Too many business owners try to sell to everyone — and end up reaching no one. In this episode, we’re breaking down how to identify your marketing to target audiences so you can stop guessing and start connecting with the right buyers.
You’ll discover how narrowing your focus creates clarity in your message, confidence in your sales, and consistent growth in your business. Real stories, simple strategies, and proven steps will guide you in finding the right people who are already waiting for your solution.
✅Why selling to everyone is the fastest way to stall your business
✅Why JCPenney lost billions trying to appeal to everyone (while Target doubled down and thrived)
✅The simple 2-question survey that becomes a goldmine for conversions
✅How to create a customer profile that practically writes your sales pages for you
✅Why webinars are the secret weapon for pre-qualifying your best buyers
✅My exact process for narrowing your niche without losing sales
Recommended Resources:
Show Notes:
Hey everyone, Kerry Beck here with Family eBiz, where we help families start and scale their online businesses, giving you strategies so you can be successful and find freedom in your life to do what you're called to do.
This is our second episode in the middle of a series on consistent sales. How do you make consistent sales? Last time we talked about it's not the traffic, it's your sales conversion. Hopefully, if you didn't get that, go back. Some of you do need more traffic, I understand that, but some of you need to rework your sales pages, or your events, or whatever you're using to sell your product.
Today, we're going to talk about stop guessing how to sell, or more importantly, what to sell. I want to help you find the right buyers for your product.
Not everyone is your customer. In fact, the fastest way to fail your business is to try to sell to everyone. We want... well, we don't want to lose anyone. Maybe that person will buy, maybe that person will buy, so I'm going to try to sell my product to everyone.
You see, businesses thrive when they know exactly who their buyers are. They create products, and they market those products just for that segment of the world, of the audiences out there.
Let's talk about how can we narrow our niche. It's been said, the tighter the niche, the more you get rich. The power of narrowing it down. Who is your audience?
Let's take a look back, just 15 years ago, 2010, we had two stores, retail stores. We had Target and JCPenney. In the early 2010s, JCPenney's tried to be everyone, be everything to everyone. They had generic pricing, they had a broad appeal, and you know what happened? Their sales tanked by billions.
On the other hand, Target doubled down, and they found a specific audience. I actually remember these days, because they went from just t-shirts and, like, cheap clothes, sort of, comparable to Walmart. They said, we are going to focus on women, moms, that are style-conscious, but want something that is affordable. And they doubled down on that, and their sales grew.
You see, they knew the power of finding and narrowing their niche. The broad audiences dilute your message, but specific audiences can convert. Target went all in, they brought in lines, they brought in designers, and they also made it affordable. These were people that couldn't just go get designer clothes for $500, but they could pay $35 for it. They really looked, and they knew exactly who their audience was.
This is a mindset shift. We sell to who? This little group, not everyone. People don't buy products. They buy solutions to their problems. If you don't know who your audience is, then you don't know what their problem is.
Who has the problem that you're solving? You have to know who it is so you can position your product as the solution. Instead of asking, how do I sell more? That's what most of you are like, I gotta go make another product, I gotta go make another product. Instead of, how do I sell more? Who am I really selling to?
I had to do this in my homeschool business. I have things that pretty much any homeschooler could use, but I had to really narrow down. One, I narrowed down to the Christian homeschooler market. Two, ones that were overwhelmed and wanted to add more purpose, they wanted to know their kids were going to be okay when they graduated. That's when I began my flagship product of raising leaders, not followers. It is not for everyone. It is not cheap. It's $197. I had to narrow down who that audience is and then show them the transformation.
You've got to listen to your audience. Tip number one, listen first with surveys and replies. When I launched, or before I launched, Raising Leaders, Not Followers, about 3 years ago, I did several things called validation calls. I got on Zoom with people that had done some of my Raising Leaders work before, and I asked them questions and I listened. Then I used their vocabulary when it came time to talk about the transformation. I didn't use mine. I used real, live homeschool moms out there.
Have you done any validation calls? How could you do this? You could start a two-question survey. Super simple. What's your biggest struggle right now with losing weight? With budgeting my money, with getting my kid's attitude in line. What is your biggest struggle? What would solving that mean for you? Those are just two of the questions that I asked.
If you get answers to these questions, that is a goldmine for you to be able to convert your readers, your listeners, your watchers into buyers. You want to use their language, and just let them reply to an email, or set up a quick little Google form.
There's a man named Ryan Levesque. He has the ASK method. He built a multi-million dollar business by starting with quizzes and surveys. He wanted to find out what each group's problem is, and then speak directly to their pain points. That's an advanced way, but segmenting your list.
