Win Ideal Clients: Get Granular

Getting clear on your ideal client creates a focus for your business growth in a way that nothing can. It allows you to get granular and specific in terms of offers, where to find ideal clients, pricing and so much more. It feels counterintuitive; however, it’s one of the most important decisions to make in order to grow your business effectively.

What kind of clients would be ideal for your business?

Here are some reasons why it’s important to get crystal clear on who you’re serving.

1. You’ll skip a massive time waste

2. You’ll be less burned out and more satisfied because those clients are IDEAL for you.

3. Ideal clients bring you energy because you stay in your genius zone.

4. Ideal clients pay on time. Just one part of what garners them this space.

If you don’t have clarity and create content for a distinctive audience, they won’t recognize themselves in your content and that ideal client won’t have their interest piqued.

If you try to please everyone at once, you’re going to end up pleasing no one at all.

Instead, focus on attracting ideal clients who will help you grow your business.

Imagine this for a second.

You enjoy an abundance of incredible leads calling you because you’re so good at what you do.

They’re excited to work with you, and willing to pay a premium rate because you are a specialist in your field with credibility and authority.

Sounds good, right?

It’s certainly possible, but it doesn’t really matter whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in business for a while.

Consider this as a simple formula.

The first thing in that formula is to draw in the right kind of people who will be the best fit for working with you.

They’re the ones who love your process, personality, and way of showing up for them.

1. Ask yourself WHO your ideal clients are.

2. Specialize. Become known as the go-to guy or gal for a service, you need to create content that solves the problems that your target audience has.

3. Clarity on who you’re talking to elevates you to expert status. You want to become known for your unique skills and knowledge.

If you create content that tries to appeal to everyone, no one will be able read what your expertise is in, so they won’t know who you really are.

And no matter what you think your niche is or where you want to take it, explore ways on how you can dig deep into that niche.

For example, perhaps your job involves helping people plan their finances.

If you get specifically clear on your dream client, you will go further. What if you positioned yourself as a financial planner that helps Millennials with their retirement plans, so they can retire at an early age.

Once you’ve got that level of clarity, you’ll be able to easily create targeted content for specific people and become known as an authority in that space.

You can easily find where they hang out by looking at their social media accounts.

To effectively reach and resonate with people who fit your target audience, you must be able identify them.

Consider another service option and explore defining your ideal client avatar. Let’s say you are a virtual assistant, and you decide that you want to focus on helping realtors who sell commercial properties.

Once you know who you want to talk to, you can start searching for groups on LinkedIn, social media sites, and online forums to connect with them.

And the good news? Because you’ve niched down and gotten clear on your WHO, you won’t be competing against a huge number of other VA’s who are generalists. Instead, you’ll be one of the only VA’s targeting this vertical. It also makes you more memorable an easy for others to refer you to ideal prospects once they know these specifics.

You’ve positioned yourself to be highly sought after by companies in the commercial real estate industry who need help.

You’ll learn their language and the different kinds of forms they need and which software works best in specific tasks. Perhaps your niche is there because of your previous life and professional expertise. Do you have expertise in accounting for the construction industry? Position your expertise around that. Construction firms know when they hire you, they won’t have to overexplain things or have lost time because you may not be familiar with a certain industry standard. It’s easier for the construction firm owner to recognize the value you will immediately bring to them. You are someone who can save them immense time, headache and frustration. Clients are looking for that, even if they haven’t said it out loud.

When you write content that reflects that knowledge and expertise, they will find YOU.

They need someone who can save them.

Imagine how many commercial real estate agents would love to have a virtual assistant who specializes in their industry or a construction firm that can hire a fractional accountant or CFO that knows their industry, jargon and practices.

How to get clarity about who your dream clients are

So here’s how you get a clear picture about who your dream clients are. Once that’s done, it’s so much smoother to create content for them specifically.

Here is a way to start:

Imagine just one individual.

Imagine you’re sitting together having coffee.

Describe this person by giving detailed descriptions of his/her demographics (age, gender, race, etc.) and personality traits (e.g., extroverted, hobbies, how they prefer to spend free time.

List out their wants, needs, and wishes.

What does he value in life? What does he do on his days off? What is her hobby? What is her favorite color? Give them a name.

After doing so, identify your target market’s pain points!

You’re in business because you solve customer problems. You’ve got the experience and the answers for a particular set of problems.

This is why getting “close to them” helps you figure those things out and be able to speak directly to what concerns them in a way that resonates well.

Once you really, deeply understand the challenges, this type of person faces it’s very doable to create products and services they’ll want to buy.

You’ll need to get to know your ideal clients well.

Ask yourself these questions:

What problems does my ideal client face?

My ideal clients’ frustration — and how I can solve it?

What doesn’t my customer like about my competition?

What is causing my customer to waste their time, spend money that doesn’t get them results, be frustrated, stay unhealthy, keep having bad relationships, etc.?

Once you understand your target audience’s pain points, you can cater to them with the services packaged in a way that delivers beautifully. Think hand in glove analogy here.

Write a paragraph describing your ideal customer.

After doing all of these things, write a paragraph describing who she/he is.

For example, a personal trainer might write the following: “My ideal client is someone who wants to get fit but has no idea where to start.”

Maria is a forty-four-year-old married mother of two teenagers who works full time and has no time to exercise. She grabs fast food instead of cooking healthy meals. She also eats too many sweets after dinner. Maria feels unattractive and lacks energy. She wants to lose weight and feel better about herself.

The above is an example. Create your own version.

Now that you’ve done that, what else did you discover about your ideal client? I’d love to know!

If you’re still working with a broad audience what keeps you from narrowing down your focus? What prevents you from picking a specific niche?

If you’d like to discuss how to get more specific on your ideal client, put your question down in the comments section below or DM me at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ic-growth/

Ideal Client Profile (Part 1) – Demographic Data

Classic data such as age, geographic location, family, work, income.

Ideal Client Profile (Part 2) – Psychological Data

The demographic data told us who our Ideal Client is.

Psychological data, however, will tell us why they would want to purchase our products or services.

Part 2 will depend largely on your area of business.

Ideal Client Profile (Part 3) – What are they searching for What problems or needs do they have?

Can you take your business any further?

If you’re still working broad, what keeps you from narrowing down your focus? What prevents you from picking a specific niche?

If you’d like to discuss how to get more specific on your ideal client, put your question down in the comments section below and I’ll follow up.