Seven basic conditions for creating a flow of buyers. How to increase the flow of customers in the service sector. The first step How to ensure a constant flow of customers

Text by Tatiana Blagovidova

Photo by Inna Ptitsyna

MangoStudio. What is interesting about the project

My story is about how I tried with all my might to leave the field in which I worked for many years, and how I eventually managed to find huge business potential in it, fall in love again and launch my MangoStudio project.

Today my team creates turnkey websites. It's no accident that I say "my team" and not "my company." Because our interaction is more like a partnership, and not like "the boss said, the boss found a client - everyone else did." Each employee can bring a customer himself and get his own percentage from this. Such a scheme of work allows us to work very harmoniously.

At the same time, clients often find us themselves - I just learned to attract their attention on the Internet. Customers also contact me through special exchanges - there are also interesting features here, which I will discuss below.

Disadvantages of office life

I created my first website in 10th grade. Then, after studying at the university, she got a job as a programmer in a bank, then in another. It's been 7 years. Outwardly, everything was fine - a stable salary, paid vacation, and so on - but every year some kind of discontent and resistance grew in me.

I was strained by the office system - come to 9, leave after 6, sit these hours, even if work is this moment No. If you need to go somewhere, you have to ask. Neither personal nor professional development and there was no question.

I was so tired of everything that against this background I decided to do away with web programming altogether and began to look for options for what to do. I couldn’t go anywhere: I lived in Moscow without relatives, I provided for myself, and it would be critical for me to be left without money.

Reboot on maternity leave

With my boyfriend, we thought it would be cool to launch our own online store. And they began to think about the niche. They thought, probably, for a couple of years - everyone was afraid to take on the unfamiliar, to invest in some unknown product. I even wanted to create a site for the future portal myself, but I didn’t know what products to count on. In the end, the idea fizzled out.

At this time, everything in the bank began to strain me completely. Every day - stress, headache. We understood that I needed to leave this job. And they decided, while I was standing at a crossroads, to bring to life what we had been thinking about together for a long time - to start a family and give birth to a child. For some reason I was sure that I would find myself in the decree. I’ll take a break, catch my breath while my husband provides, since he doesn’t mind.

We organized our own wedding. Everything turned out great, and I immediately wanted to establish my own wedding agency. I thought that it was interesting for me, leafed through the beautiful blogs of the organizing girls, admired their work and dreamed of the same beauty around.

I didn't have a portfolio, so I started by organizing a marketing forum for wedding professionals (by franchise). The members came to hear about how they can promote themselves. I also spoke there, but most of the questions for me were not about weddings, but about creating websites. After all, I have a huge experience in this, and as it turned out, the meeting participants really lacked a person who could explain everything to them.

It was on that day that I realized that I did not need to go far from programming. I am a specialist, and I can really help people in solving their problems. Apparently, this maternity break really became a good reboot for me.

Business course and launch of your project

I decided to return to my field, working for myself. However, I didn't quite understand what to do with it. I took orders on stock exchanges, but earned little money, about 20-30 thousand rubles a month. But a lot of time was spent on them, and this worried me a lot - after all, I could stay with my baby.

A girl I know told me about the business course of Galiya Berdnikova - “Life. Business. Success ”(now it has been expanded and is called“ The Way of the Dream ”- ed.). She was delighted with the training, and I decided that this was a sign for me to gain the missing knowledge about self-promotion and earnings.

On the course, I was still stormy about the choice of direction. But Galiya then said something surprising in its simplicity: there is no need to look for one niche for life. Life changes, and today you can do one thing, and after some time open a new business. And I understood the root of my problems: I was always trying to find a life's work, so I thought for a long time, sorted it out, looked to see if it suits me exactly and whether I will live with it until old age.

It clicked in my head: you just need to shove in some direction. It's time to act, not to think. And since websites are what I do best, it makes sense to start with them.

I wanted to start my own web studio with several specialists to provide different services. But during the training I realized that I have weakness: if in terms of programming I understand what prices, what standards, then another important part site - design - I do not know at all. That is, even if I hire freelancers, I will not be able to manage them and evaluate the quality of their work.

