Perfect clients

One of things that small business owners struggle with is identifying exactly who they can best serve.  In fact, quite a few bigger organisations haven’t really nailed down their ideal customer, either.

It looks pretty straightforward, until you sit down and try to write that all important client profile.  Then you’ll almost certainly get diverted by all the different types of customer you could help.  I’m not suggesting that there’s only one perfect client – but you can’t be everything to everyone.

Why is it important?

I have lost count of the people I’ve met networking who, when asked what an ideal referral would be, say ‘Anyone who wants what I do’.

There’s nothing in that statement that will ring any bells with me.  Who do I know who looks like an ‘anybody’?  Answer – lots of people – so it’s much too big a task for me to tackle.  I need more details or at least a few key words. 

For instance, when I met a recruitment consultant who was looking for a junior hedge fund manager, I took action – because I knew someone who wanted to work with hedge funds.  If she’d said ‘Anyone who is looking for a job’ I wouldn’t have done anything as I wouldn’t have joined up the dots.

Make it easy for people to help you.

There’s another reason too – and one which is much more exciting!

When you know exactly what your ideal client looks like you’ll find that people/companies that match your ideal profile are attracted to you.  That means that marketing gets easier and more referrals flow your way.

When you are up front about who you want to work with people who match your perfect customer will start to self-identify.  Especially if you include the kind of clients you want to help on your website and on your LinkedIn profile and company page.

How to identify your ideal client

Consider the clients you’ve worked for in the past.

• Who did you really enjoy working with?  
• Who loved what you did for them and why?  
• What problems did you solve for them?

That’s probably a good template for an ideal client for starters.  The bonus is that you’ll end up working with people who value what you do, doing work you enjoy.

If you need more help with your ideal client profile download the Perfect Client worksheet from the Treasure Chest (it’s free)!

Writing a book for non-authors

Being the author of a book gives you an edge.  If you’ve written a book and your competitor hasn’t, it can make a difference.  You have that additional authority as a thought-leader in your industry.

But what do you do if you are not a natural writer?

If your grammar and punctuation are best described as ‘variable’ or your spelling is pants, does that mean this isn’t an option for you?

There are always ways around the non-writer problem!

1. Does it have to be you?  Is there someone else in your business who could put a draft together?
2. I’ve written books with co-authors who haven’t written a word – but they’ve talked a lot!  Could you talk to someone (or record your thoughts) so they could put your words into writing?
3. You could outsource it.  There are plenty of people who will ghost write your book (we do this for some clients).  It costs more, but it depends on how much influence you think it could have and whether investing in a ghost writer would be offset by a couple of high value contracts.

What to write about

This is often a challenge, but almost every business owner has a wealth of knowledge and experience that they can share.

Start with the conversations you have with current and previous clients. 

• What questions do they often ask?
• What are they surprised to discover?
• What are you surprised that they don’t know?

The answers to these questions should give you plenty of material to get started.

Remember that a book is not a sales pitch, it’s sharing valuable knowledge.  Your aim is to make life easier for your readers.

• You could use a Q&A format tackling the answer to a question in each chapter.
• You could use a tips format, putting all the tips around one subject in a section.
• You could build a system one chapter at a time.

If you are selling products rather than services, you might want to take a different approach using a series of case studies or stories, even humorous ones!

Remember to get permission if you use a client’s case study.  If they’re a recognisable organisation, even if you don’t name them, be careful with their reputation as it will affect yours!

If you want help to get started ask me for the Pipedream to Proposal document.

Finding your market

There are any number of marketing strategies and finding the ones that work best for your particular business is a challenge.  Most marketing activities need to be tested for a while – months usually – to find out how well they’re working, or if they’re working at all.  This is time consuming and slow.

So what’s the alternative?

To generate warm leads you need a list.  Not just any list, but a list of people who have already shown an interest in what you have to offer.

Sounds like the holy grail, but it’s not that difficult to create this list.

You will need:

• A document that has some of the gold nuggets that you are happy to share to help potential clients (sometimes known as a ‘lead magnet’ or an ‘ethical bribe’)
• A landing page on your website.  This is just a page that people go to that is only there to get them to provide their name and email (in return for your free document)
• A means of gathering their data.  Maybe MailChimp, AWeber, ConstantContact, GetResponse, Infusionsoft – or one of the many other online data management tools.
• A way to deliver the document.  Generally, this will be a hidden page on your website where people are taken when they’ve opted in.  Sometimes it will be an email with the document attached that is triggered when the person has confirmed their email address.

Landing pages

Very long landing pages with carefully constructed sales letters used to be common, but today these have been replaced with much shorter messages and/or video content.  People have a much shorter attention span and are used to flicking down content until they find something that catches their interest.

Typically a landing page will list the key headlines from your free download document, without giving anything away!  Followed by a form asking for a name and email.

Some people add other fields to their form – but my experience is that for every field you add, you decimate* those people willing to complete the form.  Ask for a phone number and many people will simply exit.  They don’t want unnecessary phone calls.

How do you know that these people are potential clients?

If they’re interested in the document – and that document is relevant to your business offerings – they’ve self-identified. 

Not all of them will buy, but they’re interested.  That means that some of them will buy and some of them may not buy this time, but may buy in the future.

There’s a saying ‘the money is in the list’ – and it’s true!  If you create a good quality lead magnet, that gives people a taste of what you can offer, you’ll certainly start building a strong list.

*Decimate – reduce by one in every ten

When is an award not an award?

It’s always good to receive an award.  When you’ve worked long hours and kept going, seeing your efforts acknowledged brings a welcome glow – and is a great motivator for your team.  But some awards aren’t really awards.

Most local awards are free to enter, but some national and industry awards have an entry fee involved.  This is usually to cover the administration costs, sometimes also to pay the fees of the judges who have to read all the submissions and, perhaps, meet to discuss the short list and winners.  So having to pay to enter doesn’t necessarily make an award invalid.

However, there are some organisations that invent their own ‘awards’ and not only do you have to pay, but there is a whole package of costs too.  These may include:

• An advertisement in their ‘special awards publication’
• Promotional material for the awards ‘event’
• Email campaigns promoting your business to their database
• A minimum number of seats at the award dinner

Of course, you will be promised exposure to lots of potential clients as part of your investment, but this is really a marketing service masquerading as an award.

Does this mean you should refuse anything that is beginning to look like more of a marketing service than a bona fide award?  Not necessarily, but first do your due diligence.

If you don’t have the money in your marketing budget for this kind of investment – then don’t be tempted.

If it seems like a good deal anyway ask for their audience demographics, circulation numbers and results for entrants into previous awards they’ve run.

If they can’t give you numbers think twice before parting with your money.

If they’ve run these awards before ask to speak to a couple of former entrants.  They should be pleased to put you in touch – if they can’t or won’t, then walk away.  Actually, if previous winners are showing on their website, it should be pretty straightforward to contact them directly.

Don’t forget the additional costs

• Your award submission will need writing – you’ll have a better chance with a professional writer putting this together
• An article for their award publication needs writing – copywriting fees
• An Ad needs writing – copywriting/ad agency fees
• An Ad need laying out – graphic designer fees
• If you want people to take action you’ll need a web page  - copy and web set-up fees
• If you’re aiming to grow your list you may need a giveaway – cost of production and fulfilment (even if it’s a download, rather than an actual product).

That ‘too good to be true’ fee will now have escalated.  It still might be very good value if it reaches your ideal audience and results in sales, but don’t just say ‘yes’, without doing your sums first.