In my last post I outlined what I believe are the three types of customers in the future managed services marketplace.
Now the trick is to determine which one(s) to target.
One of the biggest mistakes we make in our industry is trying to be all things to all people; you eventually become nothing to nobody! That may not be proper grammar, but I don’t care.
The point is still a good one - pick a target customer and make sure your service offerings are a nearly exact match for their needs. You can do this by focusing on one or several of the following factors:
- Customer size
- Industry vertical
- Specific technology needs
- Location
And I’m sure there are others. At Everon, we’ve never focused on a specific industry vertical, although I do believe that it’s probably the best strategy to grow your business quickly and with fat margins. I’ve got one friend in the industry focused on smaller medical offices that is killing it.
Even if you don’t pick an industry vertical, you absolutely MUST pick which customer size you are going to focus on IF YOU WANT TO BUILD A SCALEABLE BUSINESS.
Why is size so important?
Because the service processes needed to serve each is dramatically different from one to the other. Large companies needs tons of process, small companies need tons of personality, and medium-sized companies need a good combination of the two.
Most people think I’m crazy when I tell them that they should turn down large business opportunities if they fall outside of your target segment, but you should (or change your target). Becoming a slave to a large revenue customer will destroy your service processes for your other clients, and will ultimately destroy your business unless you’ve found a way to land a ton of these larger clients.
Pick a specific target market and focus like hell!
MRC
