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How to Find Your Ideal Client

Guest post by: Dan Janal

Article Overview: Nearly every client I have says their perfect client is “everyone” because “I can help everyone” or “My book can help everyone.” That might be wonderful but it is bad business. You can’t afford to market to “everyone.” And “everyone” doesn’t want you. They want to work with someone who specializes in “them,” not in everyone. That’s why I was delighted when I signed a new coaching client who works with lawyers who are in a certain transition point in their careers and must make career and life choices. How cool is that!

How to Find Your Ideal Client

Nearly every client I have says their perfect client is “everyone” because “I can help everyone” or “My book can help everyone.”

That might be wonderful but it is bad business. You can’t afford to market to “everyone.” And “everyone” doesn’t want you. They want to work with someone who specializes in “them,” not in everyone.

That’s why I was delighted when I signed a new coaching client who works with lawyers who are in a certain transition point in their careers and must make career and life choices. How cool is that!

If you are still struggling to find the perfect client – and we all suffer from this because we really do want to help as many people as possible – I suggest you use three guidelines which I created and hereby trademark as “Dan Janal’s Rules For Finding the Ideal Client.”

1. Pay you. Yes, you could help the world, but executive women have more money to spend on coaches than women who are at the beginning of their careers – unless that’s the market you want to help.

2. Understand each other. You work with them because you’ve been there, done that and proven it. They know that you know. And you know what they need to know.

3. Get excited about working with them. All clients’ problems being equal, wouldn’t you want to work with someone you click with, someone who you really like and who really likes you? Shouldn’t business – and coaching – be fun? You can probably tell me horror stories about bad outcomes when you hated going to work or working with certain people. Didn’t we start our businesses so we could avoid that?

If you ask yourself those three questions, you might just find your ideal client.

Then you’ll know what to write about in articles, press releases, blogs and tweets. You’ll know how to position your website and your marketing material. Your audience will find you. At least that’s what happened when I realized I needed to focus on my ideal client.

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Article Tags: coaching, consulting, marketing, publicity



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