Choose Your Customer

Competitive advantage requires that you know who your customer is. And who your customer is not.

Business owners are often afraid that choosing who their customers are and are not will limit their profitability. The fear is that, if you narrow your customer demographic, you’ll miss out on a lot of business. The opposite is true, though. When you don’t target a specific demographic, your staff wastes a lot of time and money going after business that will not be profitable and, probably, won’t stick. In fact, choosing who your customers are and are not will free your staff to respond to your most profitable customers and get more customers like them.

Choosing who your customers are and are not doesn’t confine or lock you into a strategy. Rather, it keeps you steady, focused and able to respond -- rather than react -- in an ever-changing environment.