The importance of knowing your customer avatar

Andy
There is a better way to run a trade business if you know the right structure and systems. Register now by heading to lifestyletradie.com.au and get your ticket today. Go on. You know you deserve more freedom. Now let’s get on with the episode. Well, this is big. Welcome to a new season of The Tradie Show. 

Ange
Yes, season 10. This is a huge milestone for the podcast. 

Andy
And we just want to say a big thank you to all of our long time listeners out there.

Ange
And if you’ve just discovered The Tradie Show, we’re so happy to have you with us. 

Andy
And we are kicking off season 10 and guess what? We are changing things up a bit this season. 

Ange
Yes, indeed we are, Andy. We’re actually introducing a new weekly segment called Ask ANA Anything, where you and I will actually unpack a listener’s dilemma relating to their trade and contracting business and provide ideas and practical ways to solve a specific problem.

Andy
So you say ANA, is it Andy and Ange? Or is it Ange and Andy? 

Ange
Totally Ange and Andy. 

Andy
Yeah, I bet it is. Well, that is awesome and it definitely will be interesting, but more on that later in the show. Jumping right into today’s conversation, Ange, there are a few things holding many trade business owners back when it comes to marketing.

Ange
Yes, for sure there are. So we do see it all the time and I do understand why. But most trade business owners start their business without clarity on who they want to attract as customers. So instead, they end up simply working with absolutely any and every customer that comes their way. 

Andy
Exactly. But that is the problem. Are they coming their way? And what I’m hearing when I ask tradies, what are you doing for marketing? A lot of their response is word of mouth. And can I just say right here, right now, that although word of mouth is a great marketing strategy, you cannot rely on it alone. 

Ange
Yes, correct. So the problem we see is that most trade business owners either don’t think marketing is important or they actually just don’t know what to do and therefore they actually do nothing. So do you want to know the problem with that approach, Andy? 

Andy
Well, I’m guessing you’re going to tell me anyway. 

Ange
I am. 

Andy
Yeah. 

Ange
So if people, your potential customers, don’t know you exist, then how will you win any work? Because no customers equals no business. 

Andy
So the moral of the story is, market or die? 

Ange
Yeah, that sounds pretty vital. But you’re right. I guess the answer is yes. It’s true. Market the right way or die.

Andy
So what I see in some trade business owners and what they’re going through at the moment is blowing a stack of cash on marketing that just isn’t bringing in the customers that they truly need. 

Ange
So that’s true because not all customers are created equal. We actually started this conversation in episode two. I think it was season 9 of The Tradie Show, where we actually talked about ditching your D-grade customers using the ABCD customer mix. 

Andy
Yeah. If you haven’t listened to that episode, I highly recommend you do so, but in a nutshell, we take you through a process of ranking your customers in depth. A-grade, B-grade, C-grade, and D-grade customers. 

Ange
Yes. So, let’s assume you’ve listened to that episode and you’ve either moved up your D-grade customers to C, your C-grade customers to B, or perhaps you’ve actually taken some drastic measure and moved on your D-grade customers. These guys are the ones who are disrespectful of your time, they never pay you on time, or perhaps ever, and actually haggle on every point.

Andy
Yeah, D for d*cks and they’re absolute time wasters. They’re soul destroyers and you know what, at the end of the day, you may not even get paid. Whoa. 

Ange
Yeah, look, here’s the thing. Without the D-graders in the mix, you’ll want more A-grade customers, right? So in fact, perhaps you’ve even created time for them now. But let’s go back to this question of who are these customers? The question you need to ask yourself is, who is your ideal customer avatar? 

Andy
Yeah, a customer avatar is the detailed profile of your ideal customer. 

Ange
That’s right. And the more focused you are on your ideal customer avatar, the easier everything to come to being super focused about your marketing so that you attract who you want to work with. 

Andy
Yeah, take a moment to think about your trade business and who you would really love to see walking in the door, so to speak. 

Ange
Yeah, more specifically any to understand the “who” you’ve actually gotta shift the way you think. You have to understand your market segments first, what I call these residential, commercial, industrial, whatever, that you work with. Basically the style of work you do, and then start thinking about the actual human that you interact with. That’s the person that I want you to explain to me. 

Andy
And you also want to understand the demographic and the psychographic traits of your ideal customer as well.

Ange
That was a big word, wasn’t it? 

Andy
I’m, I was lucky I got that out, actually. 

Ange
So this demographic, 

Andy
Proud of myself. 

Ange
Demographics are like age, their gender, income, and where they live. Straight through to psychographic, like personal outlook, their opinions, what they’re most interested in, their attitudes, their values, that kind of stuff.

