Lesson #1; Why Most Use The Shotgun Approach & Why It Will Kill Your Business.
I'm going to ask a couple hard questions of you here, and challenge you to think about who you are, what you represent, what represents you, and what you are doing in the world.
If you can't get through this material then you go home with empty pockets. End of story.
The Shotgun Approach is accepting work from everyone and anyone, and serving none of them very well at all .
The Shotgun Approach says;
"I'm desperate and I'm afraid that what I'm doing won't work so I can't allow any customer, no matter how bad for me, escape, because if I do I'll go broke and won't be able to pay my bills and my business will fail"
The Shotgun Approach is fear based and says a lie about you and your abilities. Change your mind about it or you might as well pull the pin on this whole business thing now.
How can you possibly deliver your products or services with quality and value to every customer type that moves and expect to become successful?
It's not going to happen. You'll end up chasing your tail and making no money doing it, worn out, stressed out and resenting the very thing that inspired you to begin with.
Bad Buzz....
You've Got To Get Laser Focused!
That's what this lesson is all about, focusing. Building an email list is building a customer base, and you can't build a solid base of customers if you don't find your niche and focus on it.
Focusing in on the following couple of fundamentals will allow you establish a solid base from which to move forward successful y.
Please don't choose to breeze through this material and skip on to the next lesson because it's vitally important to your success that you give it your energy.
Do some preparation. Don't jump in with two feet until you've got this work done, because you'll regret it. You'll end up fighting fires and spinning plates and have no time to do the necessary work later.
So here's what I suggest you do
Answer these 2 questions;
Question #1; What Do You Want To Be Known For?
Find Your Point Of Focus for your business. This stuff comes from the heart, it's what will speak for you every day. Know it, Live it, Preach it, Teach it.
If you're not doing something that sets you on fire then you're wasting your time. Do what you love and charge accordingly. When you do what you love people wil be drawn to you and pay you well . I guarantee it!
Find out what floats your boat. Detail it. Write it down. Don't stop writing it down until it absolutely sings off the page back at you.
This may take some time, or you may be doing it already. But you simply must find your point of focus and reinforce it by going through the above process.
IMPORTANT; If you need staff, make sure that they represent these values. Train them to do what you do and represent you impeccably. Take no prisoners with regard to this. You absolutely must not compromise on your values. (And remember to be nice). If you do not train staff, they will establish their own boundaries and system of work, this will lead to lots of problems for you, so please, Induct your staff to your way of working.
Question #2; Who Is Your Best or Ideal Customer?
Find out who is the one that gives you, or will give you 80% of your revenue. Profile them exactly. You should be able to do this by looking at previous transactions if you've been trading for a while. If you have not been trading long then imagine who exactly you want to serve.
Most people run a mile from these questions because it takes time to answer them. Most business owners want to keep their hands dirty in the day to day and see these questions as fluffy and non productive.
You simply must know the answers to these questions if you are to move forward and serve these people well . If you don't know this person inside out you can not deliver them what they want, either online or offline.
If you don't know all the answers to these questions then select 5 or 10 people who match the ideal persona best and ask them for their help. Ask them to meet you.
Tel them you need help to understand more about what they are looking for (in relation to your product/service). Get into the emotion of it, get to know what floats their boat about your stuff.
When you identify this person, focus on serving them as best you can. Others will come along and you will serve them (or not) and that's fine, but by identifying this person you're setting your bar high and your focus narrow.
If you don't have a customer base yet from which to derive this data, then this is what you need to do...
Identify a business either online or offline that does what you do, or very similar. Call them up. Ask them to meet you. Tel them you admire them, that you are just starting out and you'd like to get their help.
Tel them what you are trying to do and ask them for assistance in profiling your best or ideal customer (who will be the same or similar to theirs by the way!).
You Might Be Afraid... Or Lazy...Or Both...
Now, there's a lot of work in all of this, and there is a chance that you'll sit on the fence. You might even be afraid to pick up the phone and make those phone calls.
But you simply must. If you are to make progress and find your audience you absolutely must take the time and space to properly identify your niche.
Box off some quiet time to think through the entire process. Pick one afternoon per week, I like Friday afternoons because there are no business responsibilities to distract you later that day.
If you do it, you'll be set for Lesson #2. If you don't, you might make some progress but it will be stop start. It will be inconsistent and frustrating.
Here's a post from the blog that might help you, it's one of three Podcast and associated posts on The Future Of Work series.
Coming Up In Lesson #2 You're going to learn How To Create Emotional Content That Converts Visitors Into Customers. Keep your earballs and eyeballs out for that one. It's at the core of content creation!