GRAND RAPIDS – It is important for a company to know exactly who they are targeting with their products/services, where the customers are located, why they are interested in the product/service, and when/how/why they will purchase the product/service. Describe your ideal customer in terms of their demographics, age, gender and income, so that your selling approach will make sense to them.

You may want to highlight the following elements within this section:

Description of target market (who is your ideal customer?)

Geographic area for target market (within 60 mile radius? nationwide?)

Problem that company is solving for the market (what do they need?)

Buying behavior (how often, how many products?)

Decision making process (how much lead time, is it a group decision?)

Once you have a good description of who your customers are, group them into primary and secondary markets. Your primary market is the group that is likely to buy the largest quantity of your product, or that is likely to buy more of your most profitable product.

Secondary market includes those customers who will buy, but probably not at the same volume level as your primary target. Next you should estimate how large your target markets are (number of potential customers, how much are they likely to spend in a given year). Then, predict how fast your target markets will grow. Be realistic. Even if every customer loves your product, they all have limits on their ability to spend.

You may want to highlight the following elements within this section:

Define primary and secondary markets

Market size and trends

Quantify available markets

Predicted annual growth rate of markets

The Michigan Small Business Development Center provides counsel, training, research, and advocacy for Michigan?s new business ventures, existing small businesses, expanding new businesses, new technology companies, and innovators. The MI-SBDC is housed at the Grand Valley State University Seidman School of Business in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As host of the MI-SBDC State Headquarters, the Seidman School of Business oversees the 12 region MI-SBDC network and over 60 satellite and affiliate offices.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners may access the services of their nearest MI-SBDC by calling (616) 336.7480 or clicking on MI-SBDC.Org

This column is written by Jill Wallace, Marketing & Training Manager ? Michigan Small Business Development Center State Headquarters