And I decided to study design. I thought that if I like it and succeed, I will take over this direction, and I will start delegating the program part. Just because I wanted something new. And if it doesn’t work out, then at least I’ll learn everything about design, I’ll be able to distinguish good from bad in order to manage hiring specialists.

Learned, learned. And fell in love with this new sphere in full. At first I thought to provide only design services. But then I decided to talk with my target audience, to find out what they generally need.

My clients are businessmen. I communicated with them in various business communities in in social networks. And I realized that few of them need just a design. They want to turn to a person who will solve their problems completely. That is, he will make a website and at the same time will be engaged in its promotion.

So I hired programmers, a marketer, and a copywriter, and started designing myself. We started building websites.

Not a company - but a team

I position myself not as a studio owner, but as a team manager. The guys and I are equal, everyone is just like self-employed. Any of us can bring a client and receive a reward for this - 10% of the total order. I just distribute the work and be responsible for the result.

And although each of the performers can work with third-party customers, our team turned out to be very well-coordinated. Moreover, we now have a constant flow of customers. Soon we will expand even more, because I want to take more projects.

As a result, for a year of work, we have reached a monthly turnover of 300-400 thousand rubles. We work with clients on a project-by-project basis, and each performer receives his share from the order.

My income now is 80-90 thousand rubles a month. This amount includes my salary and net profit, which I then use to further promote and pay for domains, hosting and other expenses. I get paid for both design and project management.

I lay the price for management immediately in the cost of the project, because it really takes a lot of time - to coordinate everything with customers, distribute tasks to everyone, monitor their implementation, show everything to the customer, and so on.

2. Exchanges where you can find orders or leave your contacts so that the client can contact you.

I use two exchanges.

• upwork.com. Foreign clients come to this resource, with whom I really like to work! First, they require a higher level of quality. In order to meet it, you have to constantly replenish the piggy bank of your knowledge and skills. And due to this, my professionalism is growing very quickly.

Secondly, they are ready to pay a lot for this level, which, unfortunately, differs from domestic customers. We believe that creating a site is a matter of five minutes. And foreigners understand that quality work needs to be paid adequately.

• Behance.net. This is a designer portfolio site. There you can set your tags, describe skills, and the customer finds you. I have an unpromoted profile there, but at the same time, large clients contact me.

The "secret" of my success is that I constantly read various paid articles and reports (mostly in English) on creating convenience for visitors to online stores and increasing conversions. There are many nuances: home page, both in the basket and in the product card - if all this is taken into account, then the user will be pleased to use the resource, and the conversion will be higher.

So, in my profile, I indicated from which cool sources I take information. The data is valuable because it is not in the public domain and not every designer knows it. And this acts as a magnet for customers who want to improve their users' interaction with the store and increase sales.

Sphere Features and Delegation

Website development is a very large field. At the same time, some people think that they can make the entire site on a turnkey basis alone. But programming, design, copywriting, promotion are very different areas. Positioning yourself as a human orchestra is a mistake. So you will never be able to achieve a quality result for the customer and good pay for yourself.

That is why I immediately counted on delegation. It was scary at first, of course. But I began to delegate programming - the part in which I myself am well versed. Thus, I knew that if the programmer made a mistake somewhere, I would do it myself. I delegate copywriting to performers whom I have known for a long time and whom I trust.

But the design is more difficult. I have already tried to give part of the work to another specialist, but the result did not satisfy me. However, I will look further to expand the team.

Where to get strength if you need to work hard

Now my husband and I already have two children, and every day I try to spend time with them. But sometimes difficulties arise, because it is not easy to combine motherhood and work.

For example, one day my one and a half year old baby, who is now constantly with me, allows me to work productively, and on the other he is naughty, and I do not have time for anything. On such days, I start to panic that I will not have time to meet the deadlines. Or vice versa, there is a feeling of guilt that I need to pay more attention to the child, and I think about work.

So sometimes I have to work at night when everyone is asleep. This is one of the most difficult states for me in work, because some kind of resentment turns on - everyone is resting, and I plow. And then a doubt comes - and maybe I don’t need to develop my project at all. Why all this, if it's so hard.

