Selecting a single target market is always tricky. And it’s especially hard early on in your business when you don’t want to limit yourself and deliberately shoot for a smaller piece of the pie. So you leave your options open by saying, “I can help anybody with anything.”
But here’s the thing, You only have a limited amount of time, capacity, energy, and ability to serve your market. The last thing you want to do is to waste these resources by spreading yourself too thin. Your biggest opportunities don’t come from trying to be everything to everyone. The most dramatic results come from narrowing your focus to a very specific type of client.
Dan Sullivan calls them your “largest check” clients.
Some time ago, I used to do some consulting with a mortgage company in Washington, D.C. Their “uniform” was khakis and polo shirts, and they rented some inexpensive office space in the suburban area. They were concentrated on serving the broadest specter of the middle of the market.
So we went through the “largest check clients” exercise. And pretty soon, they realized that some of the loans they served were much higher and more profitable to the company than others. And not only that. The people with higher loans were much more pleasant and easier to deal with. They decided to narrow their focus to those high-income professionals.
They switched from khakis and polo shirts to Armani suits and moved to an A-class office space in a high-end building like their clients. Here’s what happened: Their revenue and profits increased dramatically… and everything about their business became simple. But not because they traded khakis for Armani suits.
Their breakthrough happened when they deliberately focused on serving their largest check clients only.
Now, think about it…
Imagine pursuing only the clients that pay you the most money, are the easiest to work with, and with whom you have the biggest impact. Wouldn’t that make everything easier?
And that’s exactly what selecting a single target market does for you.
Head over to the podcast for more on securing your ”Largest check” clients.
