All businesses like to find ways to target new customers versus the random approach. For example, it would be great to get the names and addresses of 100 stamp collectors and mail them a copy of my pricelist. Since these people are stamp collectors, there is a better chance of finding someone who is interested in my stock. Compare that to a mailing list of 100 random names where possibly no one on that list is a stamp collector.

Targeting potential customers is one way to find new customers for your business.

When I target potential customers, I try to be as unobtrusive as possible. For example, I send them a copy of my pricelist with a nice letter. If you are not interested in what I have to offer, just throw the pricelist away. Once in a while, someone will send me a letter with, “Please remove me from your mailing list.” I do not mean to offend anyone, but it can happen. Unless they place an order, they only get one mailing from me.

I stopped at the local grocery store. I was running late. I was sprinting down the aisle and one of those free sample kiosks was positioned in the aisle. I am on a mission and I am coming at her full steam. “Would you like a sample of?” I was going so fast, I never heard the product name. I was at the end of the aisle and turning the corner when I exclaimed, “No thank you!” She ate my dust.

What was this woman thinking? I am a large person. I stand 6’3” and I am barreling my way down the aisle. Do I look like your target customer? No! Your target customer is someone with a smiling face who is casually browsing the aisle. It should have been obvious that a free sample was not going to stop me in my tracks. Thank goodness she did not step out from behind the kiosk (as some workers sometimes do) to attract my attention. It would have been a colossal collision. There would have been blood and body parts strewn in the aisle.

I definitely was not your target customer that day.