Effortless

How much of that would you have felt comfortable asking of a taxi company before Uber? So yes, by all means, start by asking your prospects what they want, and your customers what made them want to buy—that will help you populate the explicit list of things that they’re looking for.

They contain just the key details that allow you to call a clear stereotype of your customer to mind, and nothing more.

answer to the question of what you want in your new sedan will be very different if it is being asked by a genie as opposed to a car dealer!

There is no objectively “good” offer, identity, or path—just offers, identities, and paths that are obvious, resonant, and intuitive to a specific ideal customer. That’s why identifying your ideal customer avatar is so important.

the obviousness of an offer, the resonance of an identity, and the intuitiveness of a path can only ever exist in relation to the needs and wants of a particular customer.

In this example, the red bull’s-eye is your ideal customer avatar. You won’t always hit it, and you can still celebrate the other customers who find their way to you. But you still need that precisely defined bull’s-eye to aim for, because you can’t hit a fuzzy target.

So entrepreneurs overcorrect, going from not enough detail to having way too much.

obvious, resonant, and intuitive are like beauty in that they exist only in the eye of the beholder.

if your friend told you Tina’s entire life story, you still wouldn’t really know Tina. But you might have the illusion of knowing Tina, and that would all but guarantee that the date won’t go well!