You’re told to fill your customer pipeline with as many prospective customers as possible. The idea behind this theory is when  you have a full pipeline, then you have more true customers coming out. Do you believe that is really how it works? I doubt that if you fill your pipeline with non-customers, then ideal customers will come out. The truth is, you don’t really want it all, nor do you have to have it all. You don’t need a full pipeline to have true customers – you need a filtering system to filter out non-customers. If you’re busy and out amongst people, then you meet enough people day in and day out that aren’t really prospective customers. You know it, and they know it, but aren’t you told that you’re supposed to add every new person you meet into your pipeline? These days, there are filters for everything. You can buy filtered water, filters for your coffee and filters for your air. You can add filters to software programs, shows on cable television and to block unwanted phone calls.

We use filters to make sure we’re left with only the purest, finest of what we are truly interested in. Can you filter out customers?

If it’s true that the person you are, is in direct correlation to the people you associate with and the books you read, then it becomes really important to filter out people. You filter the books you read by either judging them by their cover or their reviews and listening to recommendations. Even as your social network grows, you filter out with whom you spend time. But in business, you have taken a completely open mentality in believing that everyone you meet is a prospect or potential customer. You collect business cards from people you barely know. You call on people either in person, with your newsletters or direct mail campaigns, thinking that he with the most number of contact wins the game. Is it really a numbers game, or should you be much pickier about the filters you are using?

When I think of filters, I think of the different mesh size that filters come in. When I’m choosing programs for my children to watch, that filter becomes a very small, tight weave. But when I’m choosing customers to call on, suddenly, it seems like the world is telling me to use a chain link fence with a gaping hole, and pretty much anyone who breathes is acceptable.

Why do we buy into the formula that tells us it takes 100 contacts to close one deal? If we are talking to everyone who breathes, then yes, it will take 100 people to reject us before we can make a sale. But what if our filters were tighter and the mesh was much smaller? If we were pre-qualifying people we meet with a clearer image of what makes up our ideal customer, then we could practically remove rejection from our sales process. How great would that be?

By clearly identifying your ideal customer – you can effectively market to only them. Your advertising dollars are clearly invested and you will see a greater return on your dollar. Your sales team stops wasting time meeting with people who aren’t able to make decisions. You aren’t sending out mailers to unknown addresses.

Take some time to create a clear picture of whom your ideal customer is. Where do they live and work? What are the common denominators that your best customers share? Create a conversation and a relationship with your ideal customers, and focus on their hot buttons. Filter out the unwanted, the undesirable, and the uninterested. Create a filter that leaves you with only the finest, purest customer and let the debris fall away.