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Talking About Financial Matters That Affect You and Your Organization
Why Ideal clients are, well Ideal...
Aug 18th, 2017
There are no shortage of articles and advice on finding ideal clients. A
quick Google search of the keywords "Ideal Clients" returns 43,000,000 results
(don't believe me -
here's the link)
As an aside - 3 of the first 5 websites listed on
this "Ideal Client" search are titled something like "5 Steps to...." Which
makes me cringe, followed by a touch of sadness that much of our knowledge has
been reduced to bait and click headlines touting how easy it is to pretty much
do anything. In reality, we all know, either as a fact of life, or a suppressed
belief, that rarely is anything worthwhile easy (for example - like finding
ideal clients, which if easy would eliminate the need for 5 step articles on
finding ideal clients).
Back to the topic at hand - the
coveted "Ideal Client". This is fresh in my mind on the heels of both losing an
existing and gaining a new client within a few days time. As a frame of
reference - in my world losing and gaining clients is not a high volume
activity. So either event tends to result in a lot of time, energy and often
emotion. Thankfully, losing clients is rare (something we are proud of) and most
of the time we are on the positive side of the equation (winning new clients).
Another frame of reference - an "Ideal Client" is most definitely not the
same as your "Target Market." Your "Target Market" is broad and may include a
specific region, industry, customer size etc. It's everyone that fits that
criteria. Within that pool is a much, much smaller subset of "Ideal Clients."
These are the clients in your target market that you really, really want to work
with.
We joke a lot about trying to avoid the "breath test" - taking any
potential client that comes our way, regardless of fit or "rental clients" that
flee as quickly as they come. It's like a bad relationship that we sometimes get
sucked into, despite knowing it didn't work before and it won't again. Call it
the "client booty call" (please don't ask me to expand on this) we just can't
turn down.
Fortunately, most of the time we are quite good at
pursuing and winning "Ideal Clients" and I can honestly say our track record is
drastically improving. So while losing and gaining a client this week might seem
like a net no change position - after some reflection I'm pretty happy with the
upgrade. The new client ticks off all of the boxes - which spurred writing this
post. They are as excited about working with us, as we are with them. The client
that left had been with us a long time (10+ years), and had been very good to
work with throughout. They may even come back in the future, after sampling
other options in the marketplace. However, that client, while one we did our
absolute best to service and support, really didn't tick off all of those boxes
- and that's ok.
So, without further rambling and paying tribute to the
5-step process (but not in the headline!) here are 5 reasons why Ideal clients
are, well Ideal!
Ideal clients want the same things from you, that you
want to deliver to them. It's a fit without any major twisting, bending,
adjusting, modifying. These clients get excited (yes they do - I've seen it) as
soon as they realize you have what they need.
Ideal clients respect what you
do for their organization, and treat you and your team accordingly. When these
clients call, we pick up on the first ring instead of letting them go to
voice-mail. We call them back and email them after hours and on weekends. We
WANT to look after them.
Ideal clients tend to want more of your products or
services - so the relationships usually expands, which is awesome.
Ideal
clients refer us to other ideal clients. Which is a much better way to grow your
business than the client booty call referenced above.
Last but certainly not
least - and probably the most important to me - Ideal clients make us love what
we do, giving us the mental energy and enthusiasm to go get more ideal clients.
For this reason alone as the percentage of ideal clients goes up, our business
has nowhere else to go but up.
So, upon reflection, my week has been
productive with a +1 on the ideal client side (although not until after the
normal hand-wringing and reflection that comes hand in hand with the other side
of the equation, watching clients walk out the door).
Thanks for
reading. Have an ideal client story - please share. Have a nightmare client
story - even better. Have a booty client story - bring it on! As always would
love to hear comments, suggestions and feedback.
Questions? Contact me at
chad@selectpath.ca.