Your Map to an Ideal Client [EXPERT BLOG POST]
Whether they call it buyer personas, client avatars, or ideal clients, nearly all of the marketing gurus out there say that it’s imperative to define your best-fit client. There’s an endless stream of advice on this subject, but much of it assumes you have unlimited access to market research and a team of worker bees to do constant focus testing.
It’s true that defining your ideal client can be a powerful tool that allows you to refine your messaging, zero in on the best-fit prospects, and weed out bad-fit clients. But for solopreneurs and small business owners without a lot of time and money, the search for the ideal client can feel like an endless trek on a dimly-lit path using a poorly-marked map.
If you’re a small, scrappy entrepreneur, you may not get the advice you really need from marketing giants. But we’ve got some great, actionable tips to share from entrepreneurs who understand the struggle - Heather Wylde Smith, an ethical sales and business coach, and Diane Brandon Moody, a PR expert turned manifestation expert. Both contributed their hard-won expertise towards our own process, and we’re grateful to have found them on our path.
Only you can find your ideal client, but today we’re going to give you a better map for the search.
What Is An Ideal Client?
Think of your favorite clients. They’re your ideal. You’d like more of them. They like what you're offering and you connect well with them.
To determine your ideal client, you need to consider the specific set of demographics and psychographics that describe the clients who are a good match for what you’re offering.
Some small businesses and solopreneurs don’t spend much time thinking about their ideal client, saying “we help everyone.” But the way we reach people through marketing tactics has changed tremendously in the last decade. People’s attention is scattered in many places.
Diane, who ran her own PR firm for many years, states that “We're in a very segmented society. Trying to reach absolutely everyone to buy Cheerios or Tide is a very old tactic from the days of daily newspapers and only three TV channels. Now we look to reach certain segments that can be sliced and diced in many different ways. Consider your product or service carefully in order to narrow down your potential client base.”
Demographics vs. Psychographics
There are two categories to look at when considering an ideal client. Demographics include the basic information you would fill out on a census form, like age, gender, and ethnicity. Psychographics involve more complex, nebulous traits like values, attitudes, and behavior.
In terms of demographics, Diane suggests asking yourself which traits are common to your ideal clients. Is there an ideal gender, age group, geographical location, or business size?
Other sample questions you could ask:
Are they looking to start a business or just have a simple side hustle?
Does their product serve adults or children?
What books do they read or podcasts do they listen to?
Are they married, do they have children, or are they religious?
Heather, who took many courses on how to define the ideal client, encourages clients to go beyond demographics.
"Most exercises for creating ideal clients are too focused on demographics. They also tend to get bogged down in mundane minutiae, asking questions like - What kind of car do they drive? What do they order at Starbucks? These things don't matter and do nothing to contribute to successful marketing UNLESS you're selling cars or coffee."
Unsatisfied with what others were telling her, Heather ended up creating her own framework to help her coaching clients find their ideal client. This framework has a strong psychographic component.
Heather’s pro tip: Look at clients you've had a lot of success with and ask, "What personality characteristics and behaviors made them phenomenal clients?"
The Top 50 List
Diane suggests making a top 50 list of all the characteristics of an ideal client, collecting together all the traits that make working together easy, successful, and profitable for both you and your client.
When we did this for ourselves, our list included:
Skeptical of traditional marketing advice
Smart
Experienced in their industry
Struggling with message clarity
Stuck in their head and seeking an outside perspective
For us, these characteristics define a good prospect, but your list may be entirely different.
Once you know what you’re seeking, you'll be able to discern the traits you want when communicating with potential clients. You’ll know the right questions to ask and what to listen for. It’s rare to find a client with all 50 traits, so Diane suggested highlighting the top 10 non-negotiable ones.
The Nightmare Client
Diane also recommends making a second list - the 50 traits you absolutely don’t want in a client.
And Heather even helps her clients by teaching them the importance of defining their NIGHTMARE client avatar so that they can repel the folks that aren't a good fit or who will be draining to work with.
Your nightmare list is likely to be a mirror version of your ideal client list. Some traits will be on everyone’s list, like “doesn’t pay the bills.” Our list also includes those who are highly transactional about pricing - the words “I could get this cheaper on Fiverr” are an immediate red flag.
Interview Your Ideal Clients for Some Interesting Surprises
If you really want to understand your ideal client's needs and motivations, try asking them!
During the pandemic, Diane created a free digital course on the art and practice of manifestation. When she interviewed a few of her ideal clients to see what they needed from the course, she learned some surprising things. It turned out that her clients wanted more 1:1 support from her while they were learning to think differently AND were willing to pay for her guidance. After that experience, Diane became a convert to the practice of interviewing a handful of ideal clients to help her create her offerings.
“In my experience,” Diane told us, “you will be surprised at something. Those surprises can increase your profit. I know this exercise sounds like a pain, but do NOT skip this step! You'll discover how valuable it is.”
What to Do With Wrong-Fit Clients
A client that isn’t ideal for you might be just the client someone else is looking for. When someone isn’t a good match for your services, we suggest promoting goodwill by being a resource for them to find a better fit (within reason). While we don’t send our nightmare clients on to anyone, if it’s simply a matter of someone wanting a service or expertise that we don’t offer, we’ll often introduce them to someone we think would be a better fit.
The Ideal Client Is Possible
It might seem impossible to have a business where you only work with people you like. But we believe it’s something that’s attainable, and have found the process of defining our ideal client to be one of the most important things we’ve ever done to build our business.
If you’ve ever struggled to find the ideal clients for your business, know that you’re not alone. And if you need some help along the way, reach out to us or to our experts below.
Curious about our experts? Check out Heather’s book The Online Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide which she wrote based on her personal experiences picking all the wrong - and finally the right-fit - coaches for her own business. And check out Diane’s digital course, Manifesting FUNdamentals, which turned me from a manifestation skeptic to a raving fan - the next one starts October 6th so don’t delay. These two women are two of my absolute favorites in the field and genuinely care about helping their clients succeed. We are deeply grateful for the role they both played in helping us develop our ideal client profile. We encourage you to check out these women-owned businesses that empower and support people like you and me.