Very often it gets difficult to identify the right customer or the group of customers. The difficulty arises mainly due to limited knowledge and lack of market research. Market research doesn't depend on huge spending or extended survey schedules. One may rightly get data on a wide range of subjects from a varied number of sources. Secondary data are available at the press of a key and one just need to know what type of data one requires and how important it is for attaining his objectives. Customers are not invisible beings and are not untraceable. the right prospecting technique is what one requires and it differs in sync with an organizations profile, its goals and operational standards. Wise marketers see opportunities where there is none. They are not just in search of customers having in-built needs,but also for persons in whom a need could be ignited. These needs are latent needs about which a customer is unaware of and clueless about its presence and utility. The marketer has to point out this need and how satisfaction of that need could enrich his living and open the flood gates of more better experiences in the future. He should be communicated flawlessly about the impact of the good or service that he consumes on his personal well being both in the short and in the long run.
Prospecting gets difficult due to poor definition of the target group . Categorizing along functions,territories or capabilities mayn't be sufficient always. It is common for overlapping to occur as one or two parameters of categorizing is shared by most of the customers. For example a person may be living in a geographic territory, can come under the desired income group and have the same functional requirements. This makes segmentation a difficult task as mutually non-overlapping variables are difficult to find and be classified as a sub set. Yet it is not a difficult task as personalized data are now available easily thanks to facilitated by high end use of technology.
Social media offers now a never before opportunity to know about each individual customers profile , his choices,preferences, values, strengths and weaknesses. It is a potential gold mine to harvest insights which are critical for developing an understanding of the customer and framing the right communication strategy which can spark a desire for the commodity or serivice about which he is communicated.
In some sectors customers stay scattered over an uneven spread of territories. Neither do they use a common media nor do they have the geographic contiguity. Here you have to find a common thread that touches all your prospective customers and a common platform where they can be addressed, Some times it may be a club, some times it may be an exhibition,a particular channel and sometimes in customized events meant to focus on a perceived shared interest. It can diversify in accordance with the data or insight in command with the marketer. The magnetic property of your communication should draw forth prospects from their scattered hideouts and huddle them before you to see them and approach them in ways as you wish.
