How Clear is Your Company on Who its CORE Customer is?
Many growth conscious CEOs have an incredible knack for scaling their businesses. They often spend significant resources chasing new business or attacking new markets. However, in our discussions with these CEOs we often find that they are not clear on whom they are specifically targeting with their marketing efforts. At times, THEY may be clear, but there is confusion or a lack of clarity amongst the leadership team, and across the organisation.
A lack of clarity in knowing who your Core Customer can have major cost, gross margin, and net profit implications, and can distract and confuse employees. While it may appear that "we're doing lots of marketing stuff", ultimately, this scatter-gun approach can severely hamper business growth, profitability, and the sustainability of success.
Get Clear on Your Core Customer
Spend time researching, and then refining a definition of your core customer. The shorter and more descriptive you can make it, the better. We suggest keeping it to 25 words or fewer.
A recent article in the Australian Financial Review (4th March, 2019) highlighted the publication's own powerful story about dominating market share in their core market during tough times for the print media industry. The article highlighted two strategic essentials for growing and sustaining a business, one of which was having a succinct definition of the core customer.
In the article, the AFR mentions having deep engagement with “Australia’s executive decision-making class…clustered in office towers of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth”. This is a very definite description of their core customer.
When creating your own core customer description, ensure that you refer to the five following characteristics highlighted in Bob Bloom's classic book Inside Advantage:
A real person with wants, needs, fears
Someone who will buy your product or service for optimal profit
Has a unique online identity and behaviours
Pays on time, is loyal, and will refer others
Already exists in your customer base today
Successful companies have actually been known to leave a seat at their boardroom/executive team table symbolically for their core customer. Some ultra customer-centric organizations have gone as far as creating a cardboard cut-out, naming the customer, and really considering the customer persona as they deliberate on key business decisions.
Use these five simple steps to shape your definition of your business's core customer and help your business grow without pain:
Spend some time in your next executive meeting to consider how precise your definition of your core customer is. To what extent does everyone understand this? Can your team form a meaningful definition in 25 words or under?
Re-educate your team so that they understand what the company's refined core customer description is and why it's so important.
Assess your marketing efforts towards your core customer. How focused are you in spending your company’s time, money, and other resources in targeting your core customer?
Refine your marketing activities to better focus on your core customer, to grow your market share and your business!
Keep the focus on your core customer alive. Find practical ways to keep a focus on your core customers within your executive meeting rhythm e.g. leaving an empty seat at the board room table to represent your core customer, and consider their perspective as you assess business activities and make strategic decisions.
Don’t forget to actually interact with your core customer!
There is nothing quite as effective as communicating directly with your core customer. Best practice suggests that every executive should play a role in this. The findings and feedback should be fed back into the executive level weekly meeting rhythm, and any issues closed out swiftly. More on this another time!
For more information about growing your business without pain, contact Visage Growth Partners. We demystify growth! www.visagegrowthpartners.com
How healthy is your business?
Be sure to take advantage of our free business health assessment on our website, www.visagegrowthpartners.com. Filling in the assessment survey takes about 10 minutes, and you'll receive access to your assessment output as well as a no-obligation assessment report from Visage Growth Partners.