Your ideal client is at the heart of your business. Therefore, working with someone you love versus someone you don’t can make all the difference in the world!
You probably thought long and hard about your niche market. As a result, you have a pretty good idea about why you want to help a certain subset of the population and have a clear picture of what magnificent outcomes your clients will have.
You’re ready and willing to help everyone who comes your way and you’re ready to change the world!
You already know the basics of the profile of your ideal client, you know:
- Their gender, age, and demographics
- Where to find them
- Where they get their information
- The type of language they use
- What keeps them up at night
- How your product or service will serve them
- What desired outcome they are seeking
Just knowing the above factors, is not a sure in for you to find and work with your ideal client. An important step is to create deep connections – you might even say a love affair – with your ideal client, you need to dig a little deeper.
Possible consequences of working with a LESS than ideal client
Getting a client that is not ideal, may lead to a huge disappointment. One that has you second-guessing why you got into business. I had such a client, one that I almost allowed to destroy my dreams …
When I became a coach, I chose divorce coaching as my niche and created Coaching for Divorced Women. I was thrilled at the breakthroughs my clients were having. I enjoyed my clients and the time spent serving them. That is until I began coaching a lady I will call Jane.
Jane fits all the factors in my target market, however, she definitely was not my ideal client.
Why? She and I did not mesh. She was extremely critical of me.
Due to the fact that Mom was from New York and Dad from the South, I acquired problems pronouncing quite a few words. I went to a speech therapist through the seventh grade.
Every time I spoke with Jane, she would yell (I do mean YELL) at me for the way I pronounced a few words. This shattered my confidence, and I began to doubt my ability to be able to effectively coach. It brought back very painful memories of children teasing me. Had it not been for my coach at the time, Mary Allen, I would have quit coaching altogether and given up on my dream.
Mary told me that I got to choose who to work with. That I had the right to fire clients. I chose to stop working with Jane because she was not my ideal client.
How to determine your ideal client:
Not everyone’s ideal client will have the same attributes. Figure out what personalities you get along with the best.
What about them makes the two of you click?
What is it that you love about them?
Which of your personality traits are they attracted to?
In addition, you want to have a good relationship with your ideal client. One of mutual trust, respect, and communication. Furthermore, you may want to work with someone who takes responsibility and is willing and ready to do the work necessary to achieve their goals.
You may want to consider things such as their:
- Sense of humor
- Appreciation of you
- Ability to pay
They say do what you love however if you are like me, how much you love doing what you are doing has a lot to do with whom you are doing it with. It was not much fun working with Jane, even though I love coaching.
When I think of my ideal client and making the right decision for my business, I think of someone who likes to laugh, takes responsibility for their lives and their choices, is determined to achieve their dreams, enjoys and learns from the stories I tell, and most of all my presence adds value to their lives.
In conclusion, it is time for you to do some thinking and writing to identify your ideal client, which will bring more fun and profits into your business.
