“I didn’t realise that I don’t have to work with clients who don’t appreciate me!”

This is what one of the delegates said at a workshop we ran earlier this year, when we were helping people to plan their marketing. We were exploring the concept of ideal clients – the people you really want to work with, who really want to work with you. The delegate who said those words hasn’t been in business that long – a couple of years – so was still thinking that she needed to take on any work that came her way. This is the case for many small businesses, especially in the early years. When I set up Appletree 12 years ago, I agreed to do some work that really wasn’t what I wanted to do, or was good at. (Stuffing envelopes for direct mail campaigns was quite fun, but making cold calls was very hard work and not something I was actually much good at! But they helped pay the bills.)

The problem that I see so often is that people take on clients and work that are far from ideal. While this helps with your finances, it means that you have less time to look for work that you will enjoy doing; and less time to find clients who appreciate you and want to pay you what you’re worth. Filling up space with non-ideal clients gives you less room for finding and working for ideal clients. In the early stages of a business, especially, it?s important to find the right balance.

So how do you find those wonderful, perfect clients, who always do as they’re told? The trick is to decide exactly who they are, so you can attract them to your business. Rather than saying “I’ll do any work that anyone wants to pay me for,” or “I can work with anyone and do whatever they need me to do,” you need to be really specific. Tell the world that you do any type of work and you do two things – firstly you confuse people as to what you’re actually good at; and secondly you attract the sort of clients who will just take you for a ride. It’s just like looking at the headlights of the oncoming cars on the other side of the road. Do it and guess where you end up?

Instead, think about the type of people you do want to work with. What are their values and beliefs? What motivates and drives them? How do they treat their suppliers? What problems are they struggling with and what sort of solutions are they looking for? Can they afford your top rates? Once you get a clear picture of these ideal clients, you make it much easier for them to find you (they will actually be attracted to you) and you make it easier for other people to recommend you to the right sort of clients.

For more help on identifying your perfect clients, check out the videos on our website; or read Chapter 4 in my book, Magnetic Marketing!

Who are your ideal clients? What makes them tick? What do you do to attract them?