How to Stop Talking to Everyone and Start Selling: Complete Guide to Choosing the Right Target Group

Wednesday, 10 AM. Meeting with a client. He sells invoicing software.

I ask: „Who is your target group?”

He answers: „All entrepreneurs in Poland. Everyone needs invoices, right?”

Red light in my head. But he’s confident. Has product, has budget, is ready to act. So we launch campaign.

Targeting? Entrepreneurs. 18 to 65 years old. All of Poland. Everyone.

Month later I check results. €3,750 budget. We acquired 2 customers. Two.

I call client. Silence on line. Then I hear: „Tommy, where are all those conversions?”

I have nothing to say. Because problem was simple, but I didn’t see it then. Small companies looked for something free. Corporations needed SAP integration. Startups wanted simplicity. Accountants – compliance with authorities.

And our ad spoke to everyone. Which means to no one.

This was moment that changed my entire approach to marketing. And through next years, working with clients at LabRoi and managing budgets exceeding €25,000 monthly, I saw same mistake dozens of times during client audits.

Today I’ll show you exactly how to choose right 2-3 customer segments instead of targeting „everyone”. This isn’t theory. This is proven process that in case of this specific client turned 2 customers into 18 with same budget.

Why „Everyone” Is Most Expensive Mistake in Marketing

Before we get to specifics, I need to explain one thing that seems paradoxical.

The narrower the target group, the more customers you’ll acquire.

Sounds absurd? Because intuition says otherwise. Says: „If I narrow group, I’ll reach fewer people, so I’ll have fewer customers.”

But marketing doesn’t work that way. And I’ll give you simple example I use at LabRoi at every strategic workshop.

Imagine you’re standing at stadium full of 50 thousand people and shouting through megaphone: „HEY! WHO WANTS TO BUY SOMETHING?”

What happens? Nothing. People look at you strangely and return to their conversations. Nobody feels called out.

Now imagine you approach one person, look them in eyes and say: „Listen, I see you run shop on eBay and every month spend 6 hours manually issuing invoices. I went through this myself. I have something that can help.”

That person listens. Because they feel you’re talking to THEM. Not to crowd.

Marketing works exactly same way. When your ad says: „Invoicing software for entrepreneurs” – that’s megaphone at stadium. When it says: „Run shop on eBay and waste evenings on invoices? There’s easier way” – that’s face-to-face conversation.

Same product. Same functionality. But completely different reaction. Because you hit specific pain of specific person.

Step 1: Identify ALL Possible Segments Before Choosing Best Ones

First mistake I see at LabRoi clients is jumping straight to choosing segments without understanding full landscape of possibilities.

Because how can you choose best 2-3 groups if you don’t know what options you have at all?

That’s why I start with exercise I call „Unpacking customer universe”. Sounds formal, but it’s trivially simple.

Take sheet of paper (or whiteboard if doing this with team) and write down EVERYONE who theoretically could use your product. Don’t evaluate yet. Don’t filter. Just throw out of your head.

In case of this client with invoicing software, list looked like this: sole proprietorships, small service companies, e-commerce shops, accounting offices, corporations, startups, freelancers, construction companies, restaurants, beauty salons, medical offices, law firms, marketing agencies, transport companies, wholesalers…

List had 23 items. And most companies end here. Have list, feel good and launch campaign to… everyone on list.

But this is just beginning. Because now real work starts.

Step 2: „Urgency-Agency-Ability” Framework – How to Choose Segments That Will Pay TODAY

Having list of 20+ potential segments, you need to shrink it to 2-3. And here most make mistake – choose based on segment size. „Oh, there are 2 million freelancers in Poland, that’s big market!”

Yes, big market. Only 90% of them look for free solutions and won’t pay you a dollar.

Instead of looking at size, at LabRoi we use framework that checks three things:

Urgency – how badly does customer need solution NOW? Not „someday would be nice”, but „I have to solve this by end of week or I’ll go crazy”. You’re looking for people who have problem so burning they can’t live with it one day longer.

How to check? Simple question: „Is this person actively searching for solution, or would I have to convince them they even have problem?” If latter – skip. Educating market is work for years and millions of dollars.

