How Well Do You Truly Know Your Ideal Client?
We’ve all done the exercise. It’s the first thing you’re taught when you first start your business: Create an ideal client avatar.
This vision of your ideal client guides everything you do, including pricing (you can’t charge a new graduate as much as you can the CEO of a Fortune 500 company), pain points, and even the color of your logo.
So you spend a few hours considering things such as:
- Age group
- Income
- Family status
- Education
- Lifestyle goals
- Location
Maybe you even write up a nice little story about your ideal client. You give him/her a name, a couple of kids, a husband/wife, and perhaps add some credit loans. You know where they go for fun, and what their favourite restaurant and holiday destination is. You pretty much know everything about them, or so you think!
Have you considered that you might be wrong, and if you stop there, you may be missing out on a huge piece of the puzzle—and losing out on the best clients because of it?
Personality Mismatch: It’s all about Mindset
Here’s something that’s rarely considered in the “ideal client” equation, and it’s arguably the most important part: personality.
Knowing your client is very key for any business, but do not just stop on what you were taught in your marketing course, go even further and deeper. They say the best way to understand anything is to view it from different viewpoints, from above, from below, and from different angles. However, how about viewing from within? That is what empathy is about; removing yourself from where you are in your position and seeing/ feeling/ hearing/ tasting/ understanding from someone else’s position, which brings me to the point about the ideal client personality.
Sometimes coaches are just happy to have a client, any client. However, some clients can leave you feeling drained and frustrated. Frustrated because you love being a coach, but you find that you are fighting a lost battle with some of your clients. This is when your values come into play and they are hugely important, even more, important is that you stand by them. They are, after all a compass, if you will, that helps you navigate alignment with those you engage with.
You may ask yourself, “does this situation resonates with me?” or “is this person’s personality compatible with mine?” But why is this important? It is important because like attracts like, it is important because in order for your client to reach his/her goals he has to believe that you believe in them and it is important because it will determine whether you succeed or fail.
When you search for an ideal client, do not forget to consider their personality, not all people are meant to have the “house on fire” energy. Remember, it has to be a good fit. It is always better to pass a prospect to a coach who is a better fit for their personality than to coach them against your better judgment.
Drive Determines Success
This one can be difficult to calculate from the start, but once you recognize it (or the lack thereof) it’s worth paying attention to. The client without the drive to succeed will—more often than not—only end up frustrating you both.
Better to end your relationship as soon as you see the signs of this than to waste your time going over the same material and exercises again and again with someone who simply won’t do the work.
If you look at your current and past coaching clients, you’ll begin to see patterns. You can easily look back and see what made some clients a joy to work with, while others were a struggle. Think about what those differences are, and add them to your ideal client profile. Then equate any new prospects to this ideal profile, and you’ll never again have a less-than-perfect client.