Andy
And knowing all of this will also help you say no to certain marketing activities because you’re confident it won’t interest your ideal customer avatar. 

Ange
Yeah, spot on. 

Andy
Let’s face it, you can’t speak to everybody out there with a giant megaphone. Your message will get totally lost. 

Ange
So what happens is you end up putting money behind non targeted marketing strategies that actually don’t hit the mark. What that means is you’re literally throwing money away. 

Andy
Yeah, and it ends up being really disheartening for trade business owners who feel a bit hopeless about their marketing activities, yet they cling on the hope that’s something, sometime, anything will work. And if you’re doing that right now, it’s definitely a dangerous place to be.

Ange
Okay. So here’s the opportunity. 

Andy
When you know who your ideal customer is, this will affect every stage of your sales and marketing process, and you’ll get traction every single time. 

Ange
Well, you’ll feel excited actually about your marketing and your trade business again when you’ve got those all important A-grade customers contacting you. Plus, you’ll actually finally get a great return on investment. 

Andy
Boom! That’s what we’re all after, right? You want your marketing to be an investment, not an expense in your business, and you want to get a high return from that. 

Ange
Yeah. So, the benefits are massive when you know who it is you’re trying to speak with and persuade and influence. It’s actually far easier to find someone when you actually know who you’re trying to find and far easier to create and even write those marketing messages when you know what’s even important to them. 

Andy
That’s right. And when your marketing is targeting the right audience, you’ll connect faster and not waste your money on resources with that scattergun approach.

Ange
Absolutely. And with every cent you spend, you’ll actually get a return on investment, which means very clear and better business decisions. 

Andy
I tell you what, there’s a lot of good stuff right here, Ange, you know, knowing your customer avatar is actually one part of a very important formula to get your marketing right. Do you want to share what that is? 

Ange
Yeah, look, perfect timing. So knowing your customer avatar is only one part of a formula that we call the three M’s of marketing. These are actually core fundamentals of marketing your trade business. It’s really going back to marketing 101. 

Andy
Yes, because we’d love talking about things in threes, don’t we? 

Ange
You know what, it does seem that way. So let’s go back to the three M’s of marketing because you do need to do all three well. So the three M’s of marketing are Market, Message, and Media. So let’s talk about all three individually. So firstly, you’ve got to understand the “who”. This is the avatar that we’ve talked about. And then secondly, what are you actually even going to say to them? Like, what’s your message? What are you talking to them about? What’s important to them? And then thirdly, where are you going to play? And what I mean by that is, what media or channels are you going to use to attract your ideal customers? The point is, where do they hang out? Because wherever they are, that’s where you need to be. 

Andy
You’ve got to do a combination of all three well to get those A-grade or ideal customers that are choosing your trade business over competitors. 

Ange
Yes. So I actually want to go a bit deeper on the what, meaning the message, and then I want to cover off where your customers hang out.

Andy
Yeah. Working with Lifestyle Tradie, we definitely cover lots of detail to discover your specific avatar. 

Ange
Yeah. And you know what? The most important part of the “what”, is that your ideal customers are emotional beings. They actually buy on emotion, not logic. 

Andy
That is so true and your marketing messages need to move someone into taking action now.

Ange
Yeah, through your marketing, what feeling can you make your customers have? So think of it this way, it could be love, it could be pride, maybe it’s greed, it could be guilt, and it could actually even be fear. 

Andy
Yeah, just like talking about the importance of safety switches, for example, it taps into the feeling of love because people want to protect their family.

Ange
Yeah, exactly. That’s a great example of about, say, a residential customer who owns their home and hence you’re communicating as a Sparky the message about something important to keep their family safe. 

Andy
That’s right. Or you could tap into what’s happening in the media like a fire broke out in your local area, only to discover that the house had no fire alarms. 

Ange
Yeah. Another great example that taps into fear. Hey, you’re full of good ideas today, Andy. 

Andy
Yep. That’s me. The thing you are communicating is important, but how you say it, what emotion you play on will be the deal maker. 

Ange
Yeah. Look, ultimately, what are you going to whisper into someone else’s ear to attract their attention? Not in a weird way, of course. 

Andy
Okay, okay. In wrapping up the three M’s, where do your ideal customers hang out? By this, I mean, where are your ideal customers spending most of their time? Is it online? Is it offline? You know, it could be Facebook or Instagram, YouTube or TikTok, magazines, old school brochures and flyers, you name it, all that stuff is out there. But how are you going to get the most from your marketing buck? 