1. Stop being afraid and overthinking. Decided - it means that we must immediately get down to business. The longer you think, the more you find some minuses and fears, and it becomes more difficult to start.

2. Prepare for the fact that at times it will be difficult, you will have to figure out many things on your own, but the result is worth it.

3. Work should bring pleasure, then it is easier to experience failures, get up and move on. You must first fall in love with your product or service yourself, then customers will fall in love with it.

We talked about what the force of attraction of a store is, what factors influence it, and how to objectively assess the attractiveness of a store in the eyes of a buyer. Today we will tell you how to increase the flow of customers to your store.

There are not so many main criteria for choosing a store by a buyer - there are only seven of them. To form a constant flow of buyers, it is worth matching at least one. And if your store meets all seven, then sales will definitely go up.

Hold back prices

The main factor that influences the purchase decision has always been and remains the price. A store with cheap goods is more attractive to customers than a store with expensive ones. This rule applies to all categories of people - and with small, and medium, and high incomes. Read more about the correct pricing in the store in this article.

If the low-income simply cannot afford large expenses, then for people with average incomes, buying goods at low prices is a kind of sport and psychotherapy: the opportunity to save money gives the buyer a feeling of joy and satisfaction (“I made a bargain”, “I run the house correctly”).

Wealthy buyers also take part of the goods daily demand in inexpensive shops. Firstly, because they know how to count money (“why pay more if the same thing can be bought cheaper”). Secondly, because in very wealthy families, a housekeeper often goes shopping. Thirdly, the fact that people can afford delicacies does not mean that they eat only them.

For the population from the low-income category, inexpensive stores with a large assortment are the most attractive. For the sake of savings, people will come to your store from afar and buy "in full".

Expand your range

If finances and space do not allow expanding the assortment to the desired scale, you can cooperate with other merchants who offer something that you do not have on sale. For example, moving a store from a separate building to a large shopping center or renting space on a shopping street. The flow of buyers of two closely located stores, which successfully complement each other, more than doubles (this is exactly what tenants of space in shopping centers pay for). By the way, about how to choose and rent a place in mall read this article.

Deepen your assortment

Deepening is the expansion of the range of one product category. The buyer is more willing to go to a store where instead of three varieties of sausage, 30 are presented in different price groups. The more diverse the choice, the higher the likelihood of a purchase.

Simultaneous expansion and deepening of the range leads to the need to increase the sales area. Super- and hypermarkets with a huge and deep assortment create the largest flow of customers. We wrote earlier about how a small store can survive in the age of hypermarkets.

Think of any of the networks household appliances, in the assortment of which there are thousands of trade names and hundreds of models in each group. In those cities where their branches are open, smaller dealers in equipment are forced to close or change their profile due to the outflow of buyers.

The same picture is in the building materials trade: large stores, where everything for construction, decoration and repair is sold in one place, small ones are being squeezed out of the market.

To create a flow of buyers in the face of competition with a giant, you can look at one of the following solutions:

• Open a highly specialized store of one product group and provide the most complete and deep assortment, including rare and unique types of goods. In order to increase the financial return from a thinning stream of customers, one should move to a higher price segment and attract buyers with something that a hypermarket cannot offer;
• Develop the “Everything for the Home” or “Thousand Little Things” direction, offering residents of the microdistrict various household trifles: light bulbs, clothespins, soap and other inexpensive small-sized goods;
• Sell ​​products through catalogs and through online stores. In this case, you can save a large assortment and save on trading space. For example, to equip a showroom of samples in the former premises of the store, and deliver goods to customers directly from the warehouse. Enterprises of this format successfully sell furniture, books, fashionable clothes, children's things, electronics and much more. How to properly organize and arrange shopping room in the store you will learn in this article.

Offer something special

The majority of Russian shopping centers have the same assortment, so, other things being equal, the flows of their customers are divided equally. As it turned out, there is only one way to stand out from the mass of monotony - to put up for sale something that is not found anywhere else.

