Your best friend is not your customer

You have probably heard more than once in entrepreneurship that “your BFF (Best Friend Forever) is not your customer”. Don’t think of this “mantra” as a way to free your friends from the pressure of buying your product or service. In fact, it is quite the opposite: it helps remove the “burden” of depending on the support of people you know. That way, you can focus on your mission.

Find real customers Your friends are there to support you emotionally, but they are not your ideal market or the foundation of your commercial success. Your mission is to find real customers: you need to go where there are people who genuinely have the problem you want to solve. To do that, you need to understand these three key ideas:

1. If people you know buy your product or share your posts, your friendship could turn into a business relationship and lead to tension. Their support is a bonus, not an obligation.
2. Your “BFF” will rarely fit the profile of the customer who needs your solution and is willing to pay for it.
3. It is far more common (and professional) for a customer to become a friend than for a friend to become a good customer.

The sooner you stop expecting your BFFs to financially support your business, the sooner you will find the people who genuinely need what you are offering.

How to separate your friends from your business Apply these tips:

• Don’t look for customers within your close circle. Use the “watering holes” technique (developed by Amy Hoy and Alex Hillman) and research the places where your potential customers gather. Explore forums, social media, product reviews… identify complaints and questions to understand what users need and what their pain points are. That will give you plenty of clues.
• Value the encouragement, advice and emotional support of your friends more than the possibility of them buying from you.
• Set boundaries: if a friend becomes a customer, treat them with the same professional standards as any other customer. No special favours.
• Respect their decision: if they do not buy, it is not personal. They are not “betraying” you; your product simply is not for them.
• Validation from someone who does not know you is tangible proof that you are on the right path. Validation from people close to you is a favour, and favours will not help your business take off.

Stop asking your friends to buy what you offer and start creating something that a stranger cannot ignore. That is how you move from emotional sales to real sales.

Source: https://medium.com/activated-thinker/your-friends-are-not-your-customers-stop-selling-to-them-b41478b8a799

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