Your ideal client is great for business. It brings you to your best and highest level of performance. Understand your ideal client and you’ll attract more of them.
Ever have a client or colleague who just is not a good fit for you? What you are doing gets hard. All the fun goes out of it. It feels like a struggle.
On the flip side, ever work with a great client? Someone who ‘gets’ what you do? You understand what they want, and you deliver it with joy and enthusiasm.
When you’re used to working with people who aren’t a good fit, ideal clients can feel like the exception rather than the rule. You just make the best of it, because you have integrity and you still want to deliver a great product or service.
The thing is, you don’t have to settle for the occasional great client experience. You don’t have to jump from exception to exception.
You deserve more. Working with clients that are a good match for you and how you like to work isn’t a luxury. It’s a linchpin in the growth and success of your business.
So how do you find these wunder-people?
The first important step is to know who they are.
I don’t mean necessarily demographics or neighborhood or what newspaper they read, though that can be helpful to know.
Start with how these people make you feel when you work with them.
If you have already had a great client experience, start there. Think of someone you’ve worked with in your business, or in your job if you’re just starting a business. Someone who was a dream to work with. They made you feel seen and heard, that you were contributing something to them or your collaboration, and you looked forward to working with them.
Write down everything you know about them. Describe that person. What are they like? What motivates them? What’s their character? What makes them a pleasure to work with? It’s ok if you focus some of this on how they affect you. This process has to include that!
Next, move into things that they find challenging. What upsets them? How do they get in their own way? What challenges them when they are trying to do their best work?
Knowing all of those things will help you too. When you understand your client in terms of what is painful for them, you get at the heart of what often motivates them to take action, do something about it, and hopefully, buy what you offer.
This process will get you started on identifying your ideal client. I go into a lot of depth in this area with my clients, because it’s so important to business success. When you understand your client, everything else gets a lot easier.
By starting with this personal approach, you’ll learn important things about your client. This personal awareness will help you develop a better understanding of them as a client or customer.
The next layer of the ideal client process is to get into what triggers them to look for or at your offering. Make a list of all of those triggers. Or draw them to create a picture of your client. You’ll be able to incorporate some of the things you’ve already learned about them.
Those triggers and the emotions that accompany them are what will go into powerful marketing that specifically speaks to your ideal clients. You’ll be able to describe the benefits and features of your offering that get right at the heart of what your clients want, and why.
As you get clear on who your ideal client is, you’ll start to recognize them. You’ll write marketing copy that speaks directly to them. When you meet them, you’ll be delighted, and your energy will help build the connection. When they love what you do, they’ll refer people that are like them. The more you do this, the more ideal clients will come to you.
Your ideal client is a blessing for your business. It brings you to your best and highest level of performance. Operating at that level day to day means that you get to fulfill your potential and be your best as a person too.
Developing a deep understanding of your ideal client can take some time. Don’t let it discourage you if it all doesn’t pour spontaneously out of you at first. That almost never happens. Instead, work the process. Get to know the people you love to work with better. Do research. Ask good questions.
The ultimate goal is to have only ideal clients. That takes clarity.
Getting clear on who your ideal clients are is one of the most valuable things you can do for your business. It’s worth it!
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