“It is not unusual for extraordinary sales professionals to communicate demarketing messages via the mass media. James C. Hansberger is an ESP and senior vice president for Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. A recent article bout investment counselors defined his target market as follows; “His client’s net worth ranges from around $2 million to $20 million, with a very few in excess of $100 million”… Demarketing messages of this type are very important for many ESPs Communicating to the general population one’s ability to provide services will generate many inquiries from persons who will never qualify as profitable clients.”
— Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, in Marketing to the Affluent (1988 edition)
Your numbers may be different from the 1980s financial advisor’s, but the idea is the same and twice over. You only want to attract business from people who are going to be good for your business.
Sophisticated marketers incorporate this principle into their decisions on where to invest attention — they choose the right trade shows to exhibit at, the right cities to open offices in, and the right prospects to mail to. But the extra-deft marketers also incorporate this principle into their “demarketing”* efforts to discourage unsolicited attention from people they don’t want to work with. By broadcasting messages like the financial advisor’s example, above, businesses can preempt wasted efforts without hurting anyone’s feelings or wasting anyone’s time.
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*”demarketing”. I love that word. It sounds almost Seinfeldian.
