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Selling is way too difficult when you don’t have a clear picture of your ideal client. As soon as I ask someone to describe their ideal client and they begin with, “anyone who…” I know they haven’t profiled deeply enough.

I recently worked with a client who thought the majority of a particular B2B-specific segment was his market. I call that the “world is your oyster” effect. In short order we eliminated about 80% of that oyster and locked onto a tightly focused market. Despite months of sales struggles, the focused market is bearing fruit…and with much less effort than before.

Here is what I call the ABC’s of ideal client profiling:

A.  Searchable ATTRIBUTES

B.  Client BEHAVIOR

C.  CHARACTERISTICS of their clients’ customers

Attributes are the easy stuff. Unfortunately, this is where most companies stop with their profiling. Sample attributes are: company size, industry, revenue, location, etc. You know all these already.

Behavior takes the first step away from the norm in client profiling and begins to ask the questions:

- What is their business model?

- How do they make money?

- How do they approach their market?

Understanding the answers to questions like these begins to build the case for who will actually value your value proposition. In the process, it will eliminate quite a bit of your oyster market.

Characteristics of your clients’ customers is critical to increasing your value proposition AND decreasing the sales cycle. In other words, a little time spent studying the gazelle will help you capture the lion quicker and with less effort.

For example, my market for the Active Referral System can be defined by:

A.
They do business in North America (US and Canada)
2-20 employees (there are exceptions based on scalability)
If they have an existing track record – mostly defined by years in business
Typically in consulting and/or financial industries

B.
They have long-term client relationships
Their value proposition centers on a unique intellectual solution and/or acquisition of alternative capital
They have a consultative approach

C.
Their clients are small to medium-sized companies
Those companies are growth-oriented
The majority of their clients are local or regionally based

Keep in mind that your ideal client profile may vary based on each service you provide. You should spend time in each area of your business to clearly define each type of profile so you can maximize your results without exhausting time and financial resource efforts.

One last thought for now is that the smartest business model targets the same “C” profile yet never competes for the same dollars at the “B” level profile. This same model can be applied to creating an active referral system.

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Learn the secrets for building a highly productive referral network using LinkedIn at http://www.activereferralsystem.com.

About the author: Joseph Skursky specializes in helping small businesses grow their sales revenue. He developed the Active Referral System after helping his clients creates new sales channels using LinkedIn. To find out more about this sales development model, call Joseph at 919.854.2788 or email him at joseph@marketleadersolutions.com.