner's marketing was way to broad and they were trying to be everything to everyone. and they had this huge diversified menu which was killing them.

      But the owner was too scared to change, because he thought if he changed then he would lose certain customers (who weren't spending much anyway)

      and it wasn't until Gordon Ramsey showed him that by focusing their efforts they would not only save money, but they would get better clientele and make more money at the same time.
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