How to do Research to Accelerate your Networking
This blog focuses on why research is SO goddamn important in helping you to identify your ideal customer and using this to propel your networking to the next level!
There’s no denying that research has helped me in so many areas throughout my life, but most significantly in the launch of my business Cutclass and in my finding my general networking flow.
Let’s start with how research helped me with Cutclass...
In January of 2020 I was working with my now business partner Leslie as a Brand Strategist for her own branding agency (unfortunately like so many, her company came to a close just before the pandemic got cray cray). Before the company closed, I was working on a project called BYOB aka Build Your Own Business. This project was different from anything we had ever done before, moving our operations and strategies into a totally different dimension where instead of working with clients 1 on 1, we were going to take our service to the e-learning space. Eeek!
When the agency finally closed, I decided to continue my efforts in entering the e-learning space because BYOB never got the airtime it deserved. But instead of doing it exactly as we had originally planned, I needed to create some differentiation for myself and for my new project. It was here where I was faced with a couple of problems I needed to solve before I could truly move forward with my idea.
The e-learning industry was a relatively new concept to me. I didn’t know a great deal about it.
At the time...I didn’t know what my zone of genius was, meaning, I didn’t know what I was naturally good at, in order to be able to teach others. (Kind of a dealbreaker right?)
So, I needed to do some industry research and I needed to figure out what the heck I was “naturally good at”.
Firstly, Leslie, (my now Co-Founder, in Cutclass) and I put our Executive MBA Caps on and kicked off with some E-learning industry research. We saw how MASSIVE the e-learning industry was, with North America leading the charge and Asia hard on it’s heels.
According to the research study by Facts and Factors, the global E-learning Market was estimated at USD 144 Billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 374.3 Billion by 2026…. So, forgive me for wanting a tiny slice of the pie!!
Okay, so that was my industry research done. Now to select the subject.
Trying to pluck subjects from my brain was impossible, I felt like my brain was about to explode, so I sought help from an Australian woman named Grace Lever who was offering a super awesome (and FREE) 5 day Challenge. This challenge got all of my ideas out of my head and onto paper. Fast forward 5 days and I realized that it was Networking that was my “thang”.
Okay, so that's the industry and topic nailed. Surely I was set to go? Nope. After I solved my first two problems... I ran into another…. Who the hell were my future clients?
To help me out with this, I took a course (as you can tell, I love to learn!) and skilled up on how to create an ICP. Now this I reaaaaally loved!!!!!
Hold up, What the heck is an ICP?
An Ideal Customer Profile (or ICP) is a single person who represents your target market. You need to keep this person in your mind whenever you’re creating something for your business.
So you might be asking, well, who is this avatar based on? Smart question. It could be an actual customer that you already have - somebody that you love to work with and makes you truly say, oh my gosh. If everybody who came to me were just like this person, I’d have my booming business.
If you’re someone who’s just starting out, this might be like a fantasy customer. This is what we call your Frankenstein Customer. Someone who compromises all the best traits of people you would LOVE the chance to work with.
Or...Your ICP may just be an earlier version of yourself, especially if you’re a person who is selling something that you wish you knew about years ago or something that you wish existed at the time - hence the inspiration for your business now.
Getting your buyer is the key to getting more buyers. Now, notice what I said here. Getting your buyer, SINGULAR. When it comes to networking that is truly effective, you need to imagine talking to one specific individual. Not 2, 3 or 4 …. Just 1.
When you talk to one specific person, it helps you avoid the HUGE mistake that makes most networkers fail. And that’s talking to everybody. You might as well be talking to nobody.
Here are some things you are going to fill out about your ideal customer
(I’m choosing a female for the purpose of this blog).
1. Establish The Basics
So firstly, I start with her age, income, family, what she does for a living. What’s her day like? What’s her attitude about money and class and politics, if any? Hobbies like favorite TV shows, magazines, books, movies and music…this could also be a company or business. What are all of the characteristics of the company or business that works for you?
Now, do some of these seem trivial and superficial? Yeah, but here’s the thing, all of these things help shape a person’s worldview. So, stick with me on this…
People’s likes, dislikes and their opinions are how we all connect in real life. Without even thinking, we do this all the time. We go, “Oh, you love rock climbing, me too!” or “You’re a mom, how many kids do you have?” - it’s like socially acceptable word vomit.
Whenever I’m networking, I pick one person, an ideal person that I’m trying to reach and I use that as the basis for my communication. It allows me to nail the detail and make some really powerful connections.
2. Dive Deeper
Once you know some of those basic details about your ideal customer, next, I want you to dive deeper. You want to understand this person’s hopes and their dreams and their fears and their frustrations as it relates to what you’re selling.
Now in relation to your offering, what are the fears or the worries that keeps your ideal customer up at night? My ideal clients are fearful they won’t get more clients if they don’t join a networking group.
What are your ideal customer’s sweet dreams? What is the transformative, new understanding, or shift that they will receive once they use your product or service? My client’s dream/new understanding is that they don’t have to join a networking group to get more clients - they can get more clients by simply understanding HOW to network, and being held accountable to themselves and their business.
3. Literally. Go. Deeper.
In this step we need to break down your ICP EVEN MORE and get reaaaallly specific on how the person or company will make a real difference to you and your business.
The difference could be monetary or it could be of value in other ways. They may be the key to gaining more information or it could be that you want to feature them in your business somehow like interviewing them on your podcast.
The reason I want you to be specific about who you want to meet with is because when you’re out making connections or reconnecting, you want to keep these people or companies in the front of your mind and mention them in conversation.
Now, Here’s The Real Trick….
Right so, you’ve got your ICP but in reality, you’re gonna have far more than just your ICP walking through your doors. So, how can you best turn them all into your ICP. Typically, you can split your ICP into 3 categories of client:
The Whale
The Brag About
The Everyday Client.
The Whale
The first category of client is the Whale. I want you to write down the name of the business or person you want to work with. The more specific you can be, the better.
If for example you’re a florist, a Whale Client would be a specific wedding venue. A Whale client for me would be a private university that will license my course. The specific university is Pepperdine. The specific person is the Dean of the Business School. His name is Deryck J. Van Rensburg. You get the picture!
Next is Brag About Clients…
These clients may come through your doors a few times a year. They aren’t a dream client by any stretch but they definitely are clients to brag about.
For example, for my business a “brag about client” is a law firm that hires me to teach all of their junior lawyers how to network. The specific company is called DAC Beachcroft, the person I want to speak to is Beth Elstone-Bryan.
Who are these clients for you?
Last are Everyday Clients
Your everyday clients keep your business going. These clients are likely to be repeat customers that buy the same products or services month over month. You may not be able to get very specific here, but try your best to figure out which clients continually bring you steady business.
Everyday Clients for me are small business owners that are strapped for time and want more leads/sales for their business. So, they need my help.
Call it crazy or call it genius, most people that go into networking don’t know what the hell they are looking for or understand what they want out of networking. When you can 1) Identify your ICA and 2) break your ICA down into the three client categories, these become your high-level goals for networking. These goals will keep you focused.
If you want help working on your own ICP, why not listen to my podcast.
I would love to continue this conversation with you, so please join me on Instagram at ItsRoGroh or my free Facebook group called Allergic to Small Talk…