If you’re a new business owner or a seasoned one, the one question that you keep asking yourself revolves around your ‘ideal client’ or, more particularly:
“How to identify and attract the type of client I want to work with?”
In other words, “what’s the ideal client for my business?”
If you’ve been subscribed to my blog for a while now or you follow me on social media, you know I’m a big fan of the saying:
This rings no more true then when determining and deciding what clients to work with!
At this point and if you’re still fairly fresh in your business, you might be secretly asking, “But why? Why is it really so important?”
I want to make sure to answer this because if you understand this right now, your future business will thank you a thousand fold later on ;).
Working with the right or ideal client can make the work or service you do for them not feel like actual work. Truly! You’re going to love getting up in the morning because you so enjoy working with them and their cause!
Imagine you’ve just quit your 9-5 a couple of months ago… you just managed to sign on a few clients and you couldn’t be more proud.
But a majority of them will soon turn out to be the ‘wrong clients’ for you.
A few more weeks or couple of months into your business, you’re going to find asking yourself WHY YOU EVEN QUIT YOUR 9-5 IN THE FIRST PLACE!
You’re going to feel nervous, tired, anxious hopping on a call with these clients, uncomfortable actually doing the work for them, etc.
I’ve honestly experienced and seen it all.
That’s why I’m so passionate about this topic!
Because I’ve seen a lot of budding entrepreneurs and small business owners, actually shut down their business and go back to a regular job!
And all, because they didn’t receive any help and couldn’t figure out how to:
[A] Identify and attract the right type of client to work with.
And…
[B] Charge the right pricing for their services and not down-sell themselves, even as they’re just starting out.
{The latter I’m going to be dedicating another in-depth blog post on soon, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to this blog to get notified when that is ;).}
So, let’s focus on [A] so that your business dreams you’ve harbored during your regular job (or while still in college), actually do come true <3. Ready?!
STEP #1: IDENTIFY YOUR OWN PERSONALITY TYPE. Or, who are you?
This may seem counterintuitive at first but a big portion of figuring out who you want to work with has to do with understanding who you are.
You didn’t expect that, did ya?
So, I want you to pick up your journal right now and answer the following questions:
- Am I the kind of person that cares about the cause of a business and/or brand? Or, do I care more about the usability of the product?
- Do I love talking to people on the phone, do video conferences, etc.? Or, do I prefer to communicate with people in business through email and in writing in general?
- What’s my personality type? Once I know this, I know which other personality types and characters I match well and which ones to avoid.
- A great way to determine your personality type has been the 16Personalities test. It only takes 12 minutes to complete and the results are astounding.
- Do I want to work with experienced, high-end clients and close projects of $15,000 and up? Or, do I feel more comfortable working with beginning business owners and charge $1,000 for my average service?
This list of questions could go on and on.
Typically and once you start journaling, you’re going to find yourself writing away and coming up with one point after the next.
Once you are done, step away and look at it.
I betcha a certain type of persona that you want to work with has already started creating itself in your mind.
STEP #2: WHY DID YOU GET INTO BUSINESS IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Often times when we’re in the grind and the hustle and bustle of daily business activities, it’s easy to forget why we got into business in the first place.
Remind yourself right now…
+ What the number one reason was?
+ What was the moment that sparked that fire inside your chest to start your business?
+ Why did you want to do your particular business? There’s a thousand and more other things you could have done. Why did you choose this? And if you haven’t started your business yet, why do you want to be doing XYZ?
STEP #3: WHAT MISSION DO YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH WITH YOUR BUSINESS?
Have you ever heard that each great business has also a great mission?
If you haven’t taken the time to craft out a mission statement for your new business yet, now is the time!
What are some causes that you care about? Are there causes that you and your ideal client have in common?
Look at the clients you’ve already worked with in the past or, are working with right now. What aspects of their business do you enjoy growing the most?
Why do you want to be thinking about all that?
Because people do business with people and brands they trust.
Crafting out your mission statement and being vocal about it on your social media, creates trust in your ideal clients that you and only you are the right person for them to work with!
STEP #4: ANALYZE YOUR INDUSTRY & YOUR OWN DATA
When it comes to any and all industries, there are particular client and customer types already pre-created.
In case you’re completely innovating your industry, you might want to create a new ‘client or customer persona’.
But for most of us, identifying your own ideal client has a lot to do with researching your industry in addition to getting clear on your own business and yourself.
Now, how do you do this?
There are a few ways to go about your research.
