How to reach the "common client"

by Tony Vidler
I reckon our household is pretty common really.
We are probably what could be called a pretty “common client”.
It’s a pretty common target market for most professional services, and how the people in our house buy things is probably pretty common too.
Like buying a tree as a present for someone. A weird example perhaps, and a weird present perhaps too, but that’s what this person wants. Not just any tree either, but they want something called a “Persimmon” tree.
It occurred to me in the post-Persimmon-purchase-attempt debrief that this was a pretty typical buying journey for todays consumer, or rather for todays typical consumer household.
To be fair, buying a fruit tree is not quite the same as purchasing a bit of estate planning or buying a little bit of portfolio construction advice. But then, the process is actually rather similar – at least in our household.
The process has been pretty similar for “purchasing” family holidays, some actual estate planning, and a couple of investment decisions just this year alone. All of these are purchases of relatively expensive professional services of course. And the process is pretty much the same.
What are the significant observations for professionals from this example?
The bottom line is whether you are trying to retail strange trees or whether you are providing professional services you have to put your marketing efforts into matching the consumers buying behaviour. Figure out how your target market goes through their decision-making journey to use the services of someone like you and then position in advance so you become a natural selection in their consideration phase.
That’s how to reach the common clients today.
Comments (1)