Is this the easiest way to improve your results?

This past weekend I taught a marketing class to local entrepreneurs who are cheesed off about dismal results in marketing their business.

By far, the number 1 problem I saw in the room was focus.

When asked who their target market was, the answer was almost unanimously "EVERYONE!"

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

No wonder the results are dismal.

Your target market must be defined... and the tighter the focus... the better the results.

For example, In Calgary where I live there are 4,000 realtors. 1 realtor for every 250 people in the city (1,000,000 people in Calgary).  The average realtor makes less than $15,000 per year because they try to be everything to everyone.

They will literally beg, plead and grovel to find a new client.

On the other hand, there is a local realtor who calls herself "The Pet Lovers Realtor" and targets people who love their pets (which in itself is a huge market).

She gets it.

The rest don't.

She markets in local pet magazines, parents magazines (families with kids typically have pets), and she is the ONLY ONe (out of 4,000) that has her picture and tightly defined niche (along with her picture with her dog) in the paper.

The rest of them....

"pleaseeeeeee.... anyone..... give me your business..... pleaseeeeeee"

She makes her market more defined and easier to focus on - and she kicks serious but in her marketing and results.

Can you make your focus even tighter? 

I'll bet you can.

And when you do... your results will improve.

Try it out for a month to see for yourself. Pick a niche, market to that niche, and see what happens.

Guaranteed you will see an improvement.

Troy

Comments

[David Porter]

Troy,

I enjoyed your comments today. I have a number of very successful Realtor clients and sent them the permalink to this article.

I am a new reader of your blog but will be back to listen to what you have to say.

David Porter

[Troy White]

Hi David,

Thank you.

It really does not have to be that difficult... business owners just make it that way.

The fear of being different paralyzes people from changing.

The fear of missing out on something when they focus on a niche... confuses them and makes it seem too good to be true.

Yet, ALL their competitors feel the same. So if they are scared of being different from the crowd... and you move past being fearful and actually do something different... what do you think the chances are that you will stand out from the crowd?

Again - it doesn't take much to gain awareness... but it does take some action to make it happen.

I always tell my clients to test it before complaining about it - you just never know what will happen. No test - you never know. Test - you may just find a way to get 10 times more customers with much less competition.

Worth a try to me!

Thanks again - and sorry about the ramble! Get passionate about this subject.

Troy

[Kim Laforet]

Hi Troy (and David!)
Enjoyed your short, to the point reminder. Have heard this for years, but it has reminded me that I WILL define a more targeted market and focus my adv. dollars on it for 2006. Will tell you what happens!
Kim Laforet
Realtor, Lansing, MI

[Troy White]

Thanks Kim for writing. Sometimes my posts get long - this one was short. Glad it hit home and made an impact. And please let me know your results.

It may sounds scary to limit who you will work for... but the smaller your niche - the bigger your profits.

99 times out of 100 this will be the rule that you will see.

Look around at any industry (not just real estate) - the ones who specifically target their clients make more money that their competitors who will take anyone and everyone.

Be specific about who your PERFECT customer is - and they will flock to you.

Try it - and do let me know how it goes. I love to hear the results! Troy

[JOe]

I know this is an old post... but your comment have never been truer...