Market Clarity Makes A Difference

Last month, I had the pleasure of connecting with a brilliant marketing strategist (we’ll call him Jake). This guy’s connected up the wazoo, and was looking for ways to break out of his local community and “get more speaking gigs” to leverage his presence and running his business, instead of his business running him.

The irony is that this guy has at least twice as many fans and followers as I do.

But as we talked, it became clear that for Jake, it wasn’t really about getting more speaking gigs – it was about getting in front of his right people – the folks I call Perfect Fit Customers.

Who’s your PFC?

As we chatted, I shared with him bits and pieces of my Sales Cycle concept, but it felt like we were talking around the real issue, instead of getting to the meat of it. Finally, Jake made an almost off-handed comment about exactly who he’d like to work with. He said it so matter-of-factly, it almost came off like an aside.

As if to say, “I’d really prefer to work with these people, but I’m too busy doing grunt work to ever make that happen.”

Sound familiar?

Yeah. It’s that moment in a conversation that can be more telling than you even realize. That phrase that you kind of blow off as you say it probably carries more weight in your psyche than you’re willing to admit.

“Whoa… hold on.. back up a minute.” I said. “What did you just say?”

Again, Jake told me exactly the kind of client he preferred working with. It was so crystal clear, I had a hard time understanding why he wasn’t working with more people like that. I mean, it sounded like he’d put some real thought into it, not just a general industry, but a specific market within that industry.

So, because I’m kind of obtuse like that, I asked him this tough question (I’m probably paraphrasing, but you get the idea):

“If you know that you want to work with people like that, why aren’t you trying to connect with more people like that?”

…And a hush fell over the crowd.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know how. It wasn’t that he didn’t know anyone. Jake had just never taken that market seriously. He was caught up in what he was already doing, and missing the opportunity to go after the PFC’s that he really wanted to work with.

How This Applies To You

So often, we go after what we’re familiar with – what we already know – because it’s comfortable. At least, that is, until it’s not so comfortable anymore. I know a guy that was comfortably making easy money with an email list. He admitted he could have stayed in his comfort zone indefinitely simply because it paid the bills. BUT because he had his sights set on something bigger, he ultimately had to burn the list (no turning back now!), retooled his marketing, and developed a killer business working with his PFC’s in a much more lucrative way.

So here’s Jake, a guy with an amazing gift for content development, marketing, and strategy, yet he couldn’t see the forest, because he had his back to it, staring at the city.

He was comfortable in his local niche, but he was speaking to the same folks month after month. People that had already heard his talk – maybe even a few times. He wasn’t generating business because he wasn’t talking to his PFC’s -nor was he really trying to connect with people in a way that would lead him to his PFC’s (because he wasn’t really considering his PFC’s seriously).

As soon as he saw what he was missing, my work was, essentially done. He had plenty to keep him busy for a month of Sundays.

The Lesson: Never Underestimate The Power of Your PFC

You may have daydreamed about a potential market, or worked briefly with someone you THINK could be your PFC, but because you’ve got other irons in the fire, you really haven’t given it a second thought. You might not think much of a market you haven’t already pursued relentlessly, even if you think you might enjoy working with them.

That kind of “non-thinking” is a sure-fire way to keep spinning your wheels, generating lackluster results.

Take some time to really contemplate/meditate/marinate on who you really LOVE working with. For me, it’s action-oriented entrepreneurs – especially creative, innovative types. I seem to have a knack for connecting the dots in a different way that allows them to see the parts of the picture they may have been missing. Those missing pieces usually translate into more money, more time or more (insert dream here).

What is that person for you? I’d love it if you’d share in the comments. Who knows? You might just find your PFC’s are reading this post looking for you!