Agency – can customer make decision and pay? They may have biggest pain in world, but if they don’t have budget or must ask 5 people for approval, they’re not your customer. At least not now.

That’s why in B2B I avoid targeting „end users” – people who will use product but don’t make purchase decision. I look for decision makers with budget.

Ability – can customer solve problem themselves? Because if yes, why would they pay you? You’re looking for people who tried to solve problem themselves, it didn’t work, and now they know they need outside help.

Your ideal customer is: High Urgency + High Agency + Low Ability.

Back to invoicing example. We went through list of 23 segments and evaluated each against these three criteria.

Freelancers? High agency (decide themselves), but low urgency (issue maybe 5 invoices monthly, Excel is enough) and high ability (technically savvy). Out.

Corporations? High urgency and agency, but zero ability… only they need SAP integration our client didn’t have. Out – at least for now.

Small e-commerce shops in season (before Black Friday, before holidays)? BINGO. Urgency: maximum, because they have 200 orders daily instead of 20 and drowning in invoices. Agency: owner decides alone, has budget because just earning. Ability: low, because they’re merchants not accountants.

Accounting offices with 30+ clients? BINGO. Urgency: high, because each new client is more paperwork. Agency: office owner decides alone. Ability: low in sense of automation – they know accounting but don’t know software.

From 23 segments we had 2 left. And that’s exactly how many you need at start.

Step 3: Discover REAL Pain of Each Segment (Not What You Made Up)

You have chosen 2-3 segments. Great. But now you need to understand what EXACTLY hurts them.

And here most companies make another mistake. Sit down, invent customer problems from their own head and write ads like: „Save time on invoicing!”

Problem? This isn’t customer language. This is marketing speak. And nobody relates to it.

Because customer doesn’t think „I want to save time”. Customer thinks: „Damn, again sitting until 10pm manually copying data from eBay to invoices, and tomorrow is daughter’s birthday and I promised I’d be there.”

See difference? First is generic. Second is specific situation, emotion, consequence.

How to discover these real pains? At LabRoi we use three sources:

Competitor reviews – go to competitor’s site (or eBay/Amazon if they sell there) and read 3-4 star reviews. Not 5-star ones (all superlatives) and not 1-star ones (frustration and insults). Middle ones usually start with: „Good product, BUT…” And that word „but” is gold.

„Nice, but setup takes too long.” „Works, but doesn’t integrate with my shop.” „Helpful, but support doesn’t respond.”

Reddit and industry forums – there people speak honestly, without filters. Go to subreddit related to industry or Polish forum (for e-commerce e.g. eBay forum) and look for threads where people complain. Copy EXACT quotes – this will be your language in ads.

Conversations with current customers – if you already have some customers, call them and ask: „What were you doing before you found us? What was hardest?” And then: „Why was that problem? How did it affect your life?”

This second question is crucial. Because it leads from functional problem („was wasting time”) to emotional problem („felt like neglecting family”).

In case of our invoicing client, after week of such research we had two completely different pains for two segments:

E-commerce shops before season: „Normally I have 20 orders daily and manage. But on Black Friday it becomes 200. And then either I sell or I issue invoices. I choose sales, and do invoices at night. For week I sleep 4 hours.”

Accounting offices with 30+ clients: „Each new client is more work. And I can’t raise prices because competition cheaper. So either I cut quality, or work more for same money. Feel trapped.”

See how different these problems are? First is „don’t have time”. Second is „can’t scale business”. If we spoke to both with same message, we wouldn’t hit either.

Step 4: Create Separate Campaign for Each Segment (With Separate Pain)

And here we get to heart of entire strategy.

Most companies do one campaign to everyone. One landing page. One ad. And then wonder why it doesn’t work.

At LabRoi we have rule: each segment = separate campaign = separate message = separate landing page.

Yes, it’s more work. Yes, it’s more materials to prepare. But effects are nine times better. Literally – 2 customers vs 18 customers.

For e-commerce shops before season our ad said: „Black Friday in 3 weeks. 200 orders daily instead of 20. How will you issue all invoices without sleeping at night? There’s easier way.”

For accounting offices: „Have 30+ clients and feel you can’t handle more? What if you could serve 50 clients in same time as now 30?”

Same product. Same features. But completely different message hitting completely different pain.

