Growth & Strategy Conversations
Your next customers may be a different kind of customer, not simply more of the same.
Many businesses grow by finding more of the people they already serve. Sooner or later that pool is limited by town, price or habit. This conversation helps owners look closely at who buys today and why, identify neighbouring groups who might buy for similar reasons, and test one of them before changing anything major.
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Most owners know their customers by habit, not by pattern.
A business often grows around whoever walked in first. Over years, it serves a set of customers it never deliberately chose. Looking at them closely usually shows a pattern: a particular kind of buyer, a particular reason to buy, a particular way of paying. That pattern is the best guide to who else might buy.
The temptation is to go the other way and try to sell to everybody. That tends to blur the offer and stretch the team. This conversation is about choosing one new group on evidence, understanding what it needs, and testing before adapting the business.
What the conversation covers
34 topics across 7 areas. Seven steps, with an exercise for each.
Who Buys TodayLook at the last twenty customers or invoices.5
- Who they are: households, shops, offices, institutions
- How they found you
- What they bought and how often
- Which ones were most profitable, and which the most trouble
- What the best customers have in common
This one exercise, done honestly, changes how many owners see their own business.
Why They BuyThe job your product does for them.5
- Price, convenience, trust, quality, speed or credit
- What they would use if you were not there
- What nearly stopped them buying
- What they tell other people about you
- What they would be unhappy to lose
Neighbouring SegmentsPeople with a similar need.5
A hypothetical example: a bakery that sells mainly to nearby households wonders about offices ordering for meetings, which buy at different times, in larger quantities and pay on invoice. The segment is real, but it would change timing, packaging and payment terms.
- Businesses or institutions instead of households, or the reverse
- A different age group, income group or locality
- Customers in a different season or at a different time of day
- People who buy for others, such as gifts or bulk orders
- Groups you already turn away or ignore
What Would Have to ChangeThe honest cost of serving a new group.5
- Pack size, packaging or presentation
- Pricing, discounts and payment terms
- Language, tone and where you advertise
- Delivery, timing and service levels
- Whether serving them harms your existing customers
Selling to businesses on credit, for example, brings a risk of delayed or missed payment that cash households do not.
Talking to Five Before You Change AnythingCheaper than a redesign.5
- Finding five people in the new segment
- What to ask, and what not to ask
- Listening for the reasons they would not buy
- Asking what they pay today and from whom
- Writing down what surprised you
A Small TestOne segment, one month.5
- A single offer for the new group
- One way of reaching them
- A number to look at after a month
- A decision rule: continue, change or stop
- Keeping the existing business running unchanged
Focus and the Risk of Serving EveryoneChoosing is part of strategy.4
- Which segment to pursue, and which to leave alone
- How many segments one small team can serve well
- When a new group is a distraction
- What to say no to, and how
What participants leave with
- A who-buys-and-why summary from their own records
- A shortlist of two or three neighbouring segments
- A what-would-change list for the one they choose
- A set of five questions for customer conversations
- A one-month test plan with a stop rule
What this session is not
- A market research study
- A data or advertising tool
- A promise that a new segment will grow sales
- A reason to drop customers who already work
How the session runs
A small group, two to three hours. Participants bring a rough list of recent customers or invoices, with names removed if they prefer. The facilitator guides each person through the who-buys and why-they-buy exercises, then the group suggests neighbouring segments for each other, which is often where the useful ideas appear. Each participant then picks one segment and drafts a five-question conversation guide and a one-month test. Examples are hypothetical and labelled.
What your students leave with
- A clear picture of who actually buys from them today, and why
- Two or three neighbouring customer groups worth looking at
- A list of what would need to change for each: price, pack, language, channel, terms
- Five conversations to hold before changing anything
- A small test with a number to look at after a month
- A view of the risk of trying to serve everyone
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Look hard at who already buys, then find the people most like them.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.