There is an ideal client for every product and every service but whether you need to worry about who that ideal client is depends on whether you’re targeting a niche or the mass market.
For this post I’m going to assume you’re targeting a niche market – whether you’re making customised cakes; unique wedding dresses; coaching people who are starting out in business – anything where you are customising a product or providing a personalised service.
If you know who your ideal client is it’s easier to ensure your product or service is available where and when they want to buy it. It’s easier to talk to them in the language they use and interact with them in the places where they hang out.
Deciding who your target clients are
But how do you decide who your target clients are ?
If you’ve been in business for some time you know the people who drive you crazy and the ones who are a delight to work with. You can make a list of the characteristics of the clients who you feel comfortable with and who you’re always pleased to interact with, work with, go the extra mile for.
You might find that you tend to attract women or just men; people of a certain age; people with children; poeple without children.
If however you’re just starting out in busness then you need to approach this matter from a different direction.
- You might want to think about that sort of topics that people ask you for advice on and who those people are – not in terms of whether they’re your friends, family, colleagues but what are their characteristics: gender, age, financial situation
- You might have decided what custmisable product you want to offer or personalised service and then you could ask around people who want or need that service or product and see whether thiere are common characteristics – again gender, age, etc
But… you also need to determine whether they can afford you. For example I would love to offer to help people who are former caregivers (as I am check www.caregiverjunction.com if you’re curious) however the majority of these lovely, caring people either don’t have the money or who are nervous to spend very much money. Since you’re not social services and you’re not running a charity you need to make money so that type of client is someone who you would help on a scholarship basis so you might offer x number of these scholarships each year.
Attracting your ideal clients …
… and only your ideal clients.
So how do you do this?
If you offer services you’re less likely to get hassles if you make it clear who you can help, who you work best with. For example on my web page about my coaching services I say that we’d work well together if:
- you’re serious about coming up with a viable idea for your business.
- you’re really committed to evaluating your business idea so that you only move forward with a business that has a strong chance of success
- you really want to be successful in your business endeavours
- you can handle me not taking your hard earned money to have a cosy chat, tell you what you want to hear and avoid any issues.
Yes – this is very straight talking but… there’s no point spending my time trying to help someone who does nothing or very little. It’s frustrating, drives me round the bend and I run the risk of them saying they didn’t get any benefit from working with me. If it puts people off then that’s fine – however it will (and does) attract my ideal client.
A coach or consultant is only as good as their reputation and the last thing you want is someone buying your programme, not bothering to implement the action points, ignoring your sound advice and then saying that you weren’t any good. Word of Mouth can be both positive and negative and you need it to be positive.
Your Action Points
Lot’s of these today !!
- think about the characteristice of the people who ask you for advice; the people who want to work with you (that you enjoy working with… this is crucial)
- if you’re starting out in a business or starting a new business research the people who might need your service – what are the common characteristics?
My Questions to you
- do you know who you ideal clients are?
- how did you determine who they were?
- what are the consequences of having ideal clients?
