The Best Strategy for Finding Your Dream Clients on the Web
If you are a solopreneur or personal coach, you know how important it is to have a good relationship with your clients. Getting them is hard work. Keeping them is tough as well.
We’ve all had those situations in our careers where we encounter the client from hell. We know we don’t want more of those. How do we get more of the clients we enjoy and none of the clients we don’t?
The Dating Game — Attracting Your Dream Clients
The current marketing sentiment on this subject is very similar to dating or looking for a mate. You could contact many people and advertise your service or product without regard to who is receiving your offer. Then you hope that enough of the people who fit your profile show up and accept.
You could take a little time to consider your values and goals as a business and your personal brand. Write this down and think about it. Once you can articulate your core values and those of your business, ask yourself if you would like to work with people whose values align with yours.
This is important because if you really stop to think about it, could you work with people who are very much like you? There’s the fantasy of meeting your soulmate and the reality of falling in love with someone who you share very little in common (on the surface).
We don’t have to fall in love with our dream clients, but we want to be in synch with them. We want to help them achieve their goals and grow. Having a bunch of dream clients in your roster makes work that much more rewarding. There’s a relationship there that transcends the effort we put into the job.
Analyzing the Value of Potential Dream Clients
Let’s take a little time to identify what a dream client means to you. Would they represent a combination of increased profits while fulfilling the work with less stress? Is it about a productive long-term business relationship with above-average satisfaction? How do dream clients fit into your overall business goals?
Strategize your advertising and marketing approach so that your prospective dream clients are confident that you understand them. They want to approach you for service because they are drawn to the way you think.
Of course, just pretending that you are someone else will not cut it. Eventually, your clients will figure it out. Be genuine in your philosophy and execution.
So, after you figure out who you are and what your company stands for, how do you discover your dream customers? Start by examining your market and the leading companies in it. Looking at the major players and people who gravitate toward them will help in initially understanding the marketplace.
If you like a certain business guru or a particular style of fitness regimen, look at their core audience. That could help you in targeting your potential perfect customers. Look at the comments or stats in your social media audits to find common traits in your followers.
How do your business rivals target their dream clients? It could make a difference if your target audience is local or global. Are you part of a huge sector or a smaller niche? Factor in how many dream clients you’ll be able to work with to hit your income goals.
Get into The Minds and Hearts of Your Dream Clients
Learn about their core problem. Take the time to develop your approach to positioning your product or service around their needs. They’ll rationalize their decision to come to you for a solution if they believe you understand their situation.
Do you know much about your best clients or customers? If you could nominate one for the best client award, could you do that? By now you’ve probably heard that in order to get more of the customers you want, you must first identify them. You need to create an avatar.
We’re going to have to convince the reader that we know what we’re talking about. That means research and collecting relevant information from credible sources. That’s right, credible sources.
Along with research on our subject, we’ll need to do some in-depth research on our intended market. I recommend building an avatar of the ideal client profile in order to get a feeling for the person we’re going to be speaking to. What I mean is, when we’re writing a book or even when doing a presentation, focus that information on one person.
Even with an audience of thousands, each person in that audience must get the feeling that they are the one receiving the message. This is how we hold their attention, and this is how we’ll affect their emotions. Everything must be about them.
While we’re conducting industry research, take the time to find relevant sources. Build the avatar the way dating apps are structured to find the right partner. When creating the avatar for marketing, use the worksheet provided.
Here are the specifics that you can use for creating your own avatar for marketing.
· Geographic location.
· Age.
· Generational designation.
· Relationship status.
· Education level.
· Work status.
· Income.
· Home type.
· Industry affiliation.
· Entertainment choices.
· Family and relationships.
· Food and drink preference.
· Hobbies and activities.
· Sports preferences.
· Religious affiliations.
· Charitable causes.
· Digital or online activities.
· Financial interests.
· Spending habits.
· Purchasing behavior.
· Travel preferences.
Let’s take a thorough analysis of the avatar’s reasons for being attracted to your product or service.
· What is their major pain point and how does it relate to your subject?
· Which concerns are related to your solution?
· What’s happened in their past that colored their outlook on the subject?
· How do they feel about what’s happened in their past?
· What is it about our offer that matters most to this person?
· How does it solve a need or satisfy their pain point?
· What are the chief benefits of our solution to their life?
· What goes through their mind before they take our offer?
· What are the defining moments that trigger their decision to say “yes”?
The goal is to create a model of the ideal person for your ideas. Someone who will understand what you’re offering because it was created just for them. It’s as if you took the information, the solution to their problem right out of their brain. Go to the word processor and get started on your avatar; your ideal customer.
Your Fleshed Out Avatar Should Feel Real to You
Here’s an example of an avatar for wellness professionals: Janet Sinclair.
Janet is an entrepreneur, 35 years old and married. She lives in California and earns $98,000 a year from her business that she’s had for the last five years. She is a college educated, licensed physical therapist who works with men and women over age 45 as a wellness coach. She teaches them how to stay loose and limber. She prepares people with prior injuries during their younger days for a healthy pain-free middle age.
Janet came up with an idea for creating a specialization. She realized that college sports background made her a good fit for working with aging ex-athletes and “weekend warriors” who have wanted to get back into shape but keep injuring themselves.
She has been working on a marketing plan to focus on that demographic. Janet has also been researching recovery strategies and exercises for older ex-athletes in their retirement years. She feels that there has to be a better way to expand her services without taking up more of her time.
Janet has a very hectic schedule. She thoroughly enjoys her business and the people she helps. Her kids will go off to college in a few years and she’s going to need to subsidize them.
The business side of things has been going well, but she’s finding herself spending more time trying to bring in new clients into the business and training new people to assist in the day-to-day activities. She’s feeling that strain of the business taking over her personal space.
Janet considered expanding the practice by opening up more locations. The costs were prohibitive and the investment would leave here with very little cushion if something goes wrong. She’s had lean years in the past and would hate to revisit that part of her history.
Her income and savings need to cover her retirement fund. Working with retired athletes has left a lasting impression on her for the need to have security for later years. A nest egg is very important to her.
She wants to continue growing but is afraid that the foundation of what made the business enjoyable is slipping away and it’s becoming more of a burden. The money right now is good, but she has no illusions that she will maintain this pace, 10 years from now.
Her desire is to put a system in place that will allow her to reap the benefits without the drudgery or headaches that come with consistent growth. She would like to take part in the business at her desired level while the business continues to grow.
It would be great to afford to go on vacation with her husband, help the kids to college, and moved to a smaller but more luxurious living space when the kids are finally out of the house.
Her biggest fear is losing everything financially and not being able to recover it before she gets old. The idea of starting from scratch because of illness or other tragedy is a major issue for Janet. She needs to generate income without the daily input of her time and energy.
By stretching your imagination and coming up with a fantasy person who embodies the characteristics of your ideal client, you open the door to invite them in. Your communication should be geared toward this client profile. Your content should speak to them.
Building a relationship with your ideal customers won’t be difficult if they are your dream clients. You’ll need to work hard to keep them, but they’ll be worth it. Welcome them in.