Ange
Yeah, absolutely. Look, the purpose of today’s discussion is to introduce you all to what we call the three M’s of marketing, this market message and media, so that it will help you better understand who your ideal customers this “avatar”. What you should be saying to them and where to find them so that you can market in the first place.

Andy
Yeah. And now that you’re aware of this, can you see how it will really benefit your trade business? So get out there, go get them. And as I say, it’ll pay off big time for you if you put this in play. 

Ange
Yes. I’ll leave you with this. Marketing success can only come when you market the right stories and message to the right people. We’ve actually got a cheat sheet that has over 120 different marketing ideas that fall within this formula. I’ll put a link in the show notes so that you can download it and check it out yourself. 

Andy
Okay. Now, drum roll, please. We are going to ask Andy and Andy anything, anytime. 

Ange
Hang on, hang on. A and A means Ange and Andy.

Andy
Oh, Andy and Ange. Okay. Okay. We, uh, let me do that again. Okay. It’s about time. We’re going to ask Andy and Ange anything, anytime. Yeah. We’re going to start off with this new segment with a great question that I’m hearing lots from around the traps at the moment. One listener is specifically looking for feedback on implementing a four day work-week in their trade business. 

Ange
Oh, this is a controversial one. I know it’s been rolled out across lots of corporate companies recently. In fact, Bunnings is even doing a trial at the moment. Andy, let me ask you this. What are your first thoughts about the four day work-week for the trade industry? 

Andy
Well, to be honest, I’m really sitting on the fence. There are a few ways to implement this though, but basically the four day work-week is based on the hundred eighty one hundred model where workers receive a hundred percent of their pay for only working eighty percent of their hours while maintaining a hundred percent productivity. I don’t know. 

Ange
There are actually a few things to consider, like what is the best model or approach? Cause there are actually a few. And then also the pros and cons to you being the owner, the team and your customers at large. 

Andy
I think the trick is not one size fits all, um, with this model. The approach, to be honest, there’s got to be other ways of doing this. 

Ange
You know what? In trade, probably the most, let’s call it, popular approach to the four day work-week is working longer hours on those other days with a fixed day off and maybe having like two teams, like team one working Monday to Thursday and team two working Tuesday to Friday.

Andy
Definitely. I think this is probably the best model for a bigger style maintenance business. You’re still available all week for your customers. 

Ange
I think that’s probably the point, right, is that you need to consider how this affects your customers. Because if the entire business adopted working four days with say a Friday off, this could actually mean lots of lost work for you, which is money and profit.

Andy
Yeah. And that’s when you’re a business that’s very reactive and customers can ring you at any time. And let’s face it, customers are more and more demanding and less patient than ever these days and they won’t tolerate, you know, that you’re working for a four day work-week and, you know, potentially they’re going to be three days away from the next time you can turn up, especially if it’s got a bit of an emergency feel about it.

Ange
Yeah. I suppose looking at the polar side we are hearing that it’s helping massively with um, attraction with regards to, you know, finding new incredible staff and especially for retention and team motivation. 

Andy
Yeah, that’s true and we’ve got to find ways to attract and retain new team members and including the new generation of workers from Generation Z, we discussed this at length in an episode called, Are You Ready to Lead Gen Z? That was in season 9. 

Ange
There are definitely a few things to think about in this, like where you fit into the equation. So if you’re considering this, the four day work-week, it needs to serve you too. This is so not about you as an owner working more just to cater for your team to be working less. 

Andy
Yeah, I agree. And I think with a lot of things, when you add this kind of stuff to the business, you think, well, I can just pull it away, but you’ve got to be careful because sometimes what you start, it becomes quite hard to take back. 

Ange
Yeah. Look, that’s right. And that’s why I think it’s important that we talk about what the options are in case any trade or contracting business is considering it. We don’t want anyone to implement the four day work-week without considering pros and cons and the different models that there are. 

Andy
Yeah, and we’ll be covering this topic in a heap more detail in an episode dedicated to the four day week, and we’re going to be doing that a bit later in the season. 

Ange
Yeah. You know what, Andy, I know you are a fence sitter on this topic, but I’m looking forward to discussing this topic in detail with someone who has adopted this in a service based business. I’m actually really keen to hear the varied ways in which it actually is working. 

Andy
Yeah, definitely. I’m really looking forward to that as well. But I’m sure for now, this has helped our listeners start to think about the four day work-week. And as we said, there’s a lot more to come on this topic during the season. 

Ange
So Andy, we’ve covered a lot of ground today. 

Andy
We sure have and I reckon we should free up our listeners’ ears. 

Ange
Yeah, it’s time to wrap it up. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll catch you next week.

Andy
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