Most likely, many of you who are in business understand what they call the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule is where usually 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. Now, one particular day I really thought about this statistic. Do we really want to adhere to the 80/20 rule and get 80% of our business from 20% of our customers? If that applies, what does the other 80% of our customers look like?
Here’s my theory on this. We all started a business from scratch. Day one, our goal, obviously, is to get business, get customers, bring them in, and start generating revenues. Then somewhere down the road, maybe one, two, three, four, five, ten years later, who knows, we start realizing that a large majority of our customers we really don’t like. They might not be ideal customers. Now, in fact, I have a coaching practice. I love all my clients. However, I’m very clear on the type of client I want to work with. As when they are committed to doing the work, they get results, and we all win.
I thought about the idea of what would happen if we all got crystal clear on exactly what an ideal customer or client looks like as soon as we start our business so we can market accordingly from the very beginning. If we were to apply this strategy, we would then attract the people we love doing business with, who come back, stay with us a long time, spend more money, and tell their colleagues and friends. They’re happy because you’re delivering your products and service with excellence and you’re happy because your business is growing.
I learned something about 10 years ago from Michael Losier at a conference, and it’s called Contrast Clarity. If anybody wants the template, feel free to reach out. It’s just a Word document that on one side, says contrast where you write down all the things you don’t want in a customer, or a person on your team, or a marketing assistant. And the other side, it says clarity, where you write down everything you want in a customer, in your team, or an ideal marketing person.
For me, my contrast side represents business owners who don’t do the work, who don’t stay long, or who are resistant. My clarity side represents clients that do the work, and more, clients that stay for 1, 2, 3, 5 years or more, and clients that are open to anything I share with them to take them and their organization to the next level. When you get clear on exactly what you don’t want and you get clear on what you do want, and you consistently articulate that, you’ll be crystal clear anytime you see the right person for your team, or that perfect potential customer or client. There’s nothing more powerful than telling somebody, “You would be a perfect client for me. And it’s okay if I tell you why.” They usually will agree because they are that person, because of the clarity that you created.
I now challenge you; instead of abiding by the 80/20 rule that’s been around for who knows how long, get clear on exactly who you want as your customer, as your client, and as for the people for your team. Write down exactly what you don’t want. Write down exactly what you do want. Create that clarity that a hundred percent of your business will be coming from a hundred percent of your clients that you enjoy working with. Create that clarity that everyone on your team is an ideal to represent your organization. Do this and you will create a win/win for all involved.
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com