Anti-marketing, The Ninja Aptitude Test, and The Perfect Customer Avatar w/ Joe Cotellese | #063

If you’ve been in business for any length, you know what damage
the wrong customers or clients can do to your business — beyond
the revenue. They drain you of your time and deprive the passion
and energy you have for your craft. But as the business owner or
entrepreneur, it’s up to you to make sure you’re attracting the
right market. Especially in the early stages of business.


 


For the last 20 years, Joe Cotellese has worked in pre-investment
startups all the way through to large corporations and founded
Sharey – an advertising platform for e-book publishers. In this
episode, Joe walks us through the importance of dialing in your
customer avatar and making sure you're crystal clear on who
you're trying to attract so you don't attract the wrong people to
your business.


 
Episode Discussions:

The impact and importance of mentors

Costs associated with servicing the wrong customer

How many avatars to have if you're just getting started

How anti marketing could save your business

Personas for brand new business owners and entrepreneurs

The slippery slope of compromise

How Star Wars influenced the Ninja Aptitude Test

Implementing the Ninja Aptitude test to attract your target
market

How to attract ideal customers using anti-marketing and
anti-personas

Blue Ocean Strategy and market differentiation

How refining your persona will help you move into other
markets

The importance of a focused business strategy



 


2:47
The scoop on Joe:

Started career playtesting video games


Taught himself how to write software


Found sweet spot in early startups


Ventured out and started his own company


 


5:02
Mentors

The 3 groups of people to have in your life:
Further ahead than you to learn from At your level you to
commiserate with and share struggles Below your level to reach down
and lend a hand to help pull them up

“There's a lot to be said for having really great mentors…and
about paying it forward and finding people you can help along in
their career.”


7:00
Ninja Aptitude Test origin story

Two key takeaways from Joe’s experience:
Know who your customers are Focus on the right things

 


13:08


“Have you ever been in a situation where you've had clients and
you're like ‘alright this person's great but I don't know about
this person?’ How do you handle that?”


14:07


There's an operational cost associated with servicing the wrong
customer.


 


15:51
Personas for brand new business owners and entrepreneurs

Carve out a fuzzy persona but don't let it stop you from taking
clients.


Get experience working with a wide variety of people so you can
hone in on the great and the troublesome.


Refine and tailor your customer avatar and personas as you
evolve.


Constantly upgrade the top 20% of your clients.


Dial in who’s bringing you the best business and find
commonalities between them.


 


17:03
A smart lean business model

Map out a few paths

Quickly start interacting with people to hone in on whether
the market you're servicing is the right one for your product or
service.



 


19:36
Refining your persona will help you move into other markets

Mapping out the goals and challenges of your persona may lead
to discovering additional markets that are focusing on the same
challenges.

By knowing your markets pain, needs, and desires, you'll be
the one best positioned to solve it.



 


21:05
The Anti-persona

What are the customer types that can negatively impact your
business?


If you focus your attention on the wrong thing, it might devalue
your brand.


 


21:49
The ‘Slippery Slope of Compromise’

Moves your product or service away from your core audience


Results in a wide range of customers and not all of them are good
for your business.


 


22:44
Attract your ideal client with anti-marketing

Form a mental image of your anti-persona; fears, concerns,
behavior, negative objections

Work backwards from there to screen them out.

Repel unwanted clients and customers w/ a questionnaire, a
candid conversation, an outline of terms and conditions, price
points, rules, operations



 


23:59
Examples of anti-personas and anti-marketing

Courtesy of Hollister and a local movie theater


 


26:00


“As you get clear about your avatar and ideal customer, the
anti-marketing and anti-persona are gonna get baked into it
naturally and organically. You won't need to announce it. It will
become evident.”


27:00
Blue Ocean Strategy

Focusing on a market and differentiating yourself on certain
criteria


“If you can't clearly articulate your business strategy then you
need to talk to other people in your organization and nail that
down.”


29:20
Importance of a focused business strategy

Sears is a great example of a business that was stuck in the
middle and didn't know what they wanted to be.


“Find the point you can compete on and you can be the strongest
on and make sure it's a point customers care about. There's no
point trying to be 3rd, 4th, 5th best or falling in the middle of
the pack. “


 
Mentioned in this episode:

Sharey

Twitter @JoeCotellese

Blue Ocean Strategy



 


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