Why not every customer is a good customer

Customers are essential for all companies. This is especially true for young companies and start-ups. But not every customer suits every company. I want to give you three tips on how to reach the right customers.

Not every customer is a good customer

Especially from conversations with founders, I know that the question “Who is a good customer for you?” causes irritation again and again. The answer is then often: “Well, actually everyone who needs our product or service”.

That is also obvious. But if you take a closer look at the question, you quickly realize that it’s about more than “as many customers as possible, no matter who they are”. After all, it is important to reach a customer with a marketing strategy and to persuade him to buy.

If the right customer is not clear, then money is quickly spent and effort is created, which goes in the wrong direction, namely in the direction of the wrong customer. Here are three tips to reach the right customers.

1. Customers matching the product

Good customers should match the product or service. What sounds banal at first glance becomes crucial at second glance. Because not everyone who needs a certain product is also right for it. Let’s take a provider for the online creation and management of invoices as an example.

This provider could now stand up and say: “Anyone who has to write invoices is a suitable customer for us”. But in truth that is not true. If he were now directing his activities in marketing and sales to all potential customers, then his activities would not be target-oriented enough.

Rather, this provider would have to focus precisely on those customers for whom his product would bring the greatest possible benefit. This is probably not necessarily the customer who only writes two invoices a week.

Because this customer does not need a sophisticated online billing system, since the effort and probably the costs are relatively too high for him. The provider is more useful for customers who waste a lot of time and money with the issuing of invoices and their management because they do not use an online system.

2. The customer must want to fit

Sometimes you get in touch with a potential customer and think: “My offer would be perfect for him or her, because…”. However, the potential customer does not draw correctly. Now, of course, you can remain persistent and continue to “plough” the potential customer.

But in the end the customer has to want it. A good friend of mine who does a lot of phone prospecting once told me that he tries to get a “no” from a potential customer as quickly as possible. What sounds paradoxical at first glance makes a lot of sense on closer inspection.

Because if the potential customer expresses clearly and unambiguously as quickly as possible that he is not interested, then my friend directs his activities towards more worthwhile goals. So a customer is a good customer if they have a basic interest in the product or service.

3. The customer appreciates the value

Appreciation is important in a business relationship. In my case, for example, my clients rightly expect me to take care of their concerns quickly, to think along with them when they face their challenges and that my performance is of value to them.

However, I experience again and again with my clients that they deal with customers who are obviously not looking for value but who, for example, always only care about the cheapest offer. They almost “blackmail” the provider by saying to him, for example:

“In the past, the offer was okay, but now there is a competitor who is cheaper. Can you also offer the price? If not, then we have to change.”

What I mean to say is that the value of an offer or service is not only expressed through the price, but through many other factors such as on-time delivery or special services beyond the product or service. A customer should appreciate this overall package and not run away immediately if someone else is simply cheaper.

Conclusion

Of course, there are many other elements that make up a good, because suitable, customer. My aim with this article is to show that customers should also be selected.

Not every customer needs to be accepted. The criteria used to make the selection depend on individual preferences, corporate culture, etc. It is important, however, that not every customer has to be a good customer.

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