Who is your ideal customer?
No organization can be all things to all people – and the ones that try are rarely successful and definitely don't become the market leaders that create buzz and significant impact.
Every organization needs to determine who their ideal customer is and get to know that customer inside and out - but the sad truth is that many organizations (and I do mean many) don't know the customer, or if they do, they only know vaguely, not deeply enough.
And not knowing deeply impacts almost every aspect of an organization: product/service, sales and marketing, human capital and financial.
It doesn’t matter what type of organization you are (nonprofit, start up, emerging growth or mature), the more types of customers you try to serve:
The good news is that real efficiencies can be gained by deeply understanding and serving your ideal customer, rather than a larger universe of customers.
YOUR ACTION STEPS
Make a list of your current customer types (the single or multiple groups of customers your organization is serving now). Then ask yourself and your team:
Once you've created your ideal customer description and have conducted any additional research, evaluate all aspects of how your organization serves that customer from identification to acquisition to customer service and support.
This deep-dive examination will stop your organization from trying to be all things to all people, as well as help you refine and polish your approach to serving that ideal customer.
