Random open firing vs sniper shooting
If you have watched any war movies, you will observe that there is always a character who gets agitated and goes rampant shooting bullets with complete aggression. The firing is random and full of desperation. This state is reached when the ammunition is low or the enemy has them outnumbered or there is no other option left to try to win this battle. The character tries to do maximum damage before succumbing to multiple injuries inflicted by the opposition. Rarely, this happens to the protagonist or the central character. These are the ones who are shown as very tactical, who even when they have their backs to the wall, will use optimum resources to get maximum impact and save the day.
This is what exactly happens in business scenarios too. Most entrepreneurs approach marketing like that character who is in a state of desperation, running out of energy or ammunition. They want business to come from any possible source. They shoot out random bulk whatsapp messages, do advertisements on social media and try reaching out to everybody by spending every penny they have with a hope of hitting one or two random customers. Eventually they succumb to the pressure and walk out of business or keep struggling in business forever.
This scenario can change by conserving the bullets, avoiding random fire through a machine gun, instead shooting them through a sniper rifle. The results would be assured and give better returns. What I mean here is when you market to everyone, there is enormous energy and money required to reach everyone. Instead, just market to the best customer type which you desire, and it would increase your revenue and happy customer base. Now you might be wondering, how do I do that?
Firstly, make a list of all the customers whom you have served till date. It could be an exhaustive list if you are in the business for a very long time. Then you can identify them into any of the three segments mentioned below
1. Segment A – These are your favorite customers who respect you. You love working with them and vice versa. You get better margins with them, and they recall you or refer you. You are proud of such customers, and they are in love with you.
2. Segment B – These are average customers. They are there to get the product or service from you and are gone. They are very neutral towards you and your company. They probably contribute to cover company overheads and basic running expenses. Nothing extraordinary about them.
3. Segment C – These are the blood sucking customers who drain all your energy and time. They are excessively demanding, ruthless and ungrateful. You are still wondering “What was I thinking?” when I agreed to take up their work.
All your segment A customers when grouped together will display a common pattern. For example, a lady who was into cakes and patisseries told me her cakes were highly appreciated but sales were not as good as the appreciation. When told to make a list of existing customers, she came up with 300 names. I asked her to put them into segment A | B | C as per the above classification. The segment A had 75 names. I asked her to check if those 75 have a common pattern. She came with the data that 95% of those 75 names were females in 40 to 45 age brackets, staying in 3 BHK or plus homes, loved gifting, quality conscious and socially active. The strategy of marketing was to target exactly these characteristic ladies. The result of this focused marketing was that the sales were rising by 50%. Just like a sniper, the marketing was aimed at a particular customer type and gave excellent results.
Think this through, define your ideal customer and start niche marketing, instead of randomly shooting bullets all around. It will save you energy, money and give better results.
