Your ideal client - a key concept for Solo and Small Business Marketing

"I do not know the key to success, but the key is trying to fail, everyone is happy." - Bill Cosby

Do you already have customers who were more trouble than they worth it? Perhaps they were paid too late, or not doing what they said they would do. Perhaps you have just a personality clash, or they expected more than you were able to offer. Regardless of the situation, chances are you had an inkling when you first met that client ... a small voice that you do not hear, which wasprobably in the shadow of the great voice that said, "Hey, it's business, I'll take it!"

Drawing The Line

Learn to say no to the customers before they start to drain your energy! The key to the ability to do this is to understand the ideal choice. Once you know how to recognize who is ideal and who is not, you can practice refusal of companies from the latter. To say, if you have problems, no, you're doing on this critical business skill, and what to learn to have to goProblem clients you already see the resources at the end of this article. If you are a trainer, ask them to help you perform the complete Ideal for customers, or role-play the "no" conversations.

Discover how your ideal customer

There are many ways closer to the ideal client / customer profiles. You can sit down and imagine, could have the best, most customer - whether an abstract entity, a celebrity (whichWriters do not want Oprah as a customer, for example), or a particular demographic profile. If your customers are more likely to be companies, you might look at your current client list and select the company that you most companies, the joy that at least heartburn.

The ideal client profiles

Those who bring client, start a profile matrix with two columns: "My ideal is:" on the left side: "My ideal client is not" on the right side. InColumn on the left side you will find all the features of this type of person or company. Use prompted the following questions to think about all the different aspects of each client.

Then they both think the opposite of all those aspects, or select the "client from hell" and fill in the appropriate properties in the right column. Be honest with this exercise! If you prefer to only customers who are among more than 500,000 U.S. dollars that arise! Your customers, adjustIdeal characteristics, whether you will write or not, it finally know. May as well get that over with early!

Prompts: Consider the following aspects of your ideal customer or client:

- What are the career opportunities or business they are?

- What demographic they fit? (Age, gender, race, religion, income, marital status, etc.)

- What they think is important in the economy? In life?

- What do they like most about you and your company, products, andServices?

- What is the nature of their relationship with you? (Transactional, long-time customer, acquaintance, friend, refers others to you, etc.)

- How to do business with you? (by phone, in person, on the web, quick transactions, takes time to negotiate; pays early, on time, at 30 days, etc.)

- What personality traits do they have?

- What do you get from them () except payment?

What now?

Compare your current client listThe two columns in The Ideal Client Profile. How many have the characteristics of your ideal client? If the answer is "not much", you may need to work on some of the dismissals your customers! Check out some links at the bottom, how to do this.

Next, your Ideal Client Profile somewhere you will see it often. Every time is a new potential customer, you start looking for the ideal properties ... and beware of the not ideal! If the little voice starts to tellIt could be something wrong, check in with the non-ideal list - and with a sense not turn away-ideal customers ready. Offer them other options - they refer to someone who is a better fit, and make two people happier!

Ideal Clients - For Life

There are many ways to exploit to the work you are doing exactly with the ideal client profile. Here are some ideas:

- Make sure your marketing materials. Do you have your business cards, brochures, advertisements and appeal to your websiteIdeal for customers? Send the right message, the right to potential customers? Hone your materials, and start seeing better-qualified potential clients walk in the door.

- Consider your marketing channels. Based on your Ideal Client profile, where you would expect to find these customers? Is that where your targeted marketing efforts? If not, a way to get ahead of them!

- Check your contracts, policies and conditions. Are they to be establishedfriendly to your Ideal Clients? Did they not give you clear options for dealing with non-ideal clients? If not, update them, and they make ideal customers could not see for themselves.

You begin your ideal customers today!

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