“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”— Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
As a business coach, I’m privileged to have a front seat to the daily nuts-and-bolts of people’s businesses. Part of this involves getting to know what’s driving their company, where they spend their energy and what their focus is on. Entrepreneurs are inspiring, energetic people who have learned to accept that no matter how they refine their pitch, there’s always going to be refusals. To quote a very smart lady, you can be the sweetest, juiciest peach in the bowl and there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like peaches.
But it’s not just your pitch you need to refine: it’s the audience for it.
As I outline in my Principles of Marketing, one of the most important things that you can do for your business is narrow your scope and find your ideal customer. An ideal customer meets two simple criteria: they are good for you and you are good for them. It takes the anxiety and rejection out of marketing your business and making your sales. I have a full training seminar around this principle, but the point to remember that the customer has a problem and you have a solution. When you have the solution to their problem, that’s when you have a perfect match. It’s not aggressive or pushy to let someone know that you can help them with a problem they’re having.
How can you be sure you have the right solution? Tailor your pitch to each customer. Because different customers will want your product or service for different reasons, and it is your job to treat them like people, not just euro signs in your bottom line. You don’t have to be aggressive to make an impact, but you do have to be clear about what you do and how it will be of benefit to your customer. Be clear why you are the right choice and your customer will understand it too. Marketing clearly just what it is you do, how you do it and how you are clearly the correct answer to your customers’ problems is allowing yourself to shine and be of service. That’s why people stop being euro signs, and you start creating real relationships with your customers. To borrow from that wonderful Christmas story we all know, mankind is your business, especially at this time of the year.
My Christmas wish for you this year is that you can take some time to recharge your batteries over the holidays and that the New Year brings you all you wish for in terms of growth, challenge and opportunities. If I can be of service to you in enabling any of those, I hope very much to hear from you in January.
Merry Christmas!
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