# Ideal customer profile: narrow or widen the niche > Build an ideal customer profile from the customers who actually get the result, say who is out, and find where the niche's members already talk to each other. - Course: [From Idea to Profitable Product: Building Without Investors](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product.md) - Module: Is the market big enough? - Lesson 17/30, ~24 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/narrow-or-widen-the-niche ## Twenty-two shops **Alex Tutor:** End of May. GarageDesk, where you're still my fellow advisor, has 22 paying shops, all in Vinnytsia. Today: which of them are GarageDesk's ideal customers. Oscar, who are they? **Oscar:** Mostly shops like Dennis's and Greg's: 2 to 8 bays, oil changes, brakes, suspension, the same cars every six months. But also two body shops and one big service center with 12 bays. **Sofia:** Isn't that good? More kinds of customers, more sales. **Alex Tutor:** Look at who gets the result. How many cars came back at the body shops? **Nina:** Almost none. People come to a body shop once, after an accident. There's nothing to remind them about. **Oscar:** And the 12-bay center wants user roles for eight administrators, reports per mechanic and a link to its accounting system. Every call is about something we don't have. > **Exercise:** Which of these shops gets the most out of GarageDesk's reminders? ## The ideal customer profile in one sentence **Alex Tutor:** A **niche** is a group you can describe in one sentence, with the same job, the same problems and the same words. Written down, that sentence is your **ideal customer profile**. Nina, write GarageDesk's. ![A street with a small repair garage, a body shop, a tyre shop and a large dealership; a spotlight shines only on the small repair garages.](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/inline/narrow-or-widen-the-niche-illustration-2.webp) *A niche says who's in, and just as clearly who's out.* **Nina:** Independent car repair shops with 2 to 8 bays that do repeat service work. **Alex Tutor:** Good. Now the other half: who's out? **Oscar:** Body shops, dealership service centers and big centers with a dozen bays. And tire shops, for now. **Alex Tutor:** Saying who's out is what makes the sentence useful. When the 12-bay center asks for roles, it's not a request for the "later" list. It's a different customer. **Alex Tutor:** Two drafts of that sentence came out of an earlier brainstorm. Which one can the team actually use? > **Exercise:** Which is the more useful ideal customer profile for GarageDesk? > **Exercise:** Which shops are inside GarageDesk's niche: "independent car repair shops with 2 to 8 bays that do repeat service work"? Choose all that apply. ## How to choose a niche: narrow or wide? **Sofia:** Why not widen it? Body shops are shops too. **Alex Tutor:** Widen when you've run out of people to talk to. Narrow when the product starts pulling in different directions. Right now you have two signals to narrow: shops that get no result, and requests that belong to a different business. **Alex Tutor:** Take the second signal. The 12-bay center has asked again. What is that request, really? > **Exercise:** GarageDesk's niche is independent car repair shops with 2 to 8 bays. One of its customers, a 12-bay service center, asks again for roles for eight administrators and reports per mechanic. How should GarageDesk treat this request? **Nina:** And when is a niche too narrow? **Alex Tutor:** "Shops with 2 to 8 bays on one street" is easy to serve and too small to live on. A niche is too narrow when it can't reach your goal. That's a count, and we'll do it next time. > **Exercise:** Match each signal with what it suggests doing with the niche. ## Where they already talk **Alex Tutor:** A niche has one more gift: its members talk to each other. Where do Vinnytsia shop owners meet? **Oscar:** At parts-supplier counters every morning, waiting for orders. In a Telegram group of Vinnytsia mechanics, about 1,200 members. And once a year at the regional auto-service fair. **Nina:** I saw them at the counter every morning when I worked at the distributor. **Alex Tutor:** That's your cheapest marketing: a notice at the counter, a useful post in the group, a stand at the fair. And nobody outside the niche has to see it. ![Early morning at a parts-supplier counter, mechanics in overalls wait for orders and chat; one shows another something on his phone.](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/inline/narrow-or-widen-the-niche-illustration-3.webp) **Oscar:** The group admins ban ads. But a post showing how one shop brought its regulars back, with real numbers, gets read. > **Exercise:** Which is the best first way for GarageDesk to reach more shops in its niche in Vinnytsia? ## In the niche is not the same as a buyer: who comes first **Sofia:** Paul is in the niche, and he still hasn't paid. **Alex Tutor:** Being in the niche means the same problems and words, not that everyone buys now. Paul spends nothing on the problem today, so he'll come late, if at all. Shops that already pay someone to call regulars come first. **Alex Tutor:** So Oscar has a few free mornings next week. Whom should he visit first? > **Exercise:** Which shop is Oscar most likely to sign quickly? **Oscar:** And the two body shops? They pay. **Alex Tutor:** Keep them while they want to stay, and tell them honestly that reminders may bring them little. Just stop pitching to body shops. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** Paul's 2-bay garage is outside GarageDesk's niche, because he spends nothing on bringing regulars back. ## Your turn **Sofia:** Can I try writing a niche for a different product? **Alex Tutor:** Take an app that helps driving schools schedule lessons and remind students. One sentence for who's in, one for who's out, and where they already talk. **Nina:** Make it narrow enough that you could name ten of them. **Oscar:** And real places. "Social media" is not a place. > **Exercise:** An app helps driving schools schedule lessons and remind students. In 3–5 sentences, define its niche: who is in, who is out, and two specific places where its members already talk or meet. > **Key ideas** > > - A **niche** is a group you can describe in one sentence: same job, same problems, same words. GarageDesk: independent car repair shops with 2 to 8 bays that do repeat service work. > - Define it from the customers who actually get the result, and say who is out: body shops, dealerships, big centers, tire shops for now. > - **Narrow** when customers get no result or requests pull toward another business; **widen** when you run out of people to talk to or the count can't reach your goal. > - Niche members already gather: parts counters, a Telegram group of about 1,200 mechanics, a regional fair. That's the cheapest marketing. > - In the niche doesn't mean buying now: those who already spend on the problem come first. **Alex Tutor:** Next time: how many shops like this are there in Vinnytsia, and is that enough for two founders? - Previous lesson: [Releases without fear: rollback and feature toggles](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/releases-without-fear.md) - Next lesson: [The market, bottom up: a market size example](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/the-market-bottom-up.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.