When someone asks you who your clients are, is your answer something like “anyone with a pulse and a credit card”?

If it is, I’m going to tell you a harsh truth. No matter how hard you try, you will always struggle to grow your business. You might think that trying to attract every sort of client to your business is a great way of getting more clients to work with you. But that’s not true. Trying to work with every different kind of business means that you will always be chasing everyone you meet, working hard to persuade them to work with you. It means that you will agree to work with clients who don’t really value what you do. They will beat you down on price and then want everything done really quickly. They won’t recommend you to other businesses, because they don’t think you’re that special.

Do you really want to work with clients like that?

‘Magnetic Marketing’ is about attracting perfect clients to your business – helping them to find you, rather than spending all your time chasing after them.

Your perfect clients are the ones who are already looking for you. They want to buy exactly what you want to offer them and they want to pay what you want to charge. They are a joy to work with and they always recommend you to other businesses. But there’s a trick to finding them. Nearly every consultant or coach who starts a business begins by doing whatever work comes along. The idea of sitting around waiting for people to come to you is a strange one, but it’s one that you need to understand. When you know who your perfect clients are and what you want to offer them, you’ll be able to attract them to you, instead of having to trail around looking for them. You can save time by focusing your attention on only working with clients who really appreciate what you do and who pay you what you’re worth. You can save money by only marketing to your perfect clients and you can make more money from working with them.

So how do you attract your ideal clients?

Firstly you need to get really clear on who you’re looking for. Don’t think in terms of types of business, or size of business, or job title. Think about the individuals that you really enjoy working with. What makes them tick? What gets them out of bed in the morning? What drives them? At Appletree, we know that our ideal clients love a challenge. They usually wake up with a head full of ideas, really keen to start the day and make a difference. They’re not very good at seeing their ideas through to completion – or even being able to see which of the ideas are the best ones to pursue – so we do all that for them. Our perfect clients don’t want to know how to write a newsletter or use social media, but they know that they need these tools to promote their business. They want someone to hold their hands and do it for them. They are really positive, energetic people who want to make a difference in everything that they do. In other words, our perfect clients share our values – they are very similar to us. That should give you a clue as to how to find your perfect clients.

When you know exactly who you’re looking for, you’ll find it much easier to spot them at networking meetings, or know when you’re on the phone to a prospect if they’re right for you or not. Like attracts like, so you will become a magnet for the people with whom you want to work.

What can they expect from you?

The next thing you need to do is decide what your ideal clients can expect from your business. Can they expect to have 24/7 access to you, or just during working hours? Can they expect 100% of your time, energy and focus when you’re working with them? Can they expect to be your only client, or will they have to share you? Can they expect a straight-talking advisory service, or someone who will agree with everything they say?

It’s entirely up to you to decide what your clients can expect from your business – after all, it is your business! At Appletree our clients can expect us to tell them exactly what we think of that crazy marketing idea they’ve had. If we don’t like it, or we don’t think the copy on their website will work, we’ll say so and we’ll give them an alternative. We are now sought out by people who want an honest opinion about marketing, who will stop them from wasting money on it.

When you can be really clear on what you want to deliver and what clients can expect from you, the people who want to buy what you want to deliver will be attracted to your business. And that is ‘Magnetic Marketing’.

If you need help attracting your perfect clients to your business, listen to this webinar that we recorded recently, that will show you how to do it. Or pick up the phone and have a chat with us. Our number is 01635 578 500.