Debra decided to make a dent in Dallas’ salon scene because she learned that Dallas county had 1.34 million women.

For acquiring new customers, most marketing plans tell you to ‘target your customers’ in three words and then move on to tactics such as listing your storefront on Yelp, Google, etc.

If targeting could be explained in one sentence or done in an instant, 60% of salons wouldn’t be struggling to survive.

Typically, a salon stylist has 12–15 customers a day, totalling 250–300 a month.

Of these, about 200 are repeat customers, while the rest float in and out.

So, in reality, Debra’s best bet is to find the ideal 5–10 customers who’ll love her service and then find 200 more like them. 

Instead, most Debras keep staring optimistically at the 1.34 million women who’ll never hear about her store or even step inside. 

It doesn’t matter if those 1.34 million women in Dallas are on Yelp.

What matters is if Debra will segment the right customer profile and target 200 more such customers.

Simply said, only the salons that segment survive.