How to find out who your ideal client is and what they want?
Everyone’s talking about their “ideal client” and how speaking directly to them helped 10x their business. And you might be thinking, “Well, how can I do this?” Or, “I know who I want to serve, but I’m afraid I might leave someone out.”
In this post, I’ll share exactly how to figure out who your ideal client is and the steps to take to find out what they want. This will allow you to create offers and content that your dream boat clients can’t get enough of!
Have you heard the phrase, “If you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no one?”
The more specific you are in who you’re talking to and who you’re serving, the more natural your message and marketing will come. As a result, getting your content out into the world will be much easier, less time-consuming, and less daunting.
Think about it like this. Has there been a time when you were asked to speak to a group of people with all different backgrounds, goals, and businesses, and they told you to pick your speaking topic?
And then, think about a time when you were asked to speak to a specific group of people with similar businesses, interests, and goals.
Which one was easier to put together? Which one lit you up the most? I’m going to guess option two. This is because when you’re speaking to a specific group of people or a specific person, you can get to the very core of their fears, hopes, and dreams much more effortlessly. When you understand what someone really wants from you and what will give them the desired results, it is much easier to serve valuable content.
Knowing AND speaking to your *ideal* clients will create a higher impact for your clients and higher income for you.
Your time will not be spent throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks; instead, it will be spent creating content and offers your dream client wants to consume!
So, how do you find out who your ideal client is?
In the exercise below, I want you to get super specific and answer the questions about your ideal client. The key here is to think about a particular person – real or made up – who would be your dream client.
For example, who is/was your favorite client you have served? OR who would be your dream client — maybe someone you follow on social, a famous icon, or even a made-up person? Give them a name, find a picture on Google, and write to them.
Get out a pen and paper and answer the questions below before you move on to the next section.
Answer these questions. Who is Your Ideal Client?
What is their name?
How old are they?
Are they a specific gender?
Do they have a family?
Where do they work, live, and play?
What is their profession?
What are their pains or struggles?
What are their goals and aspirations?
What results are they looking to achieve?
After you’ve answered the questions above, find 5-10 of these specific people and ask them a few questions to find out more about them. You can do this by sending out a survey or meeting in person or online.
If you meet online, record the meeting so you can return to it and use the exact language they are using in your messaging. If you’re meeting in person, make sure to take good notes because you’ll want to come back to this time and time again.
After your meetings, go through and highlight common words and phrases they used, specific pain points, and results they want to achieve. This information will be pure gold!
I learned this exercise from one of Marie Forleo’s online courses, and trust me; you will want to do this for your business!
What you gain from this survey will be hugely important to you and your business. It will help you understand exactly where your ideal clients are and help you discover what kind of content and services they most need from you.
Here are a few examples of questions to ask your ideal client.
Tell me about your life right now. What are you most proud of?
What does your typical day look like?
Do you currently have a _______________ (your offer/profession)?
In terms of your __________________, what’s working well for you?
What are your main frustrations with your ______________?
What’s NOT working?
What does this frustration cost you regarding time, money, and mindset?
What’s a dream solution for you?
What do you wish people in this industry would understand about you?
You can include more questions specific to your field and your services. For example, if you have ideas about services you think would be great but you want to test out, you could add those questions to see if there’s a need for your specific service.
After you’ve completed your survey, it’s time to dig through your interviews and pull out the common themes – what specific words did they use, what struggles did they face, and what results are they most looking to achieve?
Finally, what is the TRUE transformation of your offer?
Once you have the answer to these questions, I challenge you to go back to your current offers and free content and see if your messaging directly correlates to what your ideal client is saying.
If not, how can you slightly alter it to speak more to the results you will help them achieve? How can you make it so that it creates curiosity and sparks inspiration for that ideal client — leaving them wanting more?
When you can do this, you’ll likely have an offer that will resonate and create better results for you and your clients – allowing you to scale your business at a rate that feels right for you. In addition, you’ll save time and money putting out offers that your clients want, not just that you THINK they want.
Once you’ve done this, I’d love to hear how it worked. What results were you able to achieve by doing this process?
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