Unique products form a special flow of buyers who are ready to travel many kilometers for them, sometimes from another area or even a city. And it is these goods that make the shopping center a sales leader in its territory.

The owners of large retail space in the United States they hunt for sellers of rarities, attracting them in every possible way with preferential terms, because the unique offer of even one tenant brings profit to the entire store. Uniqueness is a powerful attraction factor and lack of competition.

Make your visit fun

Shopping can be a daily routine, or maybe a family holiday. Entertainment stores are often visited by the whole family and spend more time there.

The tools for creating a customer flow in the shopping center will be theatrical performances on weekends, games and competitions with the participation of visitors, attractions, cinemas, cafes, restaurants, children's complexes, etc.

Entertainment and interesting things can be organized in small shop. For example, in a fish store you can put an aquarium with live fish, in a pet store you can create a living corner, in a store children's creativity or computer technology- organize a corner for children to get acquainted with technologies.

This approach will increase the attractive power of the store even in the absence of unique products. Your assortment may be no different from the assortment of the neighboring outlet, but sales will go better for you.

Increase comfort and safety

The shop where the buyer feels comfort and safety has a greater attractive force. This applies to both the internal environment (friendly staff, cozy interior, wide aisles, no queues, reliable luggage storage) and external details (large parking, comfortable porch, clean and well-groomed area near the entrance).

The absence of a cart ramp or the need to wait for the storage room to leave the bag will redirect part of the flow of your customers to competitors.

Be experts in your business

A seller who knows the product well and can give expert advice on it is more trusted by buyers. Therefore, to increase the attractiveness of the store, be experts in your field.

Many people like to ask questions about a product that caught their attention, and their satisfaction with the answer often determines their purchase decision. Therefore, work on improving the competence of your staff - conduct training seminars or hire those who have a professional specialization in your field.

In addition to verbal consultations, it is useful to provide customers with audiovisual information about the product - from text plates on the shelves to videos on large screens on the trading floor.

Doing business is aimed at increasing the income of the entrepreneur. No matter what sales figures you have now, there is always room to grow. In addition, representatives of even the most successful business daily care about retaining and attracting customers, since capitalism has provided the market with high competition. Offering even a very high-quality product or service, the business will not bring the desired income and success if no one knows about it.

There are three main areas of work to increase business income:

• Increase in the flow of customers;
• Increase in the average check;
• Increasing the conversion rate.

With the right approach and the use of these three methods, profits can even be doubled. But sometimes a simple focus on increasing sales is enough, which directly depends on the number of buyers. Sales volume is, in fact, the main indicator of business success, which many are guided by. To increase it, it is worth approaching the issue systematically and using effective ways solutions. The most obvious is advertising. Then there are smart marketing moves and a PR campaign, which are a little more difficult to deal with, but they guarantee a long-term effect. Marketing and PR are focused on the brand name and product quality, therefore, they provide the business with a constant client turnover.

Ways to attract new customers

First of all, any brand must declare itself: entering the market, the company occupies a certain niche, and the primary task is to attract new customers. Making the first sales and receiving feedback, it is advisable to think about improving the work to increase sales in the future.

The best and probably the only way here is advertising. Any interaction with the buyer can and should be regarded as advertising, because the effectiveness of such interactions is later analyzed by marketers to build a more competent promotion campaign. And it is not necessary to be a marketer here, because not everyone has the opportunity to contact such specialists, especially if it is a small business. But having certain knowledge in this area, the analysis of methods for increasing sales can be done independently.

If you tell your neighbor about your auto repair shop, this is also advertising. And in some cases, it can be a better entry tool than handing out flyers on the street or banners on websites. It all depends on the audience: it is better to present information about agricultural machinery in newspapers, or by word of mouth, and sell fashionable youth clothes on social networks like Instagram.

There are several ways to increase the flow of buyers through promotion. Most of these methods are implemented on the Internet, because it is still the best platform for marketing.

