The Customer Draining You vs the Customer You Want

Both pay the same invoice on paper. They do not cost you the same to serve. Put them side by side and the difference is obvious.

The customer draining you
The customer you want
How they found youSearched “cheapest” and called five shops
How they found youA friend sent them, or they read your reviews
First question“What is your best price?”
First question“When can you start?”
During the jobScope creep, extra calls, second-guessing
During the jobTrusts the plan, answers fast
PayingLate, partial, or after three reminders
PayingOn time, sometimes early
AfterwardA complaint, or silence
AfterwardA review, a repeat visit, a referral

Here is the uncomfortable part. Most owners attract the left column without meaning to. “Best prices in town.” “We do it all.” “No job too small.” Those lines are a magnet for the haggler. The right column responds to something else: clarity, proof, and confidence.

Four Ways to Work With Dr. Paul

02

Business Plan Writing

Repositioning for a new market or a bigger space? Dr. Paul helps you put the plan and financials on paper for a lender.

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03

Fractional CFO/COO

Want to see which customers actually make you money, month by month? Part-time help reading the numbers with you.

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04

Small Business Education

Learn marketing, sales, and money at your own pace with guides built for small business owners.

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The Same $1,000 Job, Two Very Different Paychecks

Illustration · made-up Jupiter service business

A $1,000 job with the wrong-fit customer

Quoted price$1,000
Discount after hagglingminus $150
Materials (the same for any customer)minus $300
Extra callbacks and complaints: 4 hours at $60minus $240
Chasing payment: 1 hour at $60minus $60
What is left for you$250

The right-fit customer pays the $1,000, uses the same $300 in materials, and needs none of the extra hours. That leaves $700. Same job, same skill, same town. The wrong customer leaves you about a third of the money, and that is before the stress and the bad review.

Better Customers in Jupiter May Work in a Lab Down the Road

Next to FAU’s northern campus sits a cluster of research employers. That is a customer group many local owners never aim at on purpose.

About 360scientists and technical staff at the Scripps Research campus in Jupiter
350,000square feet in that Scripps facility, beside FAU’s John D. MacArthur Campus
61,047Jupiter residents in the 2020 Census

Source: Jupiter, Florida (Wikipedia), which also places the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience on the FAU campus, home of the Wilkes Honors College.

Research staff and their households could be exactly the steady, book-ahead, pay-on-time customers in the right column of the comparison above. Busy professionals often value reliability over the lowest price, and they may be willing to pay for it. If you serve homes, think scheduled service plans. If you serve businesses, a lab or an institute may need vendors who show up on time and invoice cleanly.

Do not guess. Look at your best five customers and ask where they work. If two of them already come from this cluster, that is a group worth aiming your message at.

Dr. Paul’s Insight: Everyone Is Not a Customer

Dr. Paul’s Insight · From Marketing for Small Businesses, Book 4, Chapter 2, “Forty Hats, No Heads: A Camel’s Everything” · Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series

“I stock everything anyone ever asked for. Why does nobody buy any of it?”

Dr. Paul’s take: That is the trap of saying yes to everyone. When you try to serve every customer who ever walked in, your message gets vague, your prices get negotiable, and the customers you actually want cannot tell you are for them. The haggling and the late payments are often a symptom of that blur, not bad luck. In a town like Jupiter, with very different crowds from the waterfront to the ballpark, picking your customer is how you stop competing for all of them. Read more in the segmentation section of Dr. Paul’s small business marketing guide.

Score Your Last Twenty Customers

Pull your last twenty invoices. Give each customer 0, 1, or 2 points on each line. The pattern in the high scores is your target customer.

Paid on timeNo reminders, no partial payments
0, 1, or 2
Accepted the priceNo haggling over the quote
0, 1, or 2
Easy to serveClear about what they wanted, few extra calls
0, 1, or 2
Came backBought again or is on a regular schedule
0, 1, or 2
Sent someoneReferred a friend or left a good review
0, 1, or 2
8 to 10Your target. Where did they come from? What did they buy? Find more like them.
4 to 7Fine, but not the model. Keep them, do not build your marketing around them.
0 to 3The drain. Check what message or price brought them in, and stop sending it.

Five Moves That Change Who Walks In

You do not need a new business. You need to send a different signal. Each move swaps a line that attracts the haggler for one that attracts the customer you scored highest.

