As an IT company, you don’t really care where your new customer is or what he does. Every organisation needs IT systems, so potentially every organisation could be a prospect. But of course it’s not like that.
Most ICT companies do make a distinction in terms of size and sometimes region, but that is where it ends. The reason behind this is fear. The fear of missing out on a new customer if you focus on a specific target audience or type of organisation. Imagine that company that doesn’t fit your target audience comes knocking on your door.
Die laatste opmerking klopt om meerdere redenen niet. Companies don’t just come knocking at an IT company’s door anymore for new services, the supply is too big for that. And not choosing a target audience actually causes potential customers to not recognise themselves in an IT company. The wider your offer, approach and target audience, the less recognisable it will be for new customers.
Choose your battle!
You should choose a specific type of companies and that choice should be based on a combination of who you are as a company and your customers. By making a choice, acting on it and positioning yourself in the market, you become recognisable.
It is precisely because of that recognition and your understanding of their type of organisation that new customers will initiate a conversation with you. In marketing terms, this also includes social proof, you already do it for similar companies. For your potentially new customers, this has the following positive impacts:
- They can benefit from the knowledge of their type of organisation that you have gained from their “competitors” or industry.
- They feel included. By nature, people want to be a part of a group, and preferably with groups that have similar characteristics. Join the club.
Apart from being recognisable to new customers, there are other reasons to choose a specific group of organisations. These lie more in the ability to differentiate yourself, the selection of your marketing strategy, the message you send to your target audience, and the sales tactics you use.
Approaching new customers
As said, new customers never just knock on your door. Your customer’s buying process is over the years. Today, about 60% – 70% of the customer buying process takes place online. So you have to be findable and recognisable. There are a few more considerations that come into play with your potential customer that you should take into account in your direct approach:
- How aware and competent are they in your field, in your services? Do they understand the background and value of your services, and can they do this themselves?
- Where are their needs? Is it still latent or is it already clear to them and are they already actively looking for a solution?
Knowing the dynamics of your customer in his buying process is of great importance for a successful direct market approach.
The way in which you offer profiling, your value and your content to them is of great importance. An unconscious buyer who is not aware of you must inform you completely differently than a conscious buyer. The unconscious buying must be triggered by you in its business. And for the conscious buyer who is already orientating, it is especially important to demonstrate more value and distinction in your field and services.
Find your new customer
Apart from your customer’s buying process, it is also very important to know where your new customer is. How can you trigger him or inform him further? There too, making choices is an essential part of your success. As an example, most IT companies are mainly active on LinkedIn in terms of social media in their marketing. That certainly has an effect, but what if you, for example, focus on all solar shading installation companies in the Netherlands through your customers and your solution?
They are by no means on LinkedIn. They are usually small in size (5 – 10 FTE) and largely focus on consumers. Their own social media marketing mainly takes place via Facebook and Instagram. So that’s where they are, that’s where you have to have your own social media campaign take place.
The size of a company is also important in the way you actively approach it. Smaller companies can be approached more often by telephone. You then trigger them with a very targeted message and solution for their type of companies. The larger organisations mainly orient themselves long and broadly.
Pains, gains & fear
The content of your campaign is also determined by your choice of ideal customer size. Larger organisations are mainly looking for business value and recognisability for their organisation and want to be informed. Small organisations are more interested in what they can earn from your solution and which direct problems it solves. Their buying process is shorter.
They are not online orienting themselves on a solution, except perhaps when the acute pain, the need, is very great. Larger organisations are more concerned with the long term, with the impact for their organisation, with developments in the market. Fear plays a role here. “Am I making the right choices, am I missing something, what are my competitors doing”, and so on.
Knowing what your potential customers are doing, how they orient themselves and where their pain, profit and fear are is therefore of great importance for the success of your direct commercial approach. How do you find out and how do you organise it properly? We are happy to inform you about this, in a general sense via our white paper about this, but specifically for you via a 1st new business scan.
As a commercial consultancy for IT companies, we like to inform our target group about the latest developments in the field of portfolio innovation, marketing and sales. Want to hear and learn more about this? Read our other blogs or talk to one of us.
