•Tom "Big Al" Schreiter  •Ken Seto  •Rod Cook - Contributing Editors

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Target Your Market

By Tom “Big Al” Schreiter
http://www.fortunenow.com

It’s easy to get great leads if you target your market.

Here is one way to get great leads inexpensively by using this “target your market” technique.

Imagine that you sold a protein powder product that was good for weight lifters and people who exercised. So where would be your target market?

Our first thought would be health clubs.

You will get a wide variety of good prospects here. Some will be dedicated body builders. Others will be weekend warriors who exercise only on Saturday. And still others will join the club, pay their dues, get instructions on how to use the machines, get a written program from their personal trainer . . . and then do nothing (hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar).

All of these prospects could use your protein powder product. But how will you reach them?

You could join the club. That costs money. And then you would stand around hoping to bring up protein powder in casual conversation with your fellow members.

Your conversation might go like this:

“Wow! Great-looking gym bag. If you used my super protein powder your body would look great too.”

This would be an embarrassing conversation and an inefficient use of your time.

Or, you could talk with the health club owners and ask them to sell your protein powder. However, you would have to wait in line to get an appointment, and every other nutritional company would be your competitor.

Health club owners receive sales pitches all day long. There’s too much competition for this method to work effectively.

But who else is in contact with your prospects?

You could talk with the personal trainers. These independent contractors are hired by their clients to show them how to get into shape fast.

Unfortunately, these personal trainers are not trained salesmen for your products, and they may also feel uneasy about promoting your products to their clients for profit. They wish to appear unbiased and want to make their money from their personal training fees.

Here is what you could do.

Make up some discount coupons for your protein powder. Maybe your coupon would offer 25% off their first purchase. Or, maybe the client would get a free bottle of vitamins with their first purchase.

Next, give these coupons to the personal trainers. Now the personal trainers can promote your protein powder easily because they only have to hand out coupons. They could say:

“You’ll build muscle faster and lose weight quicker if you supplement your exercise with a good, high-quality protein powder. Here is a coupon for one of the popular brands of protein powder. It will save you some money on your purchase.”

That’s it. That’s all the personal trainer has to say. The personal trainer doesn’t have to compromise his or her integrity by selling your product. And, the personal trainer will feel good about saving the client a bit of money.

This is a great deal for you, the distributor.

It’s a great deal for the client who saves money on his first purchase.

But what about the personal trainer?

Maybe the personal trainer doesn’t want to earn cash from promoting your products. That’s okay. You can still reward the personal trainer in other ways. For instance, you could:

1.     Give tickets to the local body building show.

2.     Give theatre tickets.

3.     Arrange a day at the local spa.

4.     Give gift certificates for the local sporting goods store.

5.     Offer a few cans of protein powder for the trainer’s personal use.

There are many ways to reward the personal trainer besides cash. Some of the ways may bond the personal trainer more to you than cash.

Maybe you arranged a relaxing weekend for the personal trainer at a local resort. The personal trainer will always remember the weekend. Cash is quickly forgotten after it is spent on an electric bill.

But I sell residential long distance service!

Then use the same technique. Find your target market.

Q. Who uses a lot of long distance?

A. Traveling salesmen.

But how are you going to meet them?

You don’t have to. Just think of who might be in contact with traveling salesmen.

Let’s pick car rental agencies.

Many traveling salesmen fly to a location, rent a car, and then make sales calls. And I bet many of them have families.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the car rental agency gave them a free calling card? Now the traveling salesmen could call home courtesy of the car rental agency.

Where would the car rental agency get the free calling cards?

From you. You could provide a pre-paid 15-minute calling card inexpensively for the car rental agency to give away.

The traveling salesman is happy. He gets to call home for free.

The car rental agency is happy. They look good in their customers’ eyes.

And you are happy.

Why? Because you have a mini- recorded sales presentation the traveling salesman hears before his call is connected. Your short sales presentation could offer discount long distance for his home, a calling card to use while on the road, or even the opportunity to install a toll-free number in his home.

And the profits?

Simply compute how much money you will earn from a customer in a year. Then, set out to spend less than that amount to get the customer.

But I sell web pages to businesses and individuals.

Then use the same technique. Find your target market.

Who on the Internet wants personal web pages, but probably doesn’t know how to build them?

You might decide to target AOL customers. Many are brand new to the Internet and started with the user-friendly interface that AOL offers.

You can further target your market by going to AOL’s forums and message boards.

Or, if you have collected a stack of business cards, you might want to call the prospects who have AOL addresses first.

But I’m special.

I sell tours to China. How will this technique work for me?

Just use the same technique. Find your target market.

Who are more likely to want to take a trip to China?

1.     Patrons of Italian restaurants?

2.     Patrons of Chinese restaurants?

If you answered “B” -- you’re getting the idea of how target marketing can work for you.

All you would have to do is to print up some paper placemats with your advertisement for China tours. Then give the free placemats to all of the Chinese restaurants in your area. While waiting for their food, your prospects would be a captive audience for your ad.

Or, make a deal with the fortune cookie manufacturer. On the back side of the fortune cookie messages, print your fortune cookie message that says:

“You are going to take a trip to China. Call 800-xxx-xxxx.”

What are some other target markets?

1.     If you sell digestive enzymes, visit with the local all-you-can-eat barbecue house.

2.     If you sell anti-wrinkle cream, visit with the local sunglasses retailer.

3.     If you sell discounted travel vacations, visit with the local suitcase retailer.

4.     If you sell extra income, visit with the local tax preparer.

As you see, this is starting to get pretty easy. We just have to keep in mind who comes into contact with our target market.

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