And now crucial thing: landing page was also different for each segment. Because when someone clicks ad about Black Friday and lands on page talking about „comprehensive invoicing solution for entrepreneurs” – that’s dissonance. Customer thinks „not for me” and leaves.

Page for e-commerce started with: „Ship 200+ orders daily at peak season? Automatic invoicing will let you sell instead of sitting over papers.”

Page for accounting offices: „Serve 30+ clients and each new one is more work for same money? See how automation lets you scale without hiring.”

Step 5: Test One Segment at Time (Not All at Once)

I know what you’re thinking now. „OK Tommy, I have 2 segments. Do I launch both campaigns simultaneously?”

No. And this is mistake I made myself for years.

When you launch everything at once, you don’t know what works. Maybe segment A gives great results, but segment B drags down whole average. Or opposite. You don’t have data to distinguish.

Instead: launch one campaign. Give it 2-4 weeks. Collect data. Optimize. Only then launch second.

In case of this client we started with e-commerce shops because season was approaching. After 3 weeks we had 12 customers. We knew message works. Only then did we launch campaign to accounting offices. Another 6 customers next month.

18 customers total. Same budget that previously gave 2.

Step 6: What to Do When Segment Doesn’t Work?

I’ll be honest. Not every segment you choose will be hit.

Sometimes you do research, choose segment, launch campaign and… silence. Zero conversions. Or conversions happen, but customers cancel after week.

This isn’t failure. This is information.

At LabRoi we have rule: you give segment 3-4 weeks and minimum 200-300 clicks before judging it. Because with smaller sample you don’t have statistical significance – could be chance.

But if after month and few hundred clicks you have zero or minimal conversion, segment probably isn’t right. Either:

• Urgency is lower than you thought (problem exists, but isn’t burning)
• Agency is lower than you thought (would like to buy, but don’t have budget or decision power)
• Message doesn’t hit (segment is good, but you’re speaking wrong language)

This third is most common and easiest to fix. Go back to research, read more reviews, talk to more people from this segment. And rewrite message.

One of our LabRoi clients targeted „small marketing agencies”. For month – nothing. Turned out „marketing agencies” is too broad category. We narrowed to „2-3 person agencies serving e-commerce clients without dedicated traffic manager”. Suddenly message „don’t have time for campaigns for yourself because constantly doing campaigns for clients?” started hitting. Conversions jumped 340%.

Practical Exercise: Do This for Your Company in 2 Hours

OK, lot of theory. Time for practice. Here’s exercise you can do today, alone or with team, that will give you specific action plan.

Hour 1: Unpacking and selection

During first 30 minutes write down all possible segments that could use your product. Don’t evaluate, don’t filter. Goal is list of 15-25 items.

During next 30 minutes evaluate each segment against Urgency / Agency / Ability. Use scale 1-5 for each criterion. Multiply three numbers – segments with highest score are your candidates.

Hour 2: Pain research

Choose top 2-3 segments from previous exercise. For each spend 20 minutes on:

• Reading competitor reviews (look for 3-4 star)
• Browsing Reddit/industry forums (look for complaint threads)
• Writing down EXACT quotes – this will be your language

At end you should have for each segment: 5-10 quotes describing their real pain in their own language.

Summary: From „Everyone” to „Exactly These People”

Let’s go back to that Wednesday meeting at 10 AM. If today I heard „all entrepreneurs are my target group”, I’d know exactly what to do.

First we’d write down all possible segments. Then filter through Urgency/Agency/Ability. Choose top 2-3. Do research of real pains. Create separate campaigns with separate language for each segment.

And instead of 2 customers with €3,750 budget we’d have 18.

This isn’t magic. It’s strategy. You speak to someone specific, about their specific problem, in their own language. Instead of shouting through megaphone at stadium, you talk face to face.

Problem isn’t that your target group is too small. Problem is you target everyone and waste budget on people who will never buy. On people looking for free solutions. On people who need something you don’t offer. On people who don’t have burning problem.

Solution is narrowing to 2-3 segments that have problem SO urgent they’ll pay TODAY.

And now question to you: does your team know WHO they’re talking to? Or testing blindly hoping something hits?

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Tomek Piskorski – Marketing based on research, not guesswork