Telemarketing Victory - Target Market Definition: Select Your Suspects

It's important to know who you want to reach and why. Otherwise, what is the point of picking up the telephone? We're all very busy and want the greatest possible value from our time.

One of the best ways to help you assess your Target Market is to identify what you solve for other organisations. Get specific and very clear on the PICS: Problems, Issues, Concerns and Situations of the people and organisations you serve, not the features and benefits of your product or service. Write these down somewhere safe because you're going to be using these PICS very frequently in the future. More on that in later articles.

Example: If you're an expert in intelligent cost reduction and profitability, you help companies that worry about unprofitable clients, products and services threatening their future profits, investment opportunities, product development and jobs. You specialise in solving these problems.
You can call it Pain, Issues, Concerns, Situations or whatever else. The important thing is you get very clear pics of the PICS.

Next, look at the the clients you're currently servicing and ask yourself questions such as:

- What sectors of industry or business are they are in?
- What size of organisation (turnover / employees)?
- Where are they located? Does location matter (if your goal is to meet with them in the future)?
- Which people (job titles) in the company do you deal with most frequently?
- Which types of business are your direct competitors servicing?
- What have you read recently in the press about the problems (PICS) that companies are having that you are well placed to help solve?
- What are these companies most concerned about now that you could potentially help them with?

Talk to your existing clients and to people that have your best interests at heart such as mentors, supporters and investors or backers. This is so essential and valuable because:

- They will be happy to give their opinion
- They also have a vested interest in helping your business to succeed as you're already serving their needs and interests
- They know people and companies you don't know and could even be a source of referrals (before you get started on calling)
- They will appreciate the fact that you keep in touch with them and value what they have to say. You cannot put a price on the power of regular contact with your greatest advocates.

When you have a clear understanding of what your ideal target market looks like, then you can begin the process of selecting and acquiring contact data from a reputable source (FCC Do Not Call / TPS, CTPS checked of course), or if you have the available resource, compiling a valuable data set from information you already have at your disposal.

Thank you for reading. If you liked this, or have a specific part of the telemarketing mix you'd like me to write about, get in touch!

*These organisations allow householders in particular to be placed on a national list that prevents them from receiving telemarketing calls. For more information please search for them online.