Who Is Your Ideal Client?

Once we figure out our why, we want to really look at your ideal client. A lot of people push back on this and will say, ‘Well, I don't want to specialize, because I don't want to keep people out from seeing me’. This is a valid concern, but imagine this scenario. Imagine you go out to eat at a fancy French restaurant and your father-in-law or your grandpa or grandma comes and they're like, ‘I'm more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy, I want to have just a burger’. I imagine that if you said to the Chef, ‘I know this is kind of insulting, given that you are a Michelin-Rated Restaurant, but my father-in-law really just wants a burger, can you whip something up with whatever you have?’ It's probably going to be one of the most amazing burgers your father-in-law has ever had. But, if you went to a mom-and-pop restaurant and said, ‘You know what I really want is, I would love a creme brulee. Please, I'm dying for creme brulee!’ They're probably not going to be able to whip up a great creme brulee. See, when people are specialists, they can typically do generalist work. You can ask your brain surgeon about the rash on your arm, and he can say, ‘Yeah, just go get some cream for that’. But, if you go see a dermatologist, you're not gonna say, ‘Hey, can you just do some brain surgery real quick?’ No, you're going to go to a specialist. So, the same is true in counseling. People will assume that if you work with angry kids, like I do, you can work with anxious kids, you can work with parents that have angry kids, you can work with angry spouses. But, your marketing can be all around an area that you can be known for.

One thing I do with my consulting clients in the very first time that I meet with them is we create what's called a ‘business avatar’ or an ‘ideal client profile’. We actually give them a name and an age. So say we're going with the angry kid. Let's name him James and he's 14 years old. But, I also want to make an ideal client profile for who's going to make the decision for James to come to counseling. For me, statistically, it's usually the mom that picks up the phone and makes that phone call. So, say I have mom, who had James when she was quite young, 22. Maybe she's 35, 36, somewhere there now and her the name is Janet. Then, I ask my consulting clients, ‘How would they vent?’ So, when Janet is frustrated with James, how would she vent about him? Who would she vent to? Would she be checked out on Facebook? Would she be isolated? Is she connected in a church? Is she connected somewhere else? How would they vent? Next, we want to look at who are they connected to? So, are they connected to a church? Are they connected to somebody else? Really knowing this profile of them - even to the point of picking out a picture online, not of a client or of someone you know, but someone that looks like James in your head - is going to do a number of things.

When you do any blogging or writing on your website, you're going to speak as if you're speaking to them. You're going to have a better idea of their struggles. The Cupla brothers from Cupla Media were recently at Slow Down School, coaching people on their videos. They had to help these therapists - who weren't super comfortable on video - talk about their ideal client in 30 seconds. The structure they gave is a magnificent one. The first thing was, ‘What's a struggle that they're dealing with?’ So, what's their life like now? Paint that out for them. Next, talk about what your plan is within counseling. So, for example, ‘We usually have three to five sessions and then we have a family session’. Then talk about what's on the other side of counseling. So, for example, ‘By the end, you'll be able to do this as a parent’ or ‘You'll be able to feel this as an angry kid’. So, if we have that pain and struggle and what their everyday life is, then we can come up with the plan and the outcome. Kelly Higdon, from ZynnyMe, also said to imagine that your ideal client was journaling the night before. That that mom, before she picked up the phone to call you, the night before, what would her journal say? Maybe even write that out. For example:

‘Dear Journal. I am so frustrated with James. James is just under my skin. He won't do his homework. I'm getting calls from his teachers at work and I'm going to lose my job if the principal calls one more time.’

That gets you into the head of that ideal client so much faster