Regardless of whether you like David Spade or not (I will refrain from giving my opinion), the character he plays in the 2020 movie “The Wrong Missy” is unmistakably brilliant. David’s character, Tim attempts to invite a different woman to his corporate work event, but instead invites a different Missy (one that is much more outlandish) to the party instead.
Needless to say, the date does not go well, and Tim leaves the party unexpectedly. As with most Happy Madison films, the plot takes many turns and Tim ends up making up with the Wrong Missy. This is probably an appropriate time to exit the explanation of the film myself, much like Tim did from the party, and get to the point of how this relates to business.
Just as with Tim, it is very easy for companies to make the mistake of attracting the wrong client. Too often, companies assume that every dollar taken is in a good and profitable dollar, many times ignoring the actual and brand costs involved with having the “Wrong Client”. As companies begin to increase in revenue and operational costs, having a strategic understanding of what the “Right Client” looks like for your brand is critical. In many cases, companies with extensive services and product lines may have multiple “Right Clients”, which should be evaluated for each of the product and service lines.
Creating a strategic persona of what the “Right Client” looks like may be accomplished in four easy steps:
This step is the most critical; knowing your brand and how it intersects with client’s needs is the most important foundation. Creating a persona (a fictional person and their characteristics, behaviors, and lifestyle) may be difficult as it is often times easier to look at current clients and their behaviors instead of what you want the client persona to look like.
Take into consideration that your clients will be talking about your product and service to others. They will many times represent the brand by using your product or service in a way others may be able to see and make an impression. Take for example BMW experiment in the early 1990s when the car maker decided to drop down into the economy sedan category and launched the BMW 318. The car was the same quality of a traditional BMW, but the car maker both offended their upper-class car buyers and confused the rest of us by this entry. Needless to say, BMW only stayed in this category for a very short period of time (1992-1995) before exiting the economy class market, realizing that this was a confusing brand statement.
As with BMW in the prior point, it is important to price your product and services so that you are able to gain the right client. If you are looking at selling value at a reasonable price, realize you are going to get a more cost-conscious client.
If you are selling a high-transaction type product (checking accounts, groceries, restaurants and fast food), making sure that your product continues to be profitable at low volumes and high volumes is critical. This requires being able to clearly manage your expenses and creating a scalable operation where your costs decrease or maintain as volumes increase.
As an example, Burger King decided to increase its’ line of products in the late 1980s – early 1990s, creating a “sit down dinner menu” from 4 – 8 pm. The concept was a sit-down experience with wait staff, and a differentiated dinner menu (including meatloaf, steak sandwich, and a basket of popcorn while you waited) at a higher price point.
The restaurant chain bailed on the idea after a couple of years due to the increased operational cost of storing, cooking, and wasting this additional product line that fast-food diners never really accepted.
In order to increase market share and improve profits, your product or service needs to differentiate your company. There are some industries and services where this is less important (public utilities, city water, internet provider) where the product or service is only offered through one company.
In other competitive industries, clearly defining your value proposition and how it intersects with your “Right Client’s” needs will be the difference in successful marketing and sales and deteriorating revenue. By either creating a higher-level brand proposition (assumed quality, personal perception, etc) or creation of an ancillary benefit, your business may differentiate it’s brand.
While people for years have been outwardly vocal about NOT shopping at WalMart, the numbers tell that this is not the case. WalMart has increased by 10% in sales annually over the last 5 years, with the grocery chain now making up over 60% of all grocery sales. This shows that while clients may not like the “perception” of shopping at WalMart, they are doing it anyways (at the cost of Kroger and Albertson’s).
In all communications, companies need to continually repeat for their clients why they are different and why they feel clients should continue to do business with their brand. Having a clear brand promise allows clients to determine if they are connected to the brand and the brand’s values.
More importantly, the brand promise and value add will be the elements that clients cling to when there is underperformance in the product or service or some type of problem resolution required. If the companies brand promise is strong and asserts confidence that their values are in line with the client’s, it will create client loyalty in good and bad times.
The time that a company takes at the beginning of the strategic process will determine how successful the company will be in avoiding “The Wrong Missy” and creating a client persona that intersects appropriately with the brand.
At Enlighten Fractional we have been helping companies create a compelling brand story and finding the “Right Clients” for 40 years. We are available to help companies in growth and transitional phases increase revenues while decreasing or maintaining operational costs, resulting in higher profit margins and operational scalability.
