Who Is Your Target Market and Why Do You Need One?
By Liz Monte Remember the quaint old saying, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door"? Actually, this saying was originally a quote from the 19th Century writer, Henry David Thoreau, who had no business experience whatsoever and spent some time living in the woods next to a pond. The point of this dusty old advice is that all you have to do to be wildly successful is create a superior product. But let's take a closer look and see if that really holds true. Apparently mice were a big problem back in Thoreau's day, and effective mousetraps were a hot item. Nowadays however, it's a different story. Where I live here in the suburbs of the nation's capital, I haven't seen a mouse in years, and I don't know anyone who has. Not much of an opportunity here for mousetrap inventors, is there? Maybe we should amend that old advice to say, "Build a better mousetrap AND find a whole bunch of people with major mouse issues, and then those particular rodent-plagued individuals will beat a path to your door." This illustrates a critically important point if you want to make a lot of money in network marketing, or any kind of marketing. The more desperate people are for your product or opportunity, the more successful you'll be. (No duh! -- as my kids would say.) IF YOU WANT TO SELL A LOT OF HAMBURGERS, YOU NEED TO FIND A CROWD OF STARVING PEOPLE. So who is your starving crowd? That depends on whether you're looking for business builders or trying to sell products. Let's look at these one at a time. Who's starving for a network marketing opportunity? Apparently not your Aunt Gladys. Or your neighbor Fred. Or the guy in the cubicle next to yours at the office. Or any of those other people you've been chasing. Even though you can see oh so clearly how great their lives could be if they'd just listen to you. How about your realtor or your insurance agent? They'd be sooo good at it, wouldn't they – with all that sales and business experience! But if they're okay with what they're already doing (and most of them are), you're not going to have much luck with them, are you? How about "opportunity seekers"? You know, people who've answered an ad or filled out a form online, asking for information about working from home. You might find some gems here, but it's a very mixed bag. A lot of them are still in the information-gathering stage and nowhere near taking the plunge. A lot of them don't really want to do network marketing -- they'd rather stuff envelopes or transcribe medical records (which is perfectly fine). And a lot of them filled out the online form because they were offered a "free gift" if they did. (Sad but true – don't get me started on cold lead lists.) Who's left? Here's a radical idea! How about people who are already doing network marketing? Especially people who are already doing network marketing and who are frustrated as all get out with it? Let me stop here and assure you – I'm NOT suggesting that you start trying to steal associates from other companies or other people's downlines. That would be extremely unethical, and I am totally opposed to any kind of unethical behavior. Here's what I am suggesting. Since 95% of all the folks who sign up with a network marketing company drop out in the first few months, and since quite a few of those re-enroll in other companies, there must be quite a few frustrated network marketers who are in that between-opportunities place. There are also all those people who've been left high and dry when their company folded. (Remember, 80% of all new MLM companies go out of business in the first two years.) These are folks who got the vision of what's possible with network marketing and REALLY want it to work. But so far, their dreams remain unfulfilled. THIS IS YOUR STARVING CROWD OF BUSINESS BUILDERS. What are the advantages of promoting to this group? 1. They're already sold on the concept of network marketing. 2. They've already demonstrated they're willing to take action. 3. And frankly… they're starving! -- for a system or an opportunity that will actually deliver on its promise. WHAT ABOUT PRODUCT USERS? WHO'S STARVING FOR YOUR PRODUCT? Naturally, that depends on what you're selling. You could be in any one of a number of industries, each with its own unique customer base -- wellness, communications, home accessories, cleaning supplies, apparel, legal services, etc. You can take the old-fashioned approach, trying to guess who among your acquaintances might be attracted to your product line. But then you're right back into that whole thing of making a pest of yourself and chasing people. On the other hand, you could use modern, laser-focused strategies to pinpoint masses of folks who are already looking for exactly what you have. So think about this. Roll it around and see if it makes sense. Decide if you're going for business builders or product users. In the next two lessons, I'll be talking about how to connect with your starving crowd. ****************************** Remember Dave The Heating & AC Guy from Lesson #1? He has a great business concept going. He knows exactly who his target market is and how to give them what they want. He probably has pretty much all the business he can handle at the moment here in Northern Virginia. But suppose he wants to expand? Suppose he wants to franchise Dave's Heating and AC all over the country? Can he still utilize his same approach? Can he still wait until people find him in the Yellow Pages and call for his advice? I know it's a pretty dumb question, but it introduces the next topic: Lesson #3 will be about how to put yourself in front of thousands of frustrated, hungry network marketers and/or customers. In the meantime, here's your
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