If You want to: Find, Get & Keep then: Connect, Share & Discover

Director Tidbit by David C Aaronson

Subtitle:  Who Are Your Best Referral Sources?

Simple premise: In oder to Find, Get and Keep new clients you need to: Connect, Share & Discover with new contacts.  BNI provides the environment for the Connecting, Sharing and Discovery and then it is still up to you to Find, Get and Keep the new clients.

I believe it was Woody Allen who said, just showing up is 90% of life.  While BNI provides the connection time on a weekly basis (showing up) and the structure to share (60 seconds, 10 minute, open networking, 1 to 1 meetings) one needs to be a little creative in order to properly discover.  BNI does supply some tools for this discovery as well.  Everybody should have a GAINS profile and this should be shared with everyone with whom you have a 1 to 1 meeting.

Best Referral Sources:

Here is what we often forget.  We don’t want the business of the other members in our chapter, we want the business of the people they can recommend. And the key question is: who in my chapter, does business with the same kinds of people/companies that are my customers?  It is a matter of understanding your primary target demographic for your business.  Once you know your target market, you need to speak to others that deal with the same target market.  These are you prime suspects for your business.

For instance.  A fine tailor and a CPA that sepcializes in tax, may not have much in common with their respective businesses, but their clients probably have the same demographic.  Many of the tailor’s clients need a good tax accountant and many of the tax accountant’s clients buy finely tailored clothing.

Your best referral source may not be the most obvious.  Your referral source will be obvious after you understand your target market.

Here is some information about target markets from:
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http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/operating/marketing/targetmarket.html

The focus of marketing effort is people. The goal is to reach a subset of the population who may be interested in your particular product. That group of people is your target market.

The term target market is used because that market is the target at which you aim all your marketing efforts. The market you are trying to reach are people with common characteristics that set them apart as a group. The more you know about a target market, the more precisely you can develop your marketing strategy. The table below shows some examples of market segments (or groups):

Type of Market Segment	Shared Group Characteristics
Demographic Segment	Measurable statistics such as age, income, or occupation.
Psychographic Segment	Lifestyle preferences such as music lovers or urban dwellers.
Use-based Segment	Frequency of usage such as recreational drinking or traveling.
Benefit Segment	Desire to obtain the same product benefits such as luxury, thriftiness, or comfort from food.
Geographic Segment	Location such as home address or business address.

Here are examples of target segments that can be created using the above table:

• Women business owners between the ages of 25 and 60 earning more than $25,000 annually form a demographic segment.
• People who drive compact cars due to their fuel efficiency form a benefit segment.

Design Marketing Strategies With Your Target Market In Mind
The reason you need to identify a target market is because it makes strategies for designing, pricing, distributing, promoting, positioning and improving your product, service or idea easier, more effective, and more cost-effective.

For example, if research shows that a sturdy recyclable package with blue lettering appeals to your target market and if you are focused on that target market, you would choose that type of packaging. If, however, you are product- or profit-oriented, rather than people oriented, you might choose to make the package out of plain styrofoam because it protects the product (product-oriented) or because it’s cheap (profit-oriented).

Or, if you know your target market is 24- to 49-year-old men who like rhythm & blues, are frequent CD buyers, and live in urban neighborhoods, you can create an advertising message to appeal to those types of buyers. Additionally, you could buy spots on a specific radio station or TV show that appeals to this type of buyer, rather than buying general media time.

In summary, when you’re making marketing decisions and you say “kinda,” it’s costing you money. Know whom you are aiming for (your target market) and create a strategy for a direct hit.

David C Aaronson, BNI Assitant Director: BNI Los Angeles
Director of Communications BNI Los Angeles