Book Authors to Business Owners: Why Knowing Your Prospect Means Failure or Success

Marketing and sales are the lifeblood of any venture, whether you’re moving books off shelves or putting widgets into the hands of teenagers, whether you’re teaching classes or improving health and wellness. If there’s no value exchange, there is no business.

Why is knowing your prospect the most critical factor to success? Because without this key information, you’re playing a guessing game, hoping to hit a target while blindfolded. Who wants to play like that?

To quote the great Michael E Gerber, “Without a clear picture of the customer, no business can succeed.” You need to know their style preferences, their political stance, their view of what is most important in life. You need to know what they complain about and who they hire. You need to know which emotions are quick to rise and what turns them off. What the read (or don’t read), and how they play.

In fact, you need to know all about them. What the like to snack on and what they eat for breakfast.

That might seem extreme to you, but entrepreneurs who have crossed the six- and seven-figure marks have this fine-tuned even further than this.

How does this apply to book authors? It’s so simple. What happens before someone walks out of a bookstore with a book in hand? They put down paper or plastic. They trade value for value. They walk into the store as a prospect and walk out as a buyer. Savvy writers who target a particular group of people find long-term success, those who don’t focus see sporadic success if any at all. Think of the great names in the book world and you’ll see that they reel out volume after volume with a closely niched focus, viewpoint, and message.

When we focus, we stand out from the crowd. We rise above the swelling mass of wannabes who haven’t found their unique voice, their unique… audience. Their prospects.

Finding your perfect prospects is straightforward and simple. Stop and think about who you are working with now. Which buyers (a.k.a. clients, readers, or fans) are so excited and grateful for your work that they line up, card in hand, before your product or service is even available. Remember those Harry Potter releases?

Learn as much as you can about your current customers. Build a prospect file where you stockpile this goldmine of information. Refer to it every time you write an email broadcast or title a book. And don’t forget to ask them what they like for breakfast.