Every business has a finite amount of resources – money, time, people are all limited. This means you can’t help everyone with everything. In order to help the most people, in the most effective way, you need to clearly define your product offerings and also be very, very clear about who you are trying to help. We will talk about product line definition in another post, but for now, let’s get very clear about the target customer.

All of these elements should be considered:
– Business location, size, industry
– Business credit worthiness and willingness to pay
– Potential need for your product
– Likeliness to reorder
– Ease of connecting – at all points of the order cycle
– ‘Red Flags’ – unreasonable expectations, timelines, respect for you

Not all of these will apply to all business situations, but at Rose City Label we have worked hard to clearly define the type of customer that we work best with. We want to be successful – that means our customers need to value our product and be willing to pay for it, and they have to require a product that we can print well.

Any time we spend chasing or working with companies that aren’t in our target market is time we don’t have available to work with people we could really help. This is a lost opportunity for the customer, and for us. Remember, all of us have limited time so we must use it wisely.

Spend time up front defining your target customer with laser focus – only after this will you be able to maximize your success by dealing the ideal customers that really need and value what you produce.