Message
“Best prices in town. No job too small.”
“Built for homeowners who want it done right the first time.”
Offer
Everything for everyone, priced piece by piece
Two or three packages built for your best customer
Price
Negotiable, quoted on the spot
Clear published starting prices and a written scope
Terms
“Pay when you can.”
Deposit up front, balance due on completion
Where you show up
Every coupon book and discount site
The places your best customers already go

Expect to lose a few customers when you make these changes. That is the point. The ones who leave are usually the ones from the bottom of your scorecard. Dr. Paul’s Organize-Plan-Grow™ strategy treats this as a planned change, not a gamble, and the small business marketing guide covers positioning in more depth.

Not sure which move to make first? Bring your scorecard to the call.Call or text (321) 948-9588 →

Different Crowds, Different Customers

Jupiter is not one market. It is several, sometimes on the same street. That makes picking your customer more important here, not less.

  • Harbourside Place and the waterfront

    Shops, restaurants, a hotel, and a Sunday market along the Intracoastal Waterway at 200 N US Highway One. A business near the water could draw boaters, hotel guests, and locals on a weekend stroll, three very different buyers. Harbourside Place.

  • Abacoa and spring training

    Roger Dean Stadium in Abacoa hosts spring training for the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals. Visiting crowds may want something quick and once; your year-round neighbors may want a regular. Decide which one you are built for. Jupiter, Florida (Wikipedia).

  • Town and county business tax receipts

    The Town of Jupiter stopped requiring Town business licenses as of August 17, 2021, but the Palm Beach County receipt still applies: the Tax Collector says anyone selling goods or services in the county needs one, and the Town sends new businesses there to apply. Town of Jupiter · Palm Beach County local business tax.

  • Florida SBDC at FAU

    Small business advising for Palm Beach and Broward counties, with a Palm Beach office listed in Boca Raton. Appointments required. Florida SBDC at FAU.

For the rest of the region’s marketing and sales questions, visit the South Florida business consultant pillar.

Choosing Your Customer, Taught One Forest Owner at a Time

Marketing for Small Businesses book cover, Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series Book 4

Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series · Book 4

Marketing for Small Businesses

Book 4 walks through small business marketing one Fabled Forest owner at a time, starting early with the camel who stocks everything anyone ever asked for. Each chapter opens with a question real owners ask, then shows the fix in plain language.

Get Book 4 on Amazon →

Customer Questions Jupiter Owners Ask

How do I attract better customers for my small business?
Decide who your best customers are, using real records: who pays on time, buys again, and refers. Then change your message, your offer, and your price so they speak to that customer. The wrong-fit customers tend to drift away on their own.
Should I raise prices to get rid of bad customers?
Sometimes. A clear price with a clear scope filters out a lot of haggling. But price alone is not enough. Your message, your minimums, your payment terms, and who you market to all shape who walks in.
How do I stop customers from paying late?
Set terms before the work starts: deposits, due dates, and card on file where it fits. Put them in writing and enforce them the same way every time. Customers learn your terms from what you do, not what you say.
Does a Jupiter business still need a business tax receipt?
The Town of Jupiter stopped requiring Town business licenses as of August 17, 2021. The County receipt is a different matter: the Palm Beach County Tax Collector says anyone selling merchandise or services in the county needs a local business tax receipt, and the Town sends new businesses to the Tax Collector to apply. You also still follow the Town land development regulations.
Can Dr. Paul help me reposition my business?
Yes. In business consulting, Dr. Paul helps you score your current customers, name the ones you want more of, and rework your message, offer, and pricing to fit them. You run the changes; he helps you plan them.

Stop marketing to everyone. Start talking to the customer you want.

Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA

Business Consultant, Author & Educator | 14+ Years | 1,000+ Clients Served

DBA, National University MBA, Focus in Finance, Webster University Serving South Florida from Deltona, FL

Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA is a business consultant, author, and educator, and the founder of Quality Business Plan. He works with Jupiter and South Florida owners on marketing, business planning, financial modeling, fractional CFO services, and the everyday problems of businesses that depend too much on their owners. He is the creator of Dr. Paul’s Organize-Plan-Grow™ Strategy, author of numerous published books on Amazon including Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, and publisher of over 1,000 business-focused videos on YouTube. He has taught as an adjunct college instructor and teaches in Florida public schools.

14+
Years Experience
1,000+
Clients Served
$100M+
Projects Funded
1,000+
YouTube Videos

This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, tax, accounting, or other professional advice. The cost example uses an illustrative business with made-up figures. Local rules, programs, and data are cited to their sources and change over time. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.