Question: who’s your ideal client?
Do you know?
When I was just starting out in this business, a mentor of mine asked me the exact same question and I realised I was making a big mistake…
For me, an ideal client was anyone who was willing to pay for my services… And sometimes I didn’t even set that as the minimum requirement!
I thought if I do the work for free first, or a least a cheaper rate and PROVE myself, THEN they’ll want to pay me the big bucks…
(Biggest mistake of my business life… And I have a long list)
Anyway… I see Recruitment and Search Firm owners making the same mistake all the time…
Not knowing exactly who their ideal client is…
And so they just end up working with anyone…
(I call this “being a Recruitment whore”)
You’ve got to have standards!
Because in classic 80/20 style (yes, it’s that 80/20 thing again) you’re going to find the most pleasant and profitable people you do business with all share a small number of very important characteristics. We call these the “demographics” of our market.
A mentor of mine, Ben Settle compared it to: “asking an FBI agent what’s more important? Being able to shoot a criminal in the eye from 200 feet away, or knowing how to profile a criminal so they know where that person will be, what their next move is, how they think and what’s the best way to catch them.”
And he’s got a point…
Not that your potential clients are criminals (hopefully!)… But being able to profile your ideal client like the FBI…
So you know everything about them psychologically, demographically, emotionally and even physically…
You’ll make more sales and attract more clients regardless of how good you are at sales…
You’ll know where to find them…
You’ll know exactly what they want…
What to say to them…
And, how to deliver your message in the most receptive way…
All the silky sales skills in the world are nothing compared to this…
Now, I strongly recommend you think about your business in the light of this…
Whom are you really selling to?
Where do they live?
What sex are they?
How old are they?
Are they married?
Do they have kids?
What car do they drive?
How much do they earn?
Where do they go on holiday?
What frightens them?
What excites them?
What books to they read?
What pets to they have?
What sports are they interested in?
Etc.
You might be thinking some of these are irrelevant.
But you’d be dead wrong, because you can never know too much about your clients, because when you have the data and start looking deeply into it, you’ll turn up some astonishing and completely unpredictable facts…
Speak to you soon,
Until then…
Take care, take action and be relentless…
Terry Edwards
Recent Comments