1. Contextual advertising is the most popular and widespread way to increase user traffic. It works in search engines and leads to you target audience. These ads lead to the company's website. But if you do not have a full-fledged site, you can use a business card site or a landing page (selling page). The most popular and working services are Google Adwords and Yandex.Direct.
2. Targeted and teaser advertising. Similar to contextual, targeted advertising works on social networks, attracting people with inline ads. Teaser - these are banners that are used on partner sites and carry information about your product and a link to it.
3. Placing ads on online sites like OLX, Bigl.ua, Prom.ua, etc. These portals usually have paid services placements for companies that include promotion and a guarantee of increased sales. Especially if your site does not have good SEO optimization, such sites will help shorten the path from the client to the product.
4. Newsletter. In mailings, it is best to report about company promotions and new offers. There are many programs that are responsible for the quality automatic mailing. But it is important to strike a balance here - too aggressive mailing scares and annoys users.
5. Placement in mass media and services of bloggers. Using information portals, it is easier for the brand to express itself, and the visible authority grows in the eyes of readers. The same goes for blogs. These two types of PR are on the same level, because bloggers are now very popular and have become an alternative version of the information flow. And although such services are paid, neither the media nor the blogger will review something that can frankly damage their reputation, so the reviewed products inspire confidence in the audience.
6. SMM - marketing in social networks. SMM is a whole system of thoughtful actions to promote a brand and increase sales. This type of marketing is more suited to the characteristics of PR than advertising as such. Working with an active client base and increasing the level of expertise with good content, the desired result will not keep you waiting. But before proceeding, it is worth studying the target audience of different social networks.
7. Promotions, discounts, sales. You can read more about them in the section on increasing the percentage of conversion, but for new buyers this can be quite an effective way. This method works especially well if the product is really of high quality, and the client, having met him during the promotion period, comes back to you again, and is now ready to pay the full price.
8. Calling the "cold" customer base, that is, those with whom the company has never worked before. This method can be called outdated, today it is not so effective and is rarely used, because in modern society even business issues prefer to be resolved in correspondence, and unwanted distracting calls completely piss them off. But with some groups of clients, for example, the elderly, this method still works.

How to motivate a client to return

It is not as big a problem to increase the flow of customers as to keep them. At a minimum, the mechanism of attracting attention is clear, with a more or less competent entry into the market, the desire to try something new will attract new buyers, but this is far from helping to increase sales. Constant client turnover and the size of the average bill ensure the success of the business. And in the first case, there is little simple advertising, and in the second, it is not necessary to raise prices. There are several ingredients that guarantee success:

• Quality product;
• Ease of use;
• Attitude towards the client;
• Loyalty program;

In Internet marketing, there is a convenient term “conversion”, which refers to the ratio of the number of site visitors and those who performed targeted actions on it (read the content, followed the links, purchased the product, etc.). This is a very important indicator to help you know what methods are working and what needs to be improved. In general, it can be guided in the case of a business of a different kind.

Developing a permanent customer base and high customer turnover requires a competent marketing approach, work with the psychology of the buyer and constant product support. An increase in the average check should be achieved by a large number of purchased goods per person, and not by raising prices - this is an indicator of a successful approach to marketing work.

Subtle marketing tricks available to everyone

Marketers use a lot of tricks to increase sales, and learning the methods of action for everyone at once will not work. But it’s worth understanding the most interesting and effective ones.

1. Good design and positive user experience - focus on the presentation of information and strive for excellence in design - this is how you show care to the client, and he will feel it. In a highly competitive world, a good website, beautiful room design and pleasant staff can be almost the only and decisive distinguishing feature of a product.
2. Loyalty program and gifts. This is so far a win-win way to win the hearts of regular customers and increase sales. The desire to accumulate bonuses, participate in closed seasonal sales and receive pleasant surprises from time to time makes the store a part of the life of customers. This is not only a great way to retain customers, but also a good PR campaign to establish the brand.
3. Expand your product line. At the beginning of a business journey, the assortment of goods can be quite small, and with proper quality, it will win the interest of buyers. But in order to keep this interest, you need to constantly offer new products.
4. Be unique. Yes, this may seem banal, but at the same time, many neglect this item, considering it frivolous. But, as mentioned earlier, it is uniqueness that helps to win back your audience from competitors.

