The basics of growing your business

In order to grow your business you must first understand your best and worst customers. Everyone has a demographic, or type, of person with whom they are most likely to be successful and with whom they are most likely to fail. Initially you target your best type, then the folks who are most like them – all the while figuring out how to improve your processes to better serve your worst. Tackle these changes last.

Let’s start with a few basic questions.

Who are your best clients – not by name, but by description?

It could be families with young children, or first time buyers, or those seeking to retire and who also have grandchildren. If you do not know, look back to the beginning of last year – let’s say January of 2009.

Write down the names of your clients who bought a home, sold their home, or hired you for a service. Now describe them – age, price range, salary, education, location, children, profession, relocation, military, sports fanatic, employment, how they found you, etc. Do the same for everyone who consulted with you, but for whom you were not able to attain the desired result. I.e. they did not buy a home, sell their home or retain you as originally intended.

Now look for patterns. What are the descriptors that are the same for the majority of folks in both of these groups?

Once you are finished, you should have a good idea of your best and worst customer types. In future posts I’ll give you some ideas on how to leverage this information to grow your business.