Unlocking Profitability: Finding Clients Who Make You Money

Hello and welcome to the show. Today's episode is going to be a very noisy out and about one because I'm actually in the car park as we're doing this, but I'm about to hit the road today. I have to go to Villa. So let me just make this podcast recording real quick. So today we're going to look at how we arrived at the ICP and that's the ideal customer profile or the ideal client profile for ABC Decor. Now for those of you who listen to the previous episode, ABC

Decor is a company, not the real name because I didn't, I don't have the guy's permission to talk about this. So I'm preserving the guy's identity. So ABC Decor, that's the fictionalized name of his company. We had some interactions a while back, we didn't, he didn't end up becoming a client. So that's the reason why I'm talking about his company here. Anonymized, of course. Now, the reason why I'm doing this because I think the conversations that I had with ABC Decor, a perfect example about how to explore growth strategy, growth opportunities for your company.

So this is the beginning of a series that I want to use to wrap up 2024 so that you know, you know, you guys can step into 2025 with some ideas about how you know, these ideas apply to you, these strategies, these tactics apply to you and your businesses. So I'm going to wrap up 2024 exploring ideas for growth strategy and tactics, specifically the conversations that I had with ABC Decor. And let's see how that applies to your own, to your own field.

So before we continue, let's do the usual shout outs. So first shout out is to my homeboy, Krauter Rafael. He's a web developer. And I know I pronounced the name correctly because once I saw the spelling, I knew, OK, this is a chief guy. So he's a chief guy for sure. So Krauter, Krauter, Rafael, thanks for listening to the show, reached out to me on LinkedIn. Krauter, I have some recommendations for you because on your profile you say that you develop S class websites and that you also do G SAP react dot JS.

Now, I've made a podcast episode in the past about how those of you who are techies, you know, people that have tech specialties and stuff like that. How sometimes you know, you get it twisted because let's face it, your customers might be ordinary guys, you know, like me. And to be honest, for ordinary guys like me, I have no idea what an S class website is. I didn't even know that the different classifications of websites.

I just assume that websites are different according to the to the purpose. So if you're trying to get someone like me to be a client, you know you can't be putting on your profile S class websites or GSAP reacts just JS. You know when you're coming up with your profiles. Just be sure who it is that you're trying to attract. If there's a regular customers like me, you need to be able to talk in terms of the benefits that one gets if they have an S

class website or the benefits that somebody gets if they use someone who is G SAP react dot JS certified or whatever. I'm assuming that that's a certification. You know, I could be wrong. So when we're beefing up our profiles and talking about our businesses, talking about what we do for those of you who are techies, you know, I beg you guys, be really, really careful. But then again, if S class websites, maybe if like if your ideal audience is is tech savvy and they understand those terms,

then then sure, by no means, you know, just ignore exact all the things that I've said. So Qwaute, thanks for listening to the show. If you're like Qwaute and you do tech related stuff, always remember, instead of putting all that tech thing on your profile, just speak in terms of benefits to the customer so that ordinary guys like me when we see will now understand like, oh, OK, this is the kind of website I need for my business.

And then they hit you up. Then also shout out to Samuel Iffy. OK, Nigerian. We didn't just so I didn't get where he's from. Discovered the podcast on Spotify, reached out to me on LinkedIn. So Samuel FA Obri Koho, I'm assuming I'm pronouncing that name right because the Koho is KOGHO. So Samuel FA Obri Koho. Thank you very much for listening to the show. He's a copywriter and a ghostwriter. Then also shout out to Ahmed Obieto.

I know I'm not pronouncing that one well. So Samuel Obieto is the sales manager for MSN in and they cover. OK. I think he's responsible for sales Nigeria, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea. That's a really handsome portfolio and I'm sure that you're being paid as such. So let's see. Yeah, he said he stumbled upon the podcast and he thinks I'm doing great work on the podcast. So thank you very much, Mr. Ahmed Obieto. Yeah, I appreciate the, I

appreciate the kind words. So quota, Samuel Iffi and Ahmed Obito, thank you very much for listening to the show. Those are the shout outs for today. So like I said, what we're trying to do is looking at how we arrived at the ICP, the ideal customer profile for ABC Decor, not the real name. And the whole point is we're trying to explore tactics and ideas for growth strategy and see how it applies to your business. So as we're listening to this series, whether you're a wedding photographer, whether you're a fashion designer, whether you export charcoal, whether you sell catfish or or whether you sell cars, just be listening to you without mind frame all these ideas that we're talking about today.