I have moms that I can pull up that are all into, I need help with attitude. I have some that need help with character. I have some that need help homeschooling. I have some that need help planning and organizing. When I segment them or tag them in AWeber, then I can send them specific emails, specifically to their pain point. That's what Ryan Levesque did.
When you understand their pain point, your webinars and your sales pages practically write themselves. Especially on a webinar. I start out on my webinar first thing after I've said, here we are, and here's what we're gonna do. Quick win. I find whatever their pain point is, and in 5 minutes, I give them a little activity that they can do, that they can get a quick win. If you don't know that activity, then you need to start using it immediately.
Number two tip. Create a simple customer profile. I highly encourage you to know your customer inside out, but for those of you that are just starting, or maybe you're going to go a different avenue. 3 to 5 traits. Don't overcomplicate.
You want to find out who your best buyer is? Some things you might ask: what's their age? What's their family situation, their work situation? What is their biggest frustration or challenge, and what transformation do they want to see in their life, in their work, in their family, wherever?
Henry Ford, who founded the Ford Motor Company, he built the Model T. He did not build it for every family in the United States. Rich people could go buy a Cadillac, or whatever was out there, a Rolls Royce. He didn't build just a car. He built a car for the average American family. They needed something affordable and reliable, and that's what he did. He focused on one clear customer, someone that didn't have maybe as much money as the rich people, and someone that wanted something reliable, and he dominated that market.
You need a clear profile of who your audience is, and that will guide you into what products to create and what messaging you're going to use. You've got to know your customer, and if you don't know that, you need to know that before you ever create products.
Some of y'all are... I got 10 products and I'm not making any money. Pick one of them, figure out who the audience is that this product solves a problem for, what is the problem, and just go all in trying to sell that for the next 2 or 3 months.
I personally love webinars. I call them masterclasses. This is a way we can pre-qualify the buyers. Just think about it. If you go to a webinar, masterclass, whatever you want to call it. And you register, you show up, and you stay to the end. Are you interested, or just sort of, I don't know. Yeah, you're highly interested!
A live event isn't just for selling, it's for filtering your best buyers. I did some webinars in the last couple weeks, and I had people show up. I had people apologize for not being able to stay till the end, can you send me a replay? They were all into this.
Just think, I have a chance to build trust and give value for 30, 45 minutes. Then I can sell them, but I'm not just selling them. I am serving them, and I'm giving them a solution. If I listen to someone to the end, I'm probably interested, like, can you give me some more help? You're not selling, you're serving, and you're helping them.
Webinars or online events help you build trust, but also offer urgency. And you find exactly your right buyers. You get someone on live, they see who you are, they see how you teach. You can pre-qualify who your buyers are just by using a webinar.
I've got a couple exercises for you to do. Number 1, write down your top 3 buyer traits. Write it down right now. When you finish this, write that down. Then think, where are these people hanging out? How can I serve them better?
Some of y'all have told me, no one ever replies. Well, you don't give up. You keep going. When I first looked for some feedback, no one replied. Did I give up? No. I moved from email to DMs on social media. And that's where they work. Maybe get in some groups, and don't sell anything, you are doing research.
Go find where they hang out on YouTube, or Instagram, or social, or do you have some people on your email list that you can actually talk to? You need to get your three buyer traits, go find those people, and find out what their problem is, and how your product can solve your problem.
Remember, don't sell to everyone. Use surveys to listen to your people. Create a simple profile. Use webinars as a buyer filter.
If you are in my Facebook group, share your buyer profile inside the Facebook group. I would love for us to start sharing and see who you could connect with. Maybe someone else has a similar buyer profile, and you could collaborate with them. Tag me when you put that on that Facebook post as well.
Get the 7-Day Webinar Action Plan: You can go to familyebiz.com/7-day-webinar for a step-by-step plan that gives you one page with all seven days, and then some pages that you can fill out the information that you need for that day.
All-Day Webinar Training: In September, I think it's September 20th, whatever that Saturday is, I am going to be doing an all-day training on webinars. Many of you have asked me for help on webinars, or master classes, or workshops, whatever you want to call it. I'm going to show you why it works, how you use it, how to set up your webinar, different kinds of email and follow-up as well. You can go to familyebiz.com/VIP-webinar and go ahead and sign up for it.
I'd love to get to know you. I would love to help you. I would love to help you increase and be able to finish strong in 2025. Get consistent sales.
Hey, I am Kerry Beck with Family eBiz. We'll talk to you next time.