And these are not the usual words "we are unique in that we have high quality and inexpensive." This is probably the most non-unique phrase in the business. Better think about what unusual you can offer the buyer: perhaps these are small elements of the last century in fashion design; only pottery in the coffee shop; origami collection, which can be collected by buying a magazine issue every month, etc.

1. Check out your competitors. Someone may consider this method wrong or dishonest. But it's not. It's about not about plagiarism or copyright infringement, which are punishable by law, but about inspiration and following trends. Often it is competitors or even their failures that inspire brilliant ideas. You can notice what problem a person is facing at a competitor, and solve this problem for yourself.
2. Contact qualified managers. Always seek professional help when possible. If you run a small business and cannot hire a marketer or sales manager for a full-time job, attend all kinds of trainings, one-time consultations of specialists and follow the trends. But as soon as possible - expand the sales department. A good specialist can sell anything, but if you focus on quality, it will be a fourfold success.

Distinguish PR from advertising and use it

Advertising is a clear and precise message, a call to action. She is obvious. While PR is a subtle interaction tool aimed at the long term. PR (Public Relations) - this is public relations, influence on the mind of the consumer and activities to strengthen the brand. It is information about the brand, which entails fame, and recognition is associated with trust, which is main goal PR.

Participation in thematic events introduces the client to the company and gives it weight in his eyes. At such events, it is useful to arrange presentations and product testing.

Publications in various media, if presented correctly, are very productive PR. But such materials are much more expensive than the usual "custom" articles. The same can be said about the recommendations of experts in personal blogs - they inspire confidence due to the fact that the product is advised by a real, authoritative person, and not an advertising sheet.

Acting as a partner at various events, or, for example, in charity campaigns, can also be attributed to PR tools for increasing sales. Competitions with prizes are also included here. You can participate in competitions organized by other companies, or you can create your own, with real prizes - this is very effective for expanding your customer base.

This approach reminds me of a situation when you buy a technically complex household appliance, plug it into a power outlet, start poking at all the buttons, and try to start it. It won't start. Only then do you remember the instruction manual and begin to study it. So in marketing, and in attracting customers, there are instructions, laws and rules. If you learn them, and then regularly put them into practice, you will become a successful marketer in your business.

Where does customer acquisition begin?

The first question I ask entrepreneurs when they seek help in promoting their business is: “Who are your customers?”. And the majority answers in different ways, but all their answers come down to one phrase: “That's it! Anyone who can use our services." They can be understood because they strive to serve all customers in the market who are willing to pay. And at the same time they are afraid to refuse customers. This is the biggest mistake small businesses make. The first step in attracting customers is to focus on one group of customers, not all in a row.

Conclusion: Due to money and time constraints, it is important for small businesses to focus their resources in one direction in order to get maximum results at minimum cost.

Did you know that it takes 100 watts of energy to light up a room with a light bulb? And the same 100 watts are needed for a laser to cut metal. Same energy, different results. The difference is how this energy is focused. It's the same difference in your marketing - either you focus or you diffuse.

Focusing on customer acquisition doesn't mean you don't need to work with other types of clients or promote other services. But keep in mind the rule: for each group of clients / services, a separate marketing campaign to promote them.

How to choose a group of clients for your promotion?

To do this, you need to divide your entire market - all real and potential customers into groups or segments based on certain criteria. And then choose the most preferred one to advance on it. This process is called segmentation. If you have several services, then for each of them you need to do a separate segmentation.

I will share my customer segmentation algorithm for small business services.

Step 1. Selecting segmentation criteria

At this step, it is important to understand on the basis of what parameters the clients should be divided.

Each specific business has its own set of criteria. Therefore, I will tell you about the criteria that I use in my practice of segmenting customers for small business services:

• Profitability;
• Demand formation stage;
• Usage experience;
• Motive for the order;

Profitability

The simplest and most understandable criterion. Take a list of all your clients and rank it by profitability.