According to TopDogSocialMedia, here is a way to do it:
If you are B2B, try Googling the companies and organizations you would love to work with. Read the bios of their senior decision makers to learn more about them. You can gain additional information on these people (and others similar to them) on LinkedIn and Twitter.
https://topdogsocialmedia.com/get-marketing-attract-ideal-clients/
If you are B2C, imagine each type of ideal client. For example, perhaps you are you looking for busy soccer moms or millennials who commute to work. Create a clear picture in your mind of who each of these people are.
Now construct a list of possible labels for each of your top ten clients.
What label will each most strongly identify with? Make note of the commonalities and differences.
Use these labels to create a clear picture of who your ideal clients are and how they see and represent themselves to the world.
Next, if you already have a website for your business, be sure to integrate it with a Facebook Pixel!
I can not stress how important it is because while you’re getting clear on other things and keep sending traffic to your site, the Facebook Pixel will do a lot of the work for you in terms of creating an audience profile.
Oh and the same goes for Google Analytics! Don’t shy away from it.
Successful business owners look at and continue to learn from their numbers – in all areas of business. But you need to put your business in the best position possible to make those calls.
Additionally and if you have enough data, you can use sites like www.semrush.com to see where your traffic comes from.
This, in turn, can help you identify on which platforms your audience hangs out at the most which we talk more about in the up-coming Step 6.
STEP #5: KNOW YOUR IDEAL CLIENT LIKE THE BACK OF YOUR HAND
If you are reading this right now and your business ain’t flowing yet, it is probably because you spent more time asking yourself things like:
“How can I get more sales?”
“How can I sign another client to cover my fix costs this month?”
“Why is nobody buying from me?”
“Why am I not closing during sales calls?”
Etc.
All of these questions asked at the right time are valid questions.
Though, most of the time, the root to the solution of these questions is in determining the ideal client for your business!
You see, once you went through all of the previous steps, you’re going to elevate your language and how you show up when talking to him/her – if on social media or on the phone!
Your ideal client has a very particular way of speaking and thinking about things and particularly the NUMBER ONE PAIN POINT your business can help him/her solve the most!
This is very important to understand.
Most entrepreneurs and businesses fail to attract their ideal client because of the language they use in their branding AND marketing.
How can you change that?
(a) Identify 3 big competitors in your market.
(b) Go on their social media profiles (particularly Instagram, Blogs & Youtube), join their Facebook Groups, etc. for the SOLE PURPOSE to read through all of the COMMENTS they’ve been getting.
(c) Create a Google Spread Sheet & jot down all of the follow-up questions their followers have been asking them.
(d) Notice a pattern that is going to come up of particular questions and pain points.
(e) Decide on 3 pain points off all the questions you’ve collected.
(f) Test those 3 pain points with your own audience by publishing content.
(e) Identify the NUMBER ONE pain point AND messaging that your audience seems to relate to the most.
(f) Et voila! You’ve nailed your messaging.
If you follow these steps and you do this at least once per quarter, you can be sure that your business is growing exponentially and fast ;).
STEP #6: MEET YOUR IDEAL CLIENTS WHERE THEY HANG
Are your clients the type of people who spend a whole Saturday hanging out at Ikea or, do they prefer to go shopping at Hermes on Rodeo Drive?
Maybe they prefer to check out .. on Melrose Avenue or, they simply like to shop online?
Do you see where I’m going with this?
You HAVE TO take your time and find out where your ideal clients hang out at the most.
This will depend who you target in terms of age range, gender, industry, etc.
But most of the time, your ideal clients congregate on at least one of the social media channels.
STEP #7: BRAND YOURSELF LIKE THE CHAMP THAT YOU ARE
Now, it’s all about now playing it shy but showing the world and your ideal clients how awesome you are!
Mackwebsolutions has summed the core process for awesome branding up with this cool infographics:
Another component of great branding is to have a consistent content strategy in place.
In case you’d like to learn more about this component of effectively attracting your ideal clients through your content, check out this related article on the blog:
Now, it’s time to market yourself because you’re ready!
I hope you found this article helpful.
Be sure to spread the love and share it it if it has helped you! Or, screenshot parts of it and post it on your Instagram Story & tag me @corneliapauline <3.
Also, if you know your clients mostly hang out on Facebook and in Facebook Groups in particular, check out my FREE guide on,
“How to attract 10 new clients each month on Facebook without paying a dime for ads!”
It’s pretty neat with lots more details and tricks.
Plus, I’d recommend you check out the course details that are going to pop up after you opt in to one of my signature programs – Facebook Famous ;).
It’s been a game changer for many service-based entrepreneurs, network marketers and coaches who have scaled to $10,000/month with my Facebook Famous branding & selling strategies.
Let’s do this!
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