When looking for ideal clients, where do you look? Do you even look or do you wait and hope they find you? Are you just a word-of-mouth business?
What happens when the word shows or stops? I’m asking this because this was my business in 2019. I had built a business with all my eggs in one basket… and then someone walked off with the basket.
I realised that knowing who I wanted to work with was key. But knowing where to find them was even more important. And so I began the journey of creating my own avatars for my business.
If you know my story, you will know my business has developed with me. From global corporate strategy to micro business owners that want to build a business strategy without burnout. It’s been a journey and my client avatar has grown with me.
So I want to talk to you about 3 things
- The avatar – what you want and don’t want in an ideal client
- The deep dive to really understand the client
- How you truly take action to find them
Before we jump in I wanted to take a moment to invite you along to my Mini-Master Series. This is 6 x 25-minute masterclasses over the next 12 weeks (start 29 June) to help you nail your business strategy. I have taken my 6 C’s strategies and broken them down into bite-size easy to attend sessions so that you can fit them into your life and business.
The Avatar
Understanding what you want and don’t want in an ideal client is really important in business. Yet most people never define these lists in much detail.
Why do you need to know what you want and don’t want? Easy, so you can spot the right clients quickly and take the appropriate action. Protecting your energy is the most important aspect of being self-employed. Without you the business is nothing, so your wellbeing needs to be high on the priority list.
When you say yes to work with clients that are hard work it will affect you on a greater scale than just those moments. It will reduce your energy and ability to show up in other areas of your business. This is why I think your No list is the most important in your business.
The no list
Creating a no list should be fun, you get to write down all the things you don’t want in a client. And you want to focus on traits or characteristics. As an example, you might decide that you don’t want clients who are needy, or that don’t take action. You might say you are only available for clients that value you, your work, and time. Clients that don’t question the investment or pay late. Maybe you don’t want clients that limit your creative process or have very different beliefs than you.
The joy of this process is that there is no right or wrong answer. It is your business so you can work with ANYONE you want. You just have to be clear with what you have NO time for in your business.
The yes list
Now you get to focus on what you do want. Using your no list as a springboard to ensure you are attracting the right people. You can start to write down all the characteristics of your ideal client that you would be a full body yes for!
This might start as an opposite list to your No list, but it is really important to start writing this down and connecting with it. So your yes list might say you only work with clients that are ready to take bold action, ready to show up for their business, are a hell yes to work with you because they see your value. No convincing here! As you build out this list I want you to focus on each statement and say out loud – I only have space to work with people that (add in your requirements).
Once you have all your characteristics we then need to deep dive, and go find these people!
The deep dive
You are going to start with your yes list in front of you. And now you are going to deep dive into who this person is. So I want you to image a person standing in front of you, they are your ideal client in characteristics. And now you are going to start adding some additional information to this person.
You want to get as many of these areas decided, as it will help you move forward with conviction. Start by thinking about the basics, do you only serve women? Do you only work with people in a certain town or country? Do you only work with people that share your religious beliefs? What about kids, do you only serve moms?
Then start to broaden out and think about what car this person would drive, where would they shop, what would they care about? How would they spend their time, and who do they WISH they could spend their time. What are their hobbies, what would they read, watch, listen to?
The more detail you can go into the better at this point, because this going to help you decide on what content to share. The angle you take will be very different if you are talking to busy mums vs traveling adventure seekers. The hobbies you post about on social media will attract the right or wrong clients, so think about your people.
My example of this
When I think about my ideal client in this way, I work with women, in the UK, that are feeling nervous about starting or growing their business. They want to achieve success without burnout. And success to them means the ability to work fewer hours, spend time with loved ones, travel and explore new places, go swimming, paddle boarding, hiking. And while they love the adventure ever now and again they want to be able to go on the all-inclusive luxury holiday and be super pampered. They are world conscious and buy plastic-free as often as they can, they aren’t big shoppers and do most shopping online, but only buy new things when they really need them. They love investing time into their own development by reading, listening to podcasts, and following inspiring people online.
For them, it is all about being successful in business while being super happy in life.
The action to find them
We can then start to find these people! Once you are really clear on the person you want to work with. You can start to create content and offers that speak to this person directly.
And this is about tapping into the pain points and pleasure points of your ideal clients. And then taking the action to talk to your ideal clients. In my next blog I will dive into pain and pleasure points in loads more detail. But for now lets talk about finding our people.
Finding your ideal clients
You want to think about where you would find these people, are they on Facebook, in certain groups? Maybe they are on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok? Maybe they spend all of their free time on YouTube or in Spotify listening to Podcasts? Or maybe they like to network online and you need to sign up to a few good networking groups?
This is about being really specific about how you could connect with your ideal clients.
Then think about what would attract them to you, go back to the list you created early – if they love a hobby, how can you show yourself doing the hobby? Can you use the hashtags associated with that hobby? Or join a group of people doing that hobby?
Think about the content they are looking for, that talks directly to them. So rather than say Business Owner, you might say Busy Moms trying to do it all. Can you see how these talks directly to a group of people. They will stop and engage because you are talking to them directly.
This is not about passively waiting for clients to show up. This is about doing everything you can to get in the path of your ideal clients and start talking to them. So if you have an ideal client comment on your post, direct message them and say thank you. This is not about selling, it is about genuinely connecting with other humans.
How do you connect with your ideal clients?
Mini-Master Series
Remember you have been invited to join me at my Mini-Master Series. This is 6 x 25-minute masterclasses over the next 12 weeks (start 29 June) to help you nail your business strategy. I have taken my 6 C’s strategies and broken them down into bite-size easy to attend sessions so that you can fit them into your life and business. The first Session is Tuesday 29th June – 10 am and covers having Clear Customers to help, so you can connect more deeply. Come join me live to make sure you have this nailed in for your business. Or sign up to catch the replay.