I’m sure you’ve heard before that it’s super important to know who your ideal client is so that you can attract them into your business. It’s the underlining key to your business success and something that we really want to nail from the start. Today I am going to share my top tips when it comes to finding and attracting your dream clients. 

So, who is your ideal client and how do you recognise them? 

Before we jump in, we need to get clear on who it is that you want to be working with. You’ll often hear the term ‘client avatar’ and generally, this is what people are talking about; that ‘ideal’ person that you see as the perfect client.

Often, you’ll be told that your client avatar should read a bit like this:

“She’s a business owner, who’s built her brand from the ground up. She has a small team and wants to see her business grow over the next 12 months. She’s married, has two children and wants to be able to balance her biz life with home life. She loves to buy her morning coffee from her favourite cafe, goes to gym & loves to splurge on a handbag or two”

It’s a hyper specific topline categorisation of a person that often includes their age, marital status, where they live, where they like to shop, the coffee they like to drink, blah blah blah…. It very focused and a very, very (in my humble opinion) narrow minded way of looking at your clients.

Instead, I believe that what’s more important is to look at things with a broader view, because let’s be honest, you’re not going to work with just one type of human being are you?! No! How boring would that be?

Rather, you need to figure out who it is your want to serve and help, and what are the pain points that you will fix for them? THAT’S the reason why we need to know who our ideal client is!

GET BRAINSTORMING!

  • Are they are business owner? Or do they work for someone else?
  • What industry do they work in?
  • Are they niched?
  • Do they exist in a saturated industry?
  • What resources do they utilize to do their work
  • Where are they? Do they hang out on Instagram? Is Linkedin their space of choice? Do they prefer private Facebook groups? etc
  • What are the pain points in their business?
  • How are they feeling now and how do they want to feel?

By understanding their frustrations, problems and desires, you can really speak to this throughout your content & marketing material. It creates connection between you and your ideal client, which will ultimately lead to trust. And we all know, trust leads to new clients! 

Have you already found them?

If you’ve already been working with clients, you’ll likely have been working with that ‘ideal client’ already. Granted, not everyone may be who you’re dreaming of working with, but with each client interaction, you’ll gain experience and this will help steer you towards finding them in the future.

I’m a strong believer that everything we do and everyone we meet, come along out paths for a reason; more often that not, it’s to learn and grow from the experience. So, if you’ve already been out there, doing your thing, sit back and reflect on who you’ve had the pleasure to work with and ask yourself these questions;

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  • Who are my current clients?
  • Do my current clients align with my ideal Client?
  • If not, why?
  • What do I need to change to attract the clients I want?

More important than knowing who your Client Avatar is, is knowing who they AREN’T, which leads perfectly into my second juicy tip. 

Who ISN’T your Client Avatar? 

Not everyone who seeks your services will serve you. And that’s ok! Understanding that not everyone is for you is just as important as knowing you aren’t for everyone too.

Knowing who you don’t want to work with will save you time so you’re not stuck in back and forth email conversations or discovery calls that you know are going nowhere, fast!

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  • Who have you worked with in the past that you don’t want to work with again? Why?
  • Have you read client horror stories from others that made you shiver? What were the warning signs? Have you experienced these before too?

So, what are you waiting for?!

So, now that you know what to do, go create space in your calandar and really sit with this and have a deep think about who you do and don’t want to work with. Write down as many ideas and scenarios as you can and work through them to create the ideal, dream client.

Once you’ve got it, print it out and stick it to your mood board or above your workspace so that you look at it every day. It will become your constant reminder of who you’re working to attract and in time, you know that those clients will be knocking on your door to work with you!