When people talk about their “ideal client,” they sometimes focus on attributes and demographics.
While identifying those qualities can be helpful, you’ll be much more successful if you define your “ideal client” this way:
Ideal clients are people who already have the urgency to change. You don’t have to convince them that they have a problem. They know it.
You also don’t have to twist their arms to get them to spend money to fix their problem. They’re already doing that too.
Their Urgency to Change
They’re buying books and going to conferences, seminars, and workshops. They’re actively seeking information and guidance in order to change.
An even more powerful indicator of their urgency is if they’re willing to travel. The farther they get from their house to look for help, the more money they’re spending to fix their problem. Not to mention the impact of travel itself: the affect on loved ones left behind, the logistics involved in packing, arranging for housesitting, child- or petcare, the disruption of their work.
When people are willing to travel, they are serious about change.
And those people are your ideal clients.
Your ideal clients are not the people who say, “I would go to that event if it were in my city or town. I just can’t fly across the country.”
Those people are stuck in their own reality. They do not have the urgency to change. And they are not your ideal clients.
It Starts with You
The only question you have to ask yourself is which stance do you take? Will you look for help beyond your hometown? Or, do you feel that travel is just too difficult, too expensive. If so, you are not influencing yourself.
Remember, part of influencing yourself is being willing to stretch and gain knowledge at the level where you want to be. If you’re trying to gain knowledge at your existing level, you’ll never advance.
And, as I’ve said repeatedly, if you can’t influence yourself, you don’t have a prayer of influencing others.
Where Are They?
The key to attracting your ideal clients with that urgency to change is to determine exactly where they are demonstrating the want and need for what you do, both online and offline.
Online: For instance, what online groups do they belong to? Who do they follow? On the Internet, you can learn all kinds of things about people just by looking at what they’re posting, what they like and don’t like, where they’re spending their money, etc.
Now, eventually, you want to build your business so that you have systems to draw people to you. And that’s something we can help you with. But if you don’t have those systems in place yet, you can certainly start with public information.
Offline: What conferences, conventions, and seminars do they attend? What self-help groups do they belong to? Where do they gather?
Sit down and start brainstorming and you should come up with a good-sized list.
If you don’t come up with a list of possibilities, you have to ask yourself another question:
Are you the one with the urgency problem?
I’ll pick it up here next time.