How's it going to apply to my own business? How am I going to use it to move my ministry forward? So the first question that we tackled for ABC Decor was this whole thing on ICP Ideal customer profile. Now I want to answer the question why? Why are we even bothering about this whole thing of ICP? Because we need to determine where we're going to spend most of our time or most of our attention or most of our resources when it comes to sales and marketing.

Because money is tight. You know, the economy is hard these days. You can't take the small money you have. You say you want to run Instagram ads and they're just running it everywhere running anyhow, they're just wasting money. And it's the same thing with time. You can't just be wasting time or money. So that's why this whole thing of ICP becomes really important. Who am I supposed to chase after? Who am I supposed to be pursuing?

You need to figure out this thing first and foremost. And then once you decide spend your time chasing these people, spend your money chasing these people. So that's the reason why this whole talk about ICP is really important. So you should be thinking about that. Whether you do catfish, whether you export charcoal, whether you sell cars or whether you do solar energy, you need to figure out who is my ideal customer.

Then for ABC, the call how we decided on ICP because you remember from listening to the previous episode, the ICP for him was corporate offices, hotels, homeowners, real estate developers and property managers. Now I know that that's a bit broad, you know, customer segments versus ICP, but you know, we'll get to that in the future. But I just want to tell you guys how we arrived at that corporate offices, hotels and then homeowners, real estate developers and property managers.

Now how we arrived at the ICP was quite simple. So first of what we did was we looked at his trading history. Trading history just means why are the people that have paid me money before? This is a very good way to start. Because The thing is, if XYZ classes of people have paid me money before in the past to do business for them, then chances are that XYZ class of people might be good people to do business with in the future.

So that's why it's a good idea to look at your trading history. Open up your computer, open up your WhatsApp, open up your invoices, open up your banking app. And then you start saying, OK, the time when big, big money was sitting in my account, who did it come from? OK, it came from Okechuku this, it came from Odugu that. And then I'll now give you a sense that, oh, OK, my best customers are actually EBO guys between the ages of social and so who dealing this and this and that and that.

So that's not a bad way for figuring out your ICP. So look at trading history. Who has paid you money in the past? Open up your WhatsApp message, look at the conversations, check your invoices, your bank statements. If you have an invoicing app like I do, open up the invoicing app and then look at it, you know, where did the sweet money come from? And yeah, so trading history. And that is how we arrived at the 1st 2:00 because ABC Decor,

the people that have paid them money in the past was corporate offices and hotels. That's where most of the business had come from. So that's the first part trading history. Then the second part of your ICP is a little bit of common sense and then a little bit of who you desire to work with. So that's where the whole thing of homeowners comes in now because he has done small work with homeowners and it's something he wants to explore.

And so getting to homeowners, that's why we're not talking about real estate developers and then property managers using a channel strategy. And remember, channel strategy is you're trying to run after some customers. There are some people who already do business with those customers. So just hook up with them, partner with them, and then see what you guys can run. See how you guys can address the market the same way, you know,

you take your Commission or you know people take percentage or however it is that you want to do. That's what the channel strategy is. So here you can see a very straightforward approach for deciding your ICP that we did with ABC the core. So First off, trading history, the sweet money, where did it come from? In his own case, the sweet money came from corporate people and from hotels. So do the same, get your WhatsApp messages, get your invoice, get your whatever, and start trying to figure out who paid me money the most.

Where did sweet money come from? You know, where did the big money come from? You know who has been paying me? Just look at it. You start getting a sense of who your ideal customers are or who you should be running after and #2 use some common sense or who you desire to work with. They want to do some work with ABC Decor. He and his crew want to work more with homeowners, so we put them on the list. And it sounds big, it sounds fancy, it sounds tech ICP.

