I talk a lot about how to be seen by your ideal clients.
Lately I’ve been beating 
the Facebook
marketing drum
because I know it is
the easiest way for you
to reach your ideal clients
and turn them into a paying client.
I kicked off my recent Facebook Lovefest with my 5-Day Facebook List Building Challenge. (If you haven’t gone through it yet it’s the perfect place to start to build your business presence on Facebook.)
But I realized this week that there is a piece of the marketing puzzle that I haven’t talked about, (that I use with my private clients), that could have a major impact on how many paying clients you get by the end of 2016.
Landing a new client is one of the most invigorating feelings an entrepreneur can have. Especially when you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you have what it takes to help them solve their problem.
Sales and client attraction is a trend that is growing quickly in the online marketplace and if it is your desire to be part of it then there is one thing you need to be crystal clear about before you grab that brass ring.
The one thing: Who is your ideal client?
I know many business coaches tell you that you need to be clear on the demographics of your ideal client; age, gender, marital status, etc.
While I agree that it’s part of the overall equation, it’s not the secret sauce that creates true momentum in acquiring new clients.
The demographic categories above are too generic. You’re going to have to dig a heck of a lot deeper than that to see results.
Let’s dive into an example so you are clear on what I mean.
Let’s say you’re Nadine the Health Coach. So far Nadine has identified her ideal client to be a married women, between the ages of 45 – 65.
To take this even one-step further let’s say Nadine focuses on helping these women fix hormone imbalance with natural remedies such as diet, exercise and supplements.
Sounds good right? To most Health Coaches that feels pretty darn specific. Yet, they aren’t making sales and I know why!
In fact, when I work with my private clients, (many that are in the health and wellness industry), this is a typical ideal client identity when we start working together.
Just to clarify… this is a great start. But it’s only a start because next there needs to be additional research that is done around that type of client.
What I’m saying is, you can’t stop there. That’s not good enough. It’s still not specific enough to create content and sales offers that actually get your ideal clients to pull out their credit cards to purchase.
If you can relate to something similar to that level of identification for your ideal client it may be the reason you haven’t had more clients sign up to work with you.
Hang in here with me. At the end of this post I’ll be sharing a very specific assignment that you can work on that will help bring your ideal client into focus in a way that you’ve never had before and is sure to bring in more sales.
It’s sure to be a game-changer in your marketing and your success of attracting new paying clients. It works every time with my private clients. Yep… 100% success rate.
Okay… back to our example with Nadine the Health Coach.
If I was working privately with Nadine and she came to me with that ideal client identification I would explain to her that she needs to go deeper.
She has to truly get to a place of understanding the emotion that comes with being a married woman, age 45-65, with a hormone imbalance.
In Nadine’s case they won’t buy because of her out-of-the-ordinary supplement regimen. They won’t buy because she can provide them with the most delicious hormone balancing recipes.
They will buy because of what those things do for them and the results they will receive.
Nadine’s out-of-the-ordinary supplement regimen provides results. Her ideal clients will buy because of the results they get from the supplements. Things like better sleep, less hot flashes, improved memory and cognitive function, improved complexion. Each and every one of those reasons are emotionally charged.
Do you see the shift in perspective here?
So how does Nadine get really clear on what her ideal clients want? She does research… lots and lots of research.
You can do this same kind of research, which leads me to the assignment I’m sharing with you.
When I start working with a new private client our first call is always 100% focused on ideal client identity.
Until we get the marketing message right nothing else matters.
So one of the first tasks I assign my new client is to go to Amazon and find 5-10 books that teach the same subject they use to support their ideal clients with through their programs and services.
Let’s keep using Nadine as our example.
I just did a quick search on Amazon and found the following 3 books that would be specific to Nadine’s ideal clients.
- The Hormone Cure: Reclaim Balance, Sleep and Sex Drive; Lose Weight; Feel Focused, Vita, and Energized Naturally with the Gottfried Protocal
- The Hormone Reset Diet: Heal Your Metabolism to Lose Up to 15 pounds in 21 Days
- The Hormone Diet: A 3-Step Program To Help You Lose Weight, Gain Strength, and Live Younger Longer
Each book has more than 100 reviews.
All three books are directly tied to Nadine’s ideal client.
Each book teaches pieces of the program that Nadine offers.
Now comes the super juicy part.
This is how you can quickly build a database of marketing knowledge in direct connection to your ideal client.
The next step is to read the book reviews. Not just the five star reviews, but the one and two star reviews also.
Start collecting the customer’s key words and phrases. Look for stories of where they were before they implemented the information in the book and where they are now after implementing.
For example, in book number one here were a couple noteworthy reviews with incredible insight into Nadine’s ideal client that she can use for future marketing and visibility.
This is the marketing information that will result in more sales because the words she uses are so specific to the frustrations of her ideal client. She can easily make the connection between their frustration and how her program resolves that problem.
Book review #1 notes: “When most of us go to our doctors to complain about hormones and gaining weight, our doctors are sympathetic but have no answers beyond the standard, “eat less, exercise more” advice. This book is like a user manual for hormones that you didn’t even know existed, yet are ruling your life! I especially love that the solutions are simple (not easy but simple) and involve no drugs – just lifestyle modifications (that are doable). I would recommend this book for women who are committed to living a full life and want to know the full range of options to do it. Read this book and someday soon, you too could be singing the “I feel awesome and my jeans are too big on me” non-blues!”
Book review #2 notes: “After years of juice fasts, cleanses, retreats, exercising, nutrition, working with numerous practitioners, and still suffering from mood swings, anxiety, PMS, exhaustion, weight gain, and recently perimenopausal stuff like sleep issues, mid afternoon slumps, low libido, etc. I feel like I have a new lease on my life. I now have more energy, less stomach bloat, less weight, less achy joints, and good sleep. I’ve been a searcher for years and have tried it all. This protocol is so sensible and it works!!!”
Can you see how much insight researching your ideal client in this fashion can provide you? Imagine writing your next sales page or sales email armed with this type of personal information.
This is truly where the rubber meets the road my friend.
These are the emotions and frustrations that led to the purchase of this book. These are the same emotions and frustrations that will lead them to purchase your programs and/or services.
Now it’s your turn.
Follow the steps outlined in this post and dig really deep into the pain and suffering of your own ideal clients.
Take the time necessary to reach a level of clarity around your ideal client like you’ve never had before.
Get crystal clear on how your programs and services solve those problems.
Then connect the dots for your ideal clients in all of the marketing that you do down the road.
Create and market content around your findings and I promise you will see a spike in attention from your ideal clients. You’ll grow your email list at a much quicker rate, fill your webinars with more qualified registrants and make more sales because you have clarity around who you are speaking to.
Once you’ve given this technique a whirl post below and let me know what you think. Share how this helped you get clear on who your real ideal client is and how you can solve their biggest pain points.
XO ~Karen
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I love this, I will start doing this today.
Thank you for being awesome!!
Hey Dawn… I’m so thrilled that you found this valuable. I’m sure you are finding all kinds of cool stuff by now. 🙂
Once again you have gone above and beyond in giving us insight into running our business. I’m just getting started and you have helped me tremendously. Thank you for all your hard work.
Hi Terri… this process will be a game-changer for you. I’m so happy that you are able to use this as you get started in your business. Many others have struggled for years without this information. Good luck with your new business. 🙂