Three Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Business

Many people come up with what they think is a good idea for a business. Some will really fly, others simply don’t get off the ground.

Let’s face it, without customers, we don’t have a business and so knowing who these customers are likely to be and how we are going to communicate our offer to them is crucial to our success.

When I worked in Commercial Radio, we had a great commercial producer who had three questions that needed to be answered before he would start on the script; Who are we talking to?, What do we want them to do?, Why should they do it?

It strikes me that these are the most important questions you can ask yourself, not just when you’re thinking about launching a business, but every year. Why? Because people’s habits, needs and wants change and when they change, the product or service we offer can become irrelevant.

I’ll now look at each of the three questions in relation to you and your business.

Who are we talking to?

Laser focusing on your target markets will save you both time and money. If you know who you’re talking to, you can tailor the message you’re communicating to them.

Creating an ‘avatar’ for each target market will give you all the information you need about them on a single sheet of paper.  The level of detail you go into is entirely up to you but my recommendation would be to keep it simple and don’t over-analyse.

The second consideration it to think about who you would like to work with. There may be certain sectors or personalities that you relate to better than others. The beauty of running your own business is that you can choose who you want to work with and help.

What do we want them to do?

Assuming you communicate the benefits and potential results working with you will provide, your prospective customer needs o know what they have to do next to start the process. People need to be called to action. If they are unclear about what they have to do next, they probably won’t do it.

As the copywriter Gary Halbert said you must imagine your prospect to be a huge sloth of a man (or woman) who needs to use extreme effort to even move their arm to answer the phone or to get out of their chair.

Just showing your phone number or your web address is NOT a Call to Action.

The first thing you need to do is to Summarise the Offer. Tell them what they will get when they respond. Next, remind them why they need to respond now, and finally, give them more than one way to respond (unless you have good reason for offering just one way of responding). People have preferential ways of responding and buying. The more options you give, the better your results will be.

Why should they do it?

If you’ve got a great product or service, but sales and leads just aren’t where you want them to be, there’s good news and bad news.

The bad news? You’ve got unclear messaging. Your leads and customers don’t really understand how you can help them. So, they go and buy from someone with marketing they understand.

You are not alone. When it comes to talking about their businesses, many leaders struggle. They’re so close to their products or services that they totally miss the mark when trying to reach customers. The good news? There’s a ton of upside for your business if you can just eliminate the confusion from your messaging.

The human brain is drawn to CLARITY and away from confusion. If customers are confused about what you offer, they’ll look past you and buy from someone they understand. Companies that clarify their messaging win in the marketplace.

Clarifying your communication will help you create a cohesive campaign and as a result you will become memorable, interesting and you will inspire change.

You may be launching a business or considering pivoting from what you currently offer, but I can guarantee, if you ask yourself these three questions, you’ll have a much better chance of success.