“Most” is a dangerous word for a small business.
If you start out thinking only of things that work most of the time, for most people, you miss most of your opportunities. If you concentrate all of your efforts on only the things that most people do, or the ways in which most people behave, you will be invisible to your most valuable customers.
You don’t want most people when you’re starting out. You want the right people. The people who are going to become your sales force. Your lifetime loyal fans. And loyal fans generally don’t conform to the norms.
Some customers are worth more than others.
You want to think of every single new customer as a victory and a potential opportunity. You want to be determined to find the people who usually fall between the cracks of standard marketing techniques.
The “most” customers others are chasing are fickle and ultimately worth little to a young business just getting started. They might give you money in the short term, but then they move on to other things. They don’t sell your products to the next five customers. They just drop you as soon as another shiny object passes by.
Chasing “most” gets you a sales chart like this:
Instead of a chart like this:
As you grow, you’ll want to widen your horizons, of course, but at the beginning, I think you’re much better off not catering to the crowd.
Another thing about this “most” mentality: it gives you an easy excuse not to do things. Most people won’t bother watching that video. Most people won’t read my blog. Most people won’t come to my web site.
And so you do nothing. And then no one finds you.
