Identifying Your Ideal Client: Critical Questions To Ask
While there are many schools of thought about the most important elements to include in your ideal customer profile, you should focus on those that make sense for your business’s offerings and goals. To build the most useful customer profile, you need to ask the right questions.
1) Does our ideal client feel truly heard?
To know whether an ideal client profile makes sense, you should ask yourself if your ideal clients (those you enjoy working with) feel truly heard and understood in terms of their pain points, their core challenges, their aspirations, their secret dreams and the solutions they crave. When they read the description, they should be able to identify themselves and say, ”Yes, this is me!” all the way through.
2) What outcome does our service provide?
Always ask yourself what outcome your service or a product provides. Look past the solution and go further. Look at the eventual outcome, what that means for the customer and where it affects them in business and in life.
3) Can we give clients what they want and need?
Seeing from the customer’s viewpoint can not only help craft a successful sale but can also open the doorway to referrals.
4) How can we create a sense of belonging?
An essential question to answer is how you can create a sense of belonging with your customers. Human beings are wired to value connection and community. Businesses that make customers feel like they belong always win.
5) Should the ‘ideal’ client really be our target?
Should the “ideal” client really be your target audience? Use historical data to determine whom to target and who is most likely to work with you. This approach is usually much more effective than creating a profile for the “ideal” client and targeting those that are least likely to work with you.
6) Which clients bring us the most joy?
People work on emotion and rationalize with logic. Too often, we neglect to ask, “What does our ideal client feel or need to feel?” Understanding the emotional dimension of ideal customer profiles is crucial in effective communication. Challenges and objectives are table stakes in an ideal customer profile. The most powerful profiles address the emotions resulting from unmet challenges and missed objectives.
Use insights to determine whom to target and who is most likely to work with you.
7) How can our offerings bridge the gap?
First, ask, “What gap exists that my ideal clients are adapting themselves and their lives to bridge, yet don’t even know it?” Then, ask yourself, “How does my offering not only bridge the gap, but also do it in a way that delights the client?” We often don’t realize how much time and energy we waste on gaps because we just work around them. You can be the one who solves it with fun, style, grace and efficiency.
8) What do our best clients have in common?
It is less a marketing question than it is a business question. Ask, “What do our best clients (those we enjoy helping the most) have in common?” Oftentimes, an analysis of clients will reveal a few commonalities, whether in type of business, approach or values.
9) What additional improvements is my target market asking for?
Most of us have a good idea of who would be an ideal client. However, one question we should continuously ask is, “What additional improvements is my target marketing asking for?” Gaining insight from your fans on what they’d like to see next from you will allow you to strategize how to grow your business while teasing them with anticipation!
