The Fierce Business Babe Podcast Ep 115: Attract Your Ideal Client

In today’s episode I am going to be talking about attracting your ideal clients and bringing them to you. We will be diving into the difference between ideal and potential, why you shouldn’t work with just anybody and how to identify your ideal client along with so much more!

Attracting Your Ideal Clients

By: Melissa Lin

I'm so excited to be diving into today's topic! So, today we're diving into attracting your ideal clients, bringing more of them in. Now, before we dive in, let's review some terminology and definitions. So I'm going to be using verbiage like; Ideal clients, and the words potential clients, a lot with you today. You've probably heard me use these phrases, these words before, but I really just want to define both of them for you so that you know exactly what I mean by those two terms, because they are different. They're very different.

Ideal and Potential Clients

So a potential client is anybody that has a problem that you could help solve. An ideal client is anybody with this problem that you can help solve, who you would also love to work with. You see the difference there. So for example, if you're an online coach or a service-based business, maybe you love working with women, helping them build their businesses, just like I do. Bob down the street may not be your ideal client. However, he may have the same problems. He may want to start his business. He may not have the tools, or know how to. So there's definitely a difference and I'm going to go into more detail and examples of who could, and maybe could not be, an ideal client and some of the differences there, along with some experiences I've had in the past as well.

So, now we know the terminology between a potential client and an ideal client. I want to go into some examples and really just share, like, what does this actually mean? So I'm going to say it again, just because it's so important in the differences, an ideal client is somebody with this problem that you can solve, that you would absolutely love, love, love to work with, right? Your soulmate, dream, ideal client. So again, what does this mean? So, some things that I look for myself in ideal clients are people who of course have a problem I can help solve. I love working with women who are easy to work with, meaning that they're going to trust me. They're going to trust the process. They're going to trust my strategies. They are coachable. That is such an important factor when I'm looking and speaking to potential clients.

In order for me to determine if they're ideal or not for my programs or some type of coaching with me, they've got to be coachable. So, you know, they value you and your expertise. I personally look for clients that will do the work, they're going to show up, they take responsibility, they take action. So they are going to execute the actions we provide them. Those are the people I look for to come work with me, be in my programs. I love supporting those types of clients because they're such go getters. They're such action takers and they go, go, go. They trust the process. They know it's going to work. They go, go, go.

So, if somebody is getting stuck, maybe on mindset or fear, there is a difference between somebody being lazy and not doing the work. There's a big difference there. Right? So someone who's getting stuck on mindset or fear that could still be an ideal client for me. I just get to help them work through some of those limiting beliefs and those blocks that they're having. Someone being lazy and not doing the work, that's not a mindset or fear. That is them being lazy, not doing the work. Maybe not being coachable, not an ideal client for me. So, if someone is getting stuck on mindset, fear, again, they probably want to do the work. I'm looking for people that have some sense of urgency of creating transformation in their lives, because this means they will be committed to the process and here for the long haul, striving for the best results, not just a quick fix.

So those are some examples of things I look for in ideal clients. And I wanted to share that with you today, because I was in your shoes. Not too long ago, I had no idea what kind of person I wanted to work with. I had no idea what to look for. I thought anyone who came my way was a perfect person to work for. Cause they needed my help, right? I could help them. So, sometimes this is just not necessarily the case. I have had many clients in the past that just weren't ideal clients. That was because I did not pre-qualify well enough back in the past, back in the day when I was just starting. If you're wondering, okay, “how do I pre-qualify Melissa?”, it's a whole different piece of terminology you're using there. a few podcasts episodes ago, I recorded an episode on how to pre-qualify your potential clients, how to kind of go through something similar, about questions to ask on an application form and that type of detail. So definitely go and check that episode out. If you want to learn more about that.

Why You Shouldn’t Work With Just Anybody

So you may be asking yourself this question, “Melissa, why don't we work with just anybody? Why not work with all potential clients? Can't they all pay me? can't I help all of them, like, why not work everybody?” So, here's an example that I want to share with you. You may have, and you probably do have, a ton of potential clients in your audience that maybe haven't spent any time on their money mindset. So, you could spend the time on a sales call with every single one of them personally. One-on-one, more of your time or of your effort to help educate them and help them improve their money mindset and then potentially converting them into a sale, or you could do that over time through your free content, through your captions, through your live trainings, etc. While you spend your time with those that are ready, ready to be challenged, ready to do the work, step outside of their comfort zones and are coachable and actually want to start. You should never have to convince somebody to work with you, right? If they're not ready to work with you, they don't see the value in your offer yet. They don't see the value in you yet, or they don't feel they can get the transformation. They're just not an ideal client.

So, if you have to spend so much time helping them see and transition and just educating them on that money mindset or whatever it is, whatever's holding them back, that block, Right? If you're going to spend so much time, one on one, they probably aren't an ideal client yet. You see how I'm using that term “yet”. They will. Start to nurture them, start to teach them in your content, create polarizing posts that really speak to them. I will create posts here and there about my clients that have invested in themselves before, because they were the ones that get the results, the ones that invest and see the ROI and trust the process and know that they get to invest themselves before they can even ask for people to invest in them.

