Evan Carmichael shares three ways to break into a new market: spend time where your target customers gather to learn their language, partner with existing connectors who serve them, and build expertise through speaking and content. He stresses the importance of local networking before scaling.
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Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. Welcome to another edition of #AskEvan. Today we're doing another TELUS Talks Business Challenge question where we're getting feedback from our users. And today I'm answering a question from Jason who wrote in saying, "Thanks Evan. Okay, so I'm currently in the middle of repositioning my brand and tweaking my sales process." I'm aiming to connect with ambitious creative financial types, analysts, brokers, lawyers, and so on who are looking to rise up to a new level. It's an unfamiliar niche for me, but I'm learning fast. I'm new to TELUS Business and I'm wondering if it can help me somehow connect with these types of people. Any suggestions? Jason, starting a new business or going after a new market is tough, scary, and requires you to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. When I was 19 and started my first real business, I had to bring in sales from a market I had never been close to: scientific researchers. Here were my fears: I was half their age, most of them weren't in my city, and I had zero science background. I dropped science as soon as I could in high school. It's scary, but possible, and if I could do it, so can you. Here are 3 suggestions to help you. Hang out where your customers are. If you're unfamiliar with your target market, then the first thing you need to do is start hanging out with them. Find out what keeps them up at night and how you can help. Understand what a day in their life looks like and the struggles they go through. The better you can speak their language and address their specific problems, the more likely they're going to want to work with you. I'd start offline and in person as much as possible so you can increase how fast you learn. Find out what events they go to and be there. Introduce yourself, tell them what you do, and get some practice with your pitch. It'll get better with each person you talk to as you learn about them and how they react to what you're saying. It shouldn't take more than a few weeks to have a finely tuned message if you dedicate the time to going out and networking with your target audience. Number 2: Partner up with connectors. One of the fastest ways to grow a new business is to partner up. Find someone who's already selling to your target market and find a good way to work together. It's typically not going to be a direct competitor, although this is sometimes possible. Think about the buying cycle of your customer. Who do they go to and work with before they buy from you? For example, if you're targeting young professionals, think about the schools they just graduated from, or the tailors they visit to get their new suits, or trainers who are teaching them skills to further their professional development. Anybody who already has your target market as a customer can be a great referral source for you, but they have to know you exist. Pick up the phone, send out an email, or go meet these people to see how you might be able to work together. You can create a formal referral program where they earn money every time they pass a client to you, or just leave it as an informal arrangement where you try to help each other out. If they have clients who could use your services, then they're doing their clients a favor by referring them to you. And it makes them look good, as long as you do a good job, of course. Number 3: Be the expert. This takes a little more time to get going, but it's even better when you can get ideal clients coming to you. The best way to do this is to position yourself as an expert. As entrepreneurs, we should be experts at what we do and amongst the best in the world in our niche. Showcase your talents. You should be the world's leading expert on helping ambitious financial types Fill in the blank with your pitch. Speak at events, do interviews, publish press releases, make YouTube videos, tweet out thought leadership pieces, blog, craft related Facebook posts, and so on. If an ambitious financial type in your city hasn't heard of you, it should be because they're living under a rock. Don't worry about massive exposure in national media— yet. Just hone in on your local market and build your base. Get past the survival phase, and then you can worry about taking over the world. Good luck, Jason. I hope this has helped, and keep us posted with your progress. Thank you for joining me for another edition of Ask Evan. If you like the video, you want to see more, please give it a thumbs up below. We'd also love to hear what you have to think if you want to get involved with the discussion on Facebook. I look forward to reading your comments and to replying there. So thank you, and I'll see you on the next episode. ¡Gracias!
