Introduction
Most trade businesses tell us they will work for “anyone in the area who needs the trade”. Sounds reasonable. In practice, it is the fastest way to attract the wrong jobs.
You end up with tyre kickers. Penny pinchers. Customers who quibble over every line on the quote. Jobs in awkward postcodes that eat your day. Work you do not enjoy.
Meanwhile your best customers, the ones you love working for, who pay on time and refer their friends, slip past, because your marketing was not pointing at them in particular.
The fix is a short exercise that takes about 30 minutes. It sharpens every advert, post and quote you put out from then on.
Why “Anyone in the Area” Is a Problem
When your marketing speaks to everyone, it lands with no one in particular.
Imagine two roofers in the same town. One says “we do roofing in [town]”. The other says “we are the people you call when your conservatory roof is leaking, your insurance is dragging its feet, and you just want it sorted before the next bit of bad weather”.
Same job. Same town. Wildly different message.
The second roofer just told someone “this is for me”. Their phone rings. The first roofer fades into the background.
You cannot speak to a real customer until you know who you are speaking to.
The 30-Minute Exercise
Grab a pad and a brew. Block out 30 minutes when nobody can interrupt you. Then work through the four steps below.
Step 1: List Your Last Ten Best Jobs
Not your last ten jobs. Your last ten favourite jobs. The ones where you finished, drove home and thought “that is the kind of work I want more of”.
Write down for each one:
- The customer’s name and rough area
- The type of job
- Roughly what you charged
- What made it good, was it the customer, the job, the timing?
If you cannot think of ten, do five. The pattern still shows up.
Step 2: Spot the Patterns
Look at your list. You will start to see things in common.
Maybe your favourite jobs are all repeat extensions, not one-off small fixes. Maybe they are all in three or four specific postcodes. Maybe they all came from referrals, not from Checkatrade. Maybe they all sit between £4,000 and £12,000 in value.
Whatever the pattern is, write it down.
You are not making this up. You are noticing what is already true.
Step 3: Sketch the Ideal Customer
Now write a short description. One paragraph is plenty. Cover:
- Who they are (homeowner, landlord, small builder, business)
- Where they live or work (which areas)
- What they want (which kind of jobs)
- What they are willing to pay (a rough range)
- What they care about (price? speed? trust? finish?)
- How they tend to find you (referral? Google? Facebook?)
For example:
“Homeowner couples in [postcode 1, 2 and 3], aged 40 to 65, who own their home and want a quality job done first time. They have just had a bad experience with another tradesperson or are sick of getting messed around. They will pay a fair price for someone who turns up, communicates and finishes the job.”
Now you are not marketing to “anyone”. You are marketing to a real person you can picture.
Step 4: Sketch the Customer You Do Not Want
This is the bit most tradespeople skip. It is also the most useful.
Write a short paragraph describing the customer who drains your day. The one who haggles, drags out decisions, asks for extras for free, and leaves a three-star review when you have bent over backwards for them.
You are not being mean. You are getting clear.
Once you can describe that customer, your marketing can quietly steer them away from you. Your prices, your tone, the way you handle enquiries, they all start filtering the wrong people out so the right ones can find you.
What Changes Once You Know
This exercise looks small. Its effect is anything but.
Once you know your ideal customer, lots of decisions get easier:
- Your homepage copy stops sounding like everyone else’s
- Your social posts start showing the kind of jobs you want more of
- Your photos show the type of work you want, not all the work you have done
- Your testimonials lean towards customers who sound like the next ones you want
- Your pricing stops apologising
- Your ads, if you run any, start pointing at specific places, ages and problems instead of “everyone”
Bit by bit, your marketing becomes a magnet for the right people, and a quiet “no thanks” to the wrong ones.
The Common Worry
A lot of trade business owners worry that getting specific will mean fewer enquiries.
In practice, the opposite happens. You get fewer enquiries, but a much higher percentage of them turn into the kind of work you actually want. The numbers that matter, booked jobs, value per job, customer happiness, go up.
You are not turning anyone away. You are just being honest about who you do your best work for.
The Bigger Picture
Marketing without a clear ideal customer is like driving with the headlights off. You might still get there, but it will take longer and cost you more.
Half an hour with a pad and pen is one of the most profitable half hours you can spend on your business this year.
If you do this exercise once a year, your marketing will keep getting sharper, your phone will keep ringing for the right reasons, and your diary will start to look a lot more like the one you wanted in the first place.
Related Reading
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does it matter to know my ideal customer?
Because marketing that speaks to everyone lands with no one. The trade businesses that grow fastest are the ones whose adverts, social posts and quotes feel like they were written for one specific kind of person. That person picks up the phone. Everyone else scrolls past, which is exactly what you want.
How specific should my ideal customer profile be?
Specific enough that you can picture them. Their age range, where they live, what kind of jobs they ask you to do, what they care about most (price, speed, quality), how they tend to find you. One paragraph is plenty. If you cannot picture them, you have not been specific enough yet.
Won’t picking an ideal customer mean fewer enquiries?
You will get fewer total enquiries, yes. But a much higher percentage will turn into the kind of work you actually want. The numbers that matter (booked jobs, value per job, customer happiness) almost always go up. You are not turning anyone away, you are just being honest about who you do your best work for.
Should I update my ideal customer profile each year?
Yes. Your business changes. Your favourite jobs change. The areas you cover change. Run the same 30-minute exercise once a year. You will notice patterns shift, and your marketing should shift with them. Most trade business owners who do this annually find their work mix sharpens noticeably year on year.
Want Us to Do This Exercise With You?
A free Marketing Flight Check from Brightr is a full audit of how your trade business looks and performs online. Part of that is helping you get crystal clear on your ideal customer and pointing your whole marketing engine in their direction.