Identifying Your Ideal Clients

Now that we know the type of person that could be an ideal client, I want you to start to identify who they are. Who is it that you want to work with? If you're mapping out your private coaching offer, who is this actually for? Is this for newbies? Is this for more established coaches or people in that industry? Are they potentially in the corporate world? Is there a gender that you prefer to work with? Is there an age that this potential client ranges in? How do they spend their time? Where do they shop? Now that we've started to establish who your ideal client is. I want you to actually brainstorm and start to answer some of these questions. The more you know them, the better, the more you can speak their language. And really, as you write content, what you want is you want them to read through a sales page of yours, or you want them to read down a post of yours and think to themselves: “Yes, yes, yes”. Like, “Oh my goodness. Melissa is literally reading my mind right now. Like she's in my head, she's reading my mind. She knows exactly what I'm going through”. That is what you want your ideal clients to feel as they're reading your content and going through your content as well.

Attracting Your Ideal Clients

So, now that we've established who your ideal client is, let's get into how we can start to really attract them. We get to attract them through your messaging. Then, we get to create a like, know, and trust factor with them. They get to like you, they get to know you, you know, they get to know, like and trust you. So what is the message that they need to hear from you to help them take action? What do they need to hear from you today? Right now in this moment? Tomorrow? What message do they need to hear from you to be empowered, to take that next step with you, or start to see you as the expert? So if you're looking at your overall messaging right now and just don't feel this is what they need to hear, then we can do a few things. We can either shift your messaging or shift our ideal client for your offer.

Now, again, if somebody is going to buy from you, they usually need to like, know and trust you. And then in order for you to create that like, know, and trust factor, you get to build this relationship through your content. If you've been listening to my podcast for a while, I usually call this touch points, some type of connecting point with your ideal clients. Are you going to add touch points and build that relationship through your content? You can do this by creating connection pieces, captions, stories, live trainings, you get to story tell. Where were you before? Where are you now? How can you add value and educate your audience with live trainings and educational pieces?

How can you inspire them? How can you show them what's possible for them and what's preventing them from taking action? Hey, these are all ideas for you to create content, to start to really attract your ideal client. This is always about them. This is never about us. This is always about them, your ideal client. What do they need to hear from you? What do they need to hear from you to feel safe in taking the next steps to work with you?

How To Do Market Research With Your Ideal Clients

So, here are some tips to start to shift your marketing and your language around so that you can start attracting your ideal client. So, you want to know what is significant to your ideal client right now, in this very moment. I asked this question earlier. I did this for a specific reason. It's a very important question to ask. You get to know this about your ideal client. What is the problem or what are many problems they are facing right now? What keeps them up at night? What is impacting their quality of life? Your ideal client will most likely be reactive and they're going to want support with the pain points and those things that they're feeling right now in this moment, not necessarily the things that could be problems five months from now, six months from now, a year from now, it's always about right now in this moment.

So we want to understand these problems, these pain points, and we want to speak to them. If you were unsure what these may be, you get to do some market research, create a quick survey and ask ideal clients to take them for you. Create polls on your social media platforms, create a poll in your Facebook group.

Something that we get to keep in mind is sometimes, what we think our ideal clients are going through, isn't always what they're actually going through. What we think is keeping them at night isn't always what's keeping them up at night. So, we get to ask them, we get to do market research. So, something that we do every single day in our business is market research. When somebody comes to our Facebook group, our free Facebook group, we ask them three questions before they get to join, it's market research for us, we're always doing market research, the engagement in our captions and our stories and things like that. So much market research that we're doing, because we want to be able to speak to our ideal client as best as can and really understand their languaging behind that.

So my challenge for you is to really get to know your ideal client and ask yourself, who is it that you would love to work with because yes, you can solve their problem, right? If they're a potential client, you can solve their problem. But these clients coming your way, are they clients that you really want to work with? So, you get to choose who you want to work with. You get to pre-qualify, you get to decide who comes into your programs, right? So these things to start to keep in mind, things to start to think about as you continue to move the needle forward in your business. I would love to hear your biggest takeaway from this! DM me @TheMelissaLin and let me know. I can’t wait to hear all about it! I’ll see you next time!

Topics we cover include:

The difference between ideal and potential clients
Why you don't want to work with just anybody.
Identify who your ideal client is
How to attract your ideal client.
Market Research

And so much more!

Times to check out:

(5:51) Ideal and potential clients

(10:40) Why you don't want to work with just anybody.

(12:43) Identifying who your ideal client is.

(14:06) How to attract your ideal client

(17:50) When to use market research with your ideal clients.

GET IN TOUCH WITH MELISSA:

Hot Leads Machine (new course):

https://www.themelissalin.com/hotleadsmachine

Are you ready to take your online coaching business to the NEXT level? Have you been wanting to start coaching, finally start making a full time income doing what you love? The Fierce Business Academy might be the right fit for you! Head to the link below for more details and to hop on the waitlist!

The Fierce Business Academy:

https://www.themelissalin.com/academy

The Caption Capsule

https://www.themelissalin.com/captioncapsule

Promo Code: PODCAST to save $$$ on The Caption Capsule!

Sell Like A Sales Queen Crash Course:

https://themelissalin.lpages.co/sell-like-a-sales-queen/

Five Figure Launch:

https://themelissalin.lpages.co/five-figure-launch

Find me on social media for more daily content!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelissalin/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.lin.180410