Example. Service - heating of cottages. We carry out a breakdown of all completed projects by profitability. As a result, it turns out that the most profitable customers are those who build a cottage with an area of ​​200 sq.m. pay for all work: design, supply of equipment and related materials, installation, commissioning and maintenance.

Service experience

But one parameter for segmentation is not enough, because within a segment, customers can be very different from each other. Often in services, customers who order for the first time differ from those who have already dealt with a similar type of service. Therefore, customers are often segmented according to the experience of using the service, for example, into “novices” and “experienced”.

Example. Service - cottage heating.

Some of the most profitable clients quickly agree to cooperate because this is not the first home for him and he immediately sees from you that you are a professional and reliable company.

And someone demands that they explain to him for a long and tedious time, convince him, and coordinate each stage. The reason is that he builds a house for the first time and conducts heating.

Motive to buy

Example. Service - installation of stretch ceilings.

A woman is renovating her apartment and wants an unusual ceiling to be beautiful and show off to her friends.

Daughter helps parents to make repairs. Therefore, it is important for her that they do it reliably, so that it lasts for a long time and does not bring trouble to her parents.

A married couple is making repairs in an apartment that will be rented out. Therefore, it is important for them to have ceilings that will be cheap, but look expensive. It is also important for them that there are official documents for reimbursement in case the tenants ruin the repair.

• For a woman - that you have ceilings with which you can surprise your friends.
• Daughter - you have reliable ceilings and do not require hassle.
• Landlords - you have ceilings for rental apartments with official documents.

Frequency of use

According to this criterion, I recommend segmenting services that are consumed on a regular basis. Usually this includes areas related to beauty, health, nutrition: beauty salons, fitness, cafes and restaurants. This is because clients who use services regularly are often different from those who use them infrequently.

Choose 2-3 criteria for segmentation. I recommend the following options:

• User experience and profitability.
• Order motive and profitability.
• Frequency of use and profitability.

Step 2. Segmentation

Example. Service - heating of cottages.

We take the criteria for segmentation:

• Profitability.
• Usage experience.

As a result, we get segments:

Step 3. Selecting the target segment

1. Market volume;
2. Competition and uniqueness;
3. Potential for growth;
4. Pleasure;
5. Value;
6. Convergence;
7. Experience.

And now about each parameter in more detail on the example of a company that provides services "turnkey heating of cottages."

Market volume

How many clients of this type are there in the market? Are they enough for you? The more clients, the higher the score.

There are more customers in the cottage heating market who want to save money. Such clients want to buy a boiler and heating pipes on their own, and are ready to pay only for design, installation and commissioning services. Also, there are more people on the market who build a small house than those who build a house over 200 sq.m. As a result, for this parameter in our example, we can get the following estimates:

Competition and uniqueness

How many companies on the market specialize in working with this segment? How easy will it be for you to stand out from their background, declare yourself and start attracting customers? The smaller the number of competitors, the easier it is for you to stand out, the higher the score.

In the cottage heating market there are different types competitors:

• lone plumbers - they are the most in quantitative terms;
• teams of two to four people - in second place after plumbers;
• specialized companies with their own office and warehouse.

Each type of competitor has its own types of customers. For example, plumbers mainly work with the Low Profit Newcomers segment. Such clients are building a small house for the first time and it is important for them to save a lot on the heating service, and because of their inexperience they are ready to turn to lone plumbers. The company in our example employs experienced heating design engineers with higher education in this area, extensive experience in creating reliable heating systems.

We obtain the following estimates for the segments of the company "Turnkey heating of cottages":

Growth potential

What is the probability that the number of this type of customers will increase? The more likely, the higher the score.

The economy in the region is experiencing better times. The number of clients who build turnkey large houses is decreasing. There is a growing number of customers who want to improve their living conditions by building their own home. They do it for the first time and with the last money. trying to save money on everything.

As a result, we obtain the following estimates:

Pleasure

How much do you enjoy working with this group of clients? The more fun, the higher the score.

The company in our example likes most of all to work with clients who are not building for the first time and already know that they need to turn to professionals and listen to their advice. Plus, the company loves customers who are willing to pay a lot to get a modern and reliable heating system.