Choosing the right customers

customer relationships choosing the righ customer Most of us see the decision to buy as the customer’s. But us soloists are, to a degree, defined by who we do business with, so our part in the decision is equally important. This short exercise will help you to focus on choosing the right customers.

Taking on a new customer is a much bigger deal for a soloist than for a larger business. A new customer can have a major impact on your business and your life. You’ll probably be working closely with your new customer, sometimes for a long period of time.

Therefore, to build a successful solo business, it’s important to clearly articulate who your ideal customers are and to leave enough room in your schedule to work with them.

Here is a short exercise to try when you next plan or review your sales and marketing activities. It will help to sanity-check your strategy and to focus on the kind of customer relationships you most want to attract.

Sort your current customer list, or last year’s customer schedule, into three groups according to how they fit these three descriptions.

“A” customers are your ideal target customers

These are the people who most need what you have to offer. They are the ones who you most like to work with as they generate the most revenue or profit, present the best chance of repeat business or referrals. These can be in the form of high-profile assignments which enable you to stretch and learn. Basically they provide criteria that are important to you. This is the group you will be actively marketing to.

“B” customers are not your ideal target customers but offer the prospect of solid bread-and-butter work

You might decide to take on a “B” customer if the job looks reasonably straightforward, the customer is willing to pay a fair fee, the customer seems organised, committed and easy to work with and/or you can easily fit in the work. This is a group that may be attracted by some elements of your marketing strategy, but who you do not chase after directly.

“C” customers are the ones that your business could do without

For example, if you are a specialist in a particular area, you may want to refer requests for other kinds of work on to someone else. This list may also include those who are difficult to deal with, late paying their bills or possess some other negative quality.

What kind of picture emerges from your list? Are you working mostly with “A” and “B” customers or are there too many “Cs” in there? What thoughts has this inspired and what actions could you take to change the way you filter prospective customer relationships? Drop us a comment and let us know.

Choosing the right customers is important to the growth of a solo business so it’s worth taking the time to do an exercise like this regularly. As a result, you will be happier and more focussed, both you and your customers will have clearer expectations and you will be able to get the very best from one another.

Robyn Haydon is a proposal strategist and writer and the author of The Shredder Test – The Australian Guide to Writing Winning Proposals.

4 comments | Add your own

Spot on, Robyn!
I think that the reason most businesses fail is that they start out without proper research and planning, especially in the areas of initial working capital and ongoing cash flow.
Then, when things get tough, any customer becomes a good one and that's when the downhill slide gets steep.
To me, the bottom line for a soloist is that we simply can't afford B or C customers, no matter how good they might look on a bad day! Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
Must agreee strongly with this. I have recently picked up a project with an existing 'A' client and been handed off to a third party project manager who is very far from ideal to work with - deep 'C' territory. After 2 weeks of argy bargy (in which the PM tried to throw me off the project many times) I have realised that I'm bashing my head against a brick wall and I have withdrawn. It feels very appropriate, even though I am desolate to let my original client down. Dinah from Sydney
P.S. It was a difficult situation, but my original clients have been absolute treasures about it, acknowledging my professionalism throughout and that the withdrawal was the right thing to do, under the circs. Phew! Dinah from Sydney
Oh dear. I'm not too sure WHAT category my clients are. I have always fostered an open sense of communication with my clients - but sometimes they just go out and do crazy things (like sending low res. files to print that I provided to them to proof only and not telling me).
Unfortunatley, this is my biggest client that I'm talking about.
Because it's impossible for me to be able to afford to work on my business full time, I work for someone else full time - so my client base is very small. Some clients I have only had the opportunity to do one job for.

Where I live, businesses are small, strapped for cash, starting out - whatever the reason, it's not always easy to get the 'A-grade' clients, or they're just testing the waters and dont' require much beyond a business card/logo.

I'm a graphic designer.
I struggle to make cold calls - I'm more of an email person, and I'm looking at internet marketing as a tool to generate more interest in my work. It seems like I'm just throwing lines out into the sea, and maybe I'll get a fish, maybe I won't. So it's lucky I still have my job. I envy those of you who work solo full time. I think I'm hoping word of mouth will work for me.
If anyone has any advice on how to get more of the great clients, and less of the dodgy ones - further to this article, my eyes and ears are wide open, because any client to me, helps to grow my portfolio - I can't be too picky.
Mind you - I'm not prepared to waste time with a client who isn't really interested either, or forces me to create ugly work that I'm not proud of. Angel Creative Design from Cairns QLD

4 comments | Add your own

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