Identifying customers that are worth your time, energy, resources and emotions

Jeffrey Manu
Strategic Startup Founder
3 min readMar 26, 2018

Most humans, unfortunately, are naturally selfish.
The conversation in our minds is dominated by ‘what’s in it for me?, what do I want?”

Someone said ‘People don’t just buy from you because you understand them. People buy from you because they feel understood.”

The customer you understand the best is your highest value customer.
The minute that customer feels that you are the one who understands them the most, you become their highest perceived source of value.”

Perception and Empathy matter more than most people know.

In your market, I’m sure you know of some shady businesses that seem to be prospering.

This is partly because customers perceive them to be a good source of value.

Let’s talk about your market.

We are focusing on your customers and the goods and services you sell.

Which kind of customer in your market do you understand the most?

The person who “gets you”, is the one who wins your approval.

Does your customer think you understand her?

Defining the best customer
The best customer is someone who is actively looking for what you are selling, has the ability to pay for it and has a recent purchase history of something similar to what you provide or even the same thing.

The last part is important because a prospect who has already bought from your competitor in the past already understands the benefits of your product.

He may not know what makes you different but it’s easier to convert a prospect who already understands the value of your offer.

One of the most important things to note is that your ideal customer has to have the willingness, ability and desire to pay for your product whether B2B or B2C.

A few years ago I run a branding and design firm.

I found out that clients who had already dealt with a competitor in the past were easier to convert.

They already know the benefits of the service and they were just looking for the best.

Today much of my work involves building marketing systems and I’ve noticed that the same rules apply.

I first find out if the prospect spends any money on advertising or is familiar with direct response campaigns and sales processes.

If they don’t, then that means they won’t have a good way of knowing my worth.

I can then decide whether this person is teachable enough to work with or if I should respectfully decline their application to work with me.

You can do the same in your business whether you’re selling to consumers or corporations.

On the other hand, clients who needed education and explanation were usually tougher to convert.

One strategy I teach my students and clients on growing their businesses exponentially is this.

Find out the inactive clients of your competitor’s and offer them your goods and services.

It would surprise you how many of them are probably looking for someone like you.

Part of the reason this works is that it’s likely that your competitors have poor follow-up sequences.

You can take advantage of their sloppiness and become the dominant player in your field.

Here are some questions you should sit with your team and answer today.

Which customers in your market are looking for what you can provide?
Are there prospects out there who urgently want what I’m selling?
Are there prospects eagerly looking for my product?
Which of them has bought from a competitor in the last 18 months?
Do they perceive the current alternatives are few or inadequate?

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Jeffrey Manu
Strategic Startup Founder

Believer. Entrepreneur. Teacher of dominion and business success