Who are your clients? Which of your services is most in demand? Where does your business really come from?

This blog post will deviate from my typical approach of sharing various tips and/or observations about using social media sites. Instead, I’m sharing what I’ve learned from analyzing some of the statistics I gathered over the last two years of observing my own company.

Financial charts on the table with tablet

As I plan my business strategies and goals for 2016, I need to take into account (among other things) the nature of my clientele, what types of services they’ve purchased, and how they found me. This process has been very educational, and I trust a similar evaluation will be useful to you as well.

 

Demographics

  • Of the 170 tutoring clients I have served in the last two years, 75% are women, and 70% of all my clients are age 50 or older.
  • In fact, between 25 and 30% of my clients are women between the ages of 50 and 60.
  • The vast majority live and/or work in the greater Denver metro area, though I do have some who live in other parts of the United States, as well some in Canada.
  • In reviewing their industries/professional backgrounds, I found that I have served people engaged in over 50 different types of work.
  • It helps me to group them into some broad categories:
  • Business services: 20%. Includes general business consultants as well as people who provide services in the fields of marketing, human resources, information technology, office management, merchant services, and professional organizing.
  • Professional services: 17%. Includes professionals in financial services (e.g. financial planning, accounting insurance, banking), as well as professionals in real estate, mortgage, project management, law, and engineering.
  • Personal services: 13%. Includes psychotherapists, travel agents, and people providing massage, acupuncture, and home services to seniors.
  • Speakers/trainers/teachers: 11%
  • Job seekers: 10%
  • Coaches: 7%. Includes both personal and business coaches.
  • Authors: 7%

 

  • Remaining 15% includes a mix of nonprofits, providers of home services (e.g. handyman, home inspector), online and in-store retail, and others. 

 

Social Sites Requested by Tutoring Clients (85% of my business)

  • LinkedIn – nearly 60%
  • Facebook – just over 30%
  • Twitter and Pinterest – nearly 5%
  • Other – about 5%

Topics Requested by Training Clients (15% of my business)

  • LinkedIn – 60%
  • Facebook – nearly 40%
  • Pinterest – about 1-2%

 

 

How Did they Find Me?

  • Networking: 70% (various business referral and other networking groups, the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and Toastmasters – a communication and leadership organization)
  • Client referrals: 10%
  • My website and social sites: 10%
  • Other: 10%

 

 

How About You?

What does a profile of your clients look like? What services/products do they want most? Where did they come from? How do you take this information into account as you do your business planning?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.