Identifying the Right Clients - Before You Waste Your Time
Chapter 3: Finding the Right Customers
The Creative Operator’s Guide to Business Development (View all chapters here →)
Customers are the lifeblood of your business.
To grow, you need to understand what a good customer looks like - so you can go find more of them. This chapter helps you define that, whether you're starting from scratch or scaling what you already have.
Start with What You Know
If you already have customers, mine your data.
Ask yourself:
Who pays on time?
What size or type of business are they?
What services do they buy from you (and enjoyably so)?
How long have they been around?
Spot the patterns?
Good customers usually share traits of the same behaviours.
If you don’t have enough customers yet, that’s okay.
Time to do some research!
3 Ways to Research Your Ideal Customer
1. Run an Online Survey
Step 1: Define Your Questions
Think about and define the following aspects of businesses development:
What do you want to learn?
Who can answer that?
What level of seniority are they?
Write short, clear questions. Keep it relevant to their role—don’t overwhelm.
Step 2: Build and Share the Survey
Use free tools like Google Forms or Typeform. Then get it in front of the right people.
Where to find them:
LinkedIn: Use filters by job title, industry, or company size.
Company websites: Check “About Us” or “Team” pages.
Industry groups/newsletters: Join relevant communities.
GDPR-compliant data: You can buy targeted contact lists (with filters like turnover, headcount, location, etc.).
Organise your names, and leads into a spreadsheet. Include links, contact notes, and add in the status of your outreach process (like ‘emailed’, ‘responded’, ‘not-reponded’).
Bonus Tips:
Always explain why you're contacting someone.
Link to your business website to build trust and show you’re not a spammer.
Expect some rejections. Stay professional if people are not friendly in their responses.
Consider offering a simple incentive - like early access to your insights or a summary report. Avoid cash gifts - they skew results as people just tell you what they think you want to hear - so they can get the cash quickly.
Pro tip: Don’t expect instant answers. This process takes time. Build this into your weekly or monthly workflow. Over time, each response adds value. And this grows and compounds over the year.
2. Study Your Competitors
Competitor research is easier than ever. Thanks for AI and other tools (mostly free) that can return information on specific questions you type in.
Look at getting information on:
Their services, pricing, and packages
Reviews (What do clients love? What’s missing?)
Social content (and the engagement they get on certain topics and posts)
Are they running paid ads (check this via Google searches, and by searching on Facebook Ads Library)
Use search terms related to your services. See who ranks for what, and where, and what offers they push - like reports, or discounts. Make notes on how they position themselves. And add in what you think the differences are to you and your services.
Log everything in a spreadsheet!
Compare and review quarterly - not monthly.
Too frequent, and it becomes noise.
Pro tip: You can look beyond your direct competitors. Explore how others in related industries sell and market themselves. Who are the industry leaders in their field? What do they do differently to stand out, and can you mirror this in your own industry or services?
3. Run a Focus Group (or Event)
Talk to real people. Because live feedback is gold!
There’s a few options for this:
Run a small focus group of customers or prospects.
Host a ‘lunch & learn’.
Present at a networking event and turn the Q&A into market research.
Ask yourself:
What problems are people trying to solve?
What do they use now to solve these issues?
How do they feel about it?
Capture their words. The phrases people use become powerful marketing copy. And this has proven to help convert new business based on similar language that people self-identify with.
Pro tip: Start small. Invite 3–5 people for a casual chat. Offer drinks and snacks for attendees (maybe even a small lunch). Invite based on how you’ll share a behind-the-scenes preview of your new idea for them to help shape (like beta testers).
Chapter Summary:
You’ve now got three proven methods to research and define your ideal customer:
Online surveys
Competitor analysis
Focus groups or live conversations
Choose one and start simple. You don’t need a huge sample size - just useful patterns.
Understanding your best-fit customers makes marketing easier, pricing clearer, and business growth more predictable.
Add these tools to your business development process and revisit them often. Clarity from customer insights leads to better business decisions.
This is Chapter 3 of the The Creative Operator’s Guide to Business Development (View all chapters here →)