Are you making false assumptions about your target market members?

We often assume that other people think as we do and from the same level of experience and information. But this false assumption can result in lost sales and damaged relationships.

A Story About Panties
And False Assumptions

Let me demonstrate some potential pitfalls with a story about my daughter when she was four, I was trying to teach her to dress herself. She was doing well except for her panties. She kept putting them on backwards.

Many times, I had laid out her panties in front of her and told her that the wider side was the back and the narrow side was the front. She could recognize the front from the back of her panties, yet she continued to put them on backwards.

I couldn’t understand why until one day when I was repeating this explanation, she said, “but Mommy, what is the front and back of me?”

Once I explained the front and back of her body to go with the front and back of the panties, she never put her panties on backwards again.

I assumed that she had information that she didn’t have, and because of that false assumption, all my attempts to help her were in vain.

Do You Make Similar Mistakes?

Now this may seem an extreme example because she was a child and I an adult, but I see business owners making similar mistakes due to false assumptions about their target market member’s knowledge and experiences.

The more you know about your target market, the more likely you are to avoid such mistakes and the lost sales and damaged relationships that they cause.

How Much Do You Know
About Your Target Market?

If you need help getting information about your target market, I’ve researched 19 target market profiles. One may be just what you’re looking for.

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Posted 7-25-08:
False Assumptions About
Your Target Market

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 6:11 am and is filed under Target Markets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.