Learning from my business: About target markets

I’ve been thinking a lot about the comments on my post, Learning from my business: About focus. Gary Woodill notes

You start this post by saying that you thought that you have “a clear focus.”

Then you go on to describe in detail how that focus disappears: “…the most effective intervention is the one that works with the uniqueness of the participants toward a goal that is customized for the situation.” That’s not a focus, but a reinvention of your product and service for every client.

You describe the way that focus melts away: “Very quickly, the requests for new images and specific programs started arriving. Some wanted live training, some online, some a community, some discussion groups, some help with questions, some help with debriefing. Not just general, but tailored specifically to their application. The coaches wanted one thing, the trainers another. There weren’t enough of any particular group to support the development of anything.”

I think that in re-reading these sentences that you would agree that you don’t have a specific product or service, but respond to each client with a unique solution. Besides being exhausting, your business doesn’t have any “scalability”, which is necessary to grow and to develop efficiencies in order to make an acceptable level of profit.

Honestly, I expected more people to want to customize the tools themselves. To me the tools are infinitely scalable. I focused on creating a tool that could be used across disciplines and across multiple purposes. I understand other people think this is one of the biggest weaknesses in my business. I’m struggling to get beyond seeing my expertise is in what makes visual tools work across multiple purposes. Not specific applications.

Who is my current audience?

I was talking with business growth strategist Kathie Nelson about who I serve. Our customers are primarily in the US, but we have customers in many parts of the world. Occupationally, they are all over the place: consultants, trainers, facilitators, educators, mediators, intercultural communication specialists, coaches, therapists, and others. Some work with individuals, some with small groups, some with large groups, some with organizations.

Kathie suggested we look at the psycho graphics (the study of personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles) of our customers. This is where they look much more similar. They are all people who help others with complex issues to gain new perspectives. They share many of the following characteristics;

• Love to learn new things
• very creative
• open minded
• big picture perspective
• meet difference with curiosity
• passionate about diversity and inclusion
• motivated to help other people
• more process oriented than product oriented

When I talk with customers, the closer they match these characteristics, the more successful they are with the tool. When I ask these people how they use it, they rattle off long lists. They can see many applications and love thinking up new ways to use it. They use the tool a lot, in many different ways.

Learning from where I am

I have learned that if I want to effectively assist anyone to learn new skills or behaviors, I have to start from where they are, not from where I am. I see now that is exactly what I have been trying to do with thinking about my target market. Trying to jump to the other side.

I have had a lot of suggestions to create application specific tools:

Gary Woodill suggests: For example, I can see a set of your images being adapted for an art therapy focus, another set for a career decision focus, and the third set for coping with being released from prison (as just three examples – each with sizable markets and cadres of professionals you can train to use your images). It seems to me that you need to identify the various market segments for which you can develop image sets, and rank them by size. Then work on one market segment at a time, producing images, manuals and training sessions for that segment. That’s a business focus to me. At the same time, you can continue to be creative and not bored.

Ann Marie Lei’s husband: “she should make a set for parents and/or teachers, and teach them how to use them with their kids/students, to help kids express themselves or have difficult conversations.”

Chris Kondrat suggests: within a company-it could be used for training, meeting facilitation, strategic planning, visioning, employee orientation, exit interviews, focus groups, etc.

In addition customers have emailed with suggestions for career specific tools, job loss, grief support, K-12 special needs, tools for autistic kids, kids at risk, life-changing events, new identity, and new business direction.

I kept getting caught trying to leap to the outcome of a specific application, and wonder how I would ever know everything I need to in yet another specialty area. The only way I could see doing it was to be able to hire a subject matter expert. Not starting from where I am.

Using my strengths

If I start from what I know about visual language and who my customers are, suddenly the vision becomes clearer. I’m looking to serve similar people with slightly different applications of the same ideas. It’s starting to make more sense. I can map out core methods and worksheets, move into the realm of a particular target area, then get a content specialist to review and add to it.

Now Gary’s suggestion in the comments on the last post make sense;

Then work on one market segment at a time, producing images, manuals and training sessions for that segment. That’s a business focus to me. At the same time, you can continue to be creative and not bored.

Will you walk with us?

We really hope you’ll continue to share stories with us, and offer suggestions and ideas. It has been so helpful to feel the support and know we are not alone walking this path.

You can subscribe to this series by subscribing to the blog by RSS or email. You can also subscribe to our e-newsletter where we usually talk about tips and tricks for using our visual tools.

Here are the blog posts in this series;

My business has cracked (be sure to read the comments, lots of shared wisdom and support)

Analyzing what went wrong

Learning from my business

Learning from my business: About branding

Learning from my business: About focus