But you can see that the way of arising at ICP can be a very straightforward, common sense approach. So it's not something that takes a long time to figure out. So, oh, sorry, I forgot. For those of you who would love to connect with me, the phone number is 08064662140. You can also connect with me on social media, especially LinkedIn, the name to look for establishing my IED. So if you're trying to unlock growth in your business, step one is let's get clear on the ICPICP just means who are we chasing?

Who are we pursuing? You know, who are we running after? That's the central question. Or else we are going to waste time, we're going to waste resources, we're going to waste money, we're going to waste whatever it is that you have running after the the wrong set of people. And so to get clear on the ICP, the question is you need to ask yourself, you just sit down. Sit down with your wife, sit down with your husband, sit down with your business partner, sit down with the pencil and the paper, sit down with Mumsy Popsy or sit down with your mentor,

whoever. Sit down with your pastor you offer and get a sheet of paper. And then start asking yourself these questions. Trading history, who, who has paid me for business in the past? Start writing it down. There's some common sense. Who do you want to work with in the future or who might be interested in this part of our service? I just start writing it down. A clear picture will start to emerge about who it is. That could be your ideal customer.

Now, one thing that you guys need to know when it comes to sales is it's not all I put it. It's not the science. You know, there's some trial and error. There's some art here. So the fact that we are starting with trading history and common sense, who do you want to work with does not mean that is where we will end, but it is a very good sure place to start. So you can start and realize that this way we're starting is not working out.

Based on the market feedback I'm getting, I should be paying attention to these sorts of people instead. It's not a problem. It is part of the sales process that we take feedback from the market when we're going out there and we're trying to get in customers. So it's not a problem that you start one way or that you end another. But the surest way to begin this thing is look for people who I paid you. Where did sweep money come from?

Who are the nice guys to work with, the nice girls to work with and use some common sense who desire to work with. Then, you know, start getting a sense of the psychographics or demographics. Psychographics. So elements are demographics. Demographics is just the easiest stuff that they taught us in primary school in Nigeria. What is the person's age, occupation, ethnicity, where do they live? You know, all those sorts of things.

Those are demographics and psychographics. That's the newer stuff. What are their hobbies? What are they interested in? You know, stuff like that. So it is from sitting down with a pen and paper and a trusted resource, doing some brainstorming sessions, we'll be able to come up with the demographics and the psychographics of who should be running after. That is how you will know that, OK, for my business, I should be looking at evil men aged between 60 and 75 who live in Anambra and Inugu and you know, blah,

blah, blah. You'll be able to get a very, very tailored, direct sense of who you should be running after because you've done this exercise. That is how we make sure that we don't waste money when we're running our Instagram ads or our Google ads because you know exactly who to target. Because if you say you just want to target Nigerian men age between, you know, 60 and 75 and you just blast it out like that, I mean, that could be anybody.

It could be Thief men, Beno State, Nassara, Taraba State, that same age. It could be people in the east that same age. It could be people in the border towns, almost like all the way up to the Niger Republic. It could be anybody. So when you find something that narrows it down, small, small, small, it helps. So if it is men 60 to 75 in Anambra and Enugu, it helps if you can narrow it even more based on psychographics.

Maybe people who are African. OK, no, I was going to say African traditional worshippers, but I don't know how you would target African traditional worshippers in using Facebook or using Google. Let me see. Let me see when you catch my drift. The more targeted, the more narrow you can make it, the better. So let's run after a specific target and then the odds, the chances that we're going to be successful with our sales and marketing efforts, the more the the odds are increased.

So yeah, that's it for today. Let me just rush home, get the kids ready so we can hit the road. Join Message for the rest of you who are travelling to Villa or who have wonderful holiday ideas. It's my prayer that we're all going to have a wonderful Christmas, especially those of us who are travelling and the people that we're going to go and meet. I hope that we meet them in good health, everybody in good health, everybody in good cheer and that, you know, bad.

I see bad. Rough as the economy is, you know, hopefully we'll be able to flex and have a good time and looking forward to wrapping up 2024 strong so that we can start off 2025 even stronger. So have a safe trip for those of you who are hitting the road or hitting the skies or if any of you are travelling by boat, if people travel by boat too. So everyone have fun. If you'd love to connect with me, then call me or WhatsApp me on 08064662140 again on social media, on LinkedIn, the name to look for establishment idea.

So thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.