Know Your Customer

It’s super important that you know who your customer is, otherwise, you’ll constantly be fighting battles like the one I’m about to share with you.

We’re doing renovations to our kitchen in our home in Florida. I posted our old dishwasher on Facebook Marketplace for $50 last month. It was a General Electric dishwasher, stainless steel, in great condition, and in full working order. Within moments of posting it on marketplace, my inbox was flooded with interested people.

One of those people asked me if I’d take less than $50…to which I said no. She then asked me if it was clean inside. I responded that this dishwasher was probably not for her. I explained that I didn’t spend an hour cleaning the inside of my dishwasher to sell it for $50 and if I had, I’d be asking a lot more money for it.

The woman replied and told me not to get all “p*ssy” with her.  She’d been taken advantage of before and that I likely hadn’t sold much in the past or I’d know that people ask questions.

Here’s the lesson:

Know who your customer is.

There are typically three types of buyers:

1. There are customers out there who are constantly looking to get the best deal for the least amount of money. They are unreasonable in their demands and are often difficult to do business with.
2. There are customers who are looking for the best value at a fair price who will treat you well and be easy to do business with.
3. Then there are customers looking for the best quality and most expensive product or service they can buy because they believe that the higher the price, the better it must be.  If you’ve ever scanned a menu to see what the most expensive item was, you know what I mean.

If someone is looking for the best quality, in the fastest turnaround time, and for the least amount of money, walk away. Those are not your customers. I’d even argue that there is a very good chance that no one can deliver all three of those things.

The best and fastest is rarely the cheapest, and if someone tells you it is, chances are your buying a knockoff, not the real deal.

Know who you are, what you offer, and who your customer is so you can recognize when someone is not the right fit for your business.

Leave me a comment and let me know, who is your ideal client?