Having the discipline to define and focus on your ideal
customer at the exclusion of all distractions is a skill that eludes many
business owners.

We naturally want to say “everyone” can use our product or
service. After all, what if we exclude someone and they want what we have?

Marketing to “everyone” is very expensive and the message usually
becomes so vague it doesn’t really catch anyone’s attention.

You need a story that resonates to a group of people, your
ideal customer. So you need to be clear who that is.

Defining Our Ideal Customer

We started out with the idea Manifast was for any small or
mid-sized business or any coach or adviser serving that market.

But that is not a very tight definition.

Les McKeown defines the stages of a business in “Predictable
Success” as:

  • Start-up – Focus is on proving product or
    service has a market,
  • Fun – Initial growth phase that is “fun” and
    free of process,
  • White Water – Addition of complexity due to
    growth (ceases to be fun),
  • Predictable Success – The right balance of
    process and innovation,
  • Treadmill – Too much reliance on process and
    lack of innovation,
  • Etc.

You can’t skip a step to Predictable Success. You can only
minimize the time and pain passing through White Water.

Sunwapta Falls Turbulent Waters Manifast Business Ideal Client

Sunwapta Falls

After much thought, agonizing, and discussion with my
business partners and the members of my Mastermind group (with Blast Thru Coach Dixie Gillaspie),
we realized that our ideal client is:

One entering, already in, or wanting to get through "White
Water" to the ideal balance of innovation and processes, or as Les calls it
“Predictable Success”.

We call it "Manifasting your dream business!"

12 Years of Serendipity

An innocent question out of the blue by business owner and Coach
Barbara Abramson was something like, “So what does Sunwapta mean? Why Sunwapta?”

It turns out that the name we picked over 12 years ago for
our company means “Turbulent Waters” in a local aboriginal dialect. It is the name of a water fall, river and glacier.

So it turns out our product helps our ideal client get
through “turbulent waters”.

And we set that course 12 years ago.

It took 12 years to learn what we needed to learn and
develop the skills and abilities AND the product to make it happen.

Who is your ideal client? How did you come to that
conclusion? Please leave a comment.