Identifying and Attracting Ideal Clients

Top Secrets of Marketing & Sales

For me, in identifying and attracting ideal clients, I need people who have the motivation, who have the desire, who have the discipline, and just the willingness to move forward. People who are decisive enough to be able to say, “yes, I want to do this. Let’s move forward on it.” Because the people who just take forever to make up their minds and who don’t respond to calls and all that type of thing? Been there, done that. No longer my ideal situation, or even close.

David: Hi and welcome back. In today’s episode, co host Jay McFarland and I will be dealing with the topic of attracting ideal clients. Welcome back, Jay.

Jay: Hey David, thank you so much. Another great discussion here. If we could all only deal with ideal clients. I think that would be ideal. See what I did there?

David: I think so too.

I love the idea of ideal clients. I love the concept of it. And in nearly everything that I do with our clients, I try to keep that the focus. It’s not about bringing anyone in who can fog a mirror. It’s not about bringing anyone in with a pulse. It’s about saying, okay, how do I put together a situation, an environment in which all the very best prospects for my products and services know who I am and know what I do so that they can make a thumbs up or thumbs down decision about whether or not they want to work with me.

And along the way, can I identify whether this person is my ideal client or something very close to it?

Jay: Yeah. And part of that process is learning to exclude, right? Not include, but learning to exclude. I think sometimes we, especially when we’re first starting out, we think I want to cast the widest net possible.

And you know, I’ve learned just the opposite. I want to be as finite as I can be in who I’m trying to attract.

David: Exactly, because it determines everything. It determines what you’re going to say to people, how aggressively you’re going to pursue them, how hard you’re going to work for them, when and if they decide to do business with you and you decide to do business with them.

I think sometimes, in these podcasts, we say things like this, and it probably alienates a segment of the market who feels like, “Oh, no, you have to really do more things for customers, and the customer’s always right,” and all that type of thing. And I’m not saying that that type of thinking is wrong. I’m just saying that that type of thinking creates a different result.

And if your goal is to attract clients, any clients, then yeah, that can work. But if your goal is to attract ideal clients, the right clients, people who fit with the way that you do business, people who are going to respect you, respect your time, be willing to honor their investments, be willing to reply back to you when you need a response, then.

The rules become different.

Jay: Yeah. I’ve stepped away a long time ago from the customer is always right. I think that in certain industries, like maybe retail, that’s more applicable. But so often, I’m like, I can’t help you or , this has come to a point where neither of us are being satisfied, so we need to kind of cut ties.

Like you talked about in the last podcast, being direct and learning how to identify when you should be direct, you’re going to help them and you’re going to help yourself.

David: Absolutely. And if you want to do this, if you want to attract the type of clients that resonate best with you and that you resonate with and that are going to result in long term great experiences, the first thing we have to do in that situation is to clearly identify or define what an ideal client means to us.

And I know for me, their ability and willingness to communicate is really high. And that’s one of the things that we also talked about in a recent podcast.

Jay: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that this is one of those things that warrants more of your time than so many other things that you think may be important.

Because if you can streamline who is coming to you, your close rate is going to go way up. I mean, in my business, we’re paying for an online lead and it costs us, our cost per lead is high, David, it’s high. But it’s okay because we’ve honed that process so well that I never talk to somebody who is outside of somebody who needs our help.

That doesn’t mean that they can afford our help. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to close that deal, but I do not spend time on the phone with people who are not directly in our strike zone. And that is magical. And it’s such a key to our business model.

David: Yeah, because that then allows you to have a conversation to determine if this is not just something you can help them with, but whether or not this is an ideal client for you. This is the type of client that you’re going to be able to create exceptional value for. They’re going to appreciate that value and be willing to pay for it.

So I think all these things just tie together really nicely in a neat little bow when you are aware of the fact that this really can and should be a goal of your customer acquisition efforts.

Jay: Yeah. And a constant refinement, right? We just identified some new products that we can offer to our clients based upon the relationship and the calls that I’ve been taking and what people have been asking for.

So now I’m going to expand my net a little bit more with some additional keywords and things like that, but I’m not being haphazard about any of this anymore.

I’m being so careful and so specific, because I’m spending my dollars, you know, whether I get these leads or not, the money is spent.

David: Yeah, exactly. I know when I think in terms of my ideal clients, the people that I enjoy working with the most, the people who get the best results. Every single one of them is an implementer. They take action. They’re not constantly in their own heads thinking about what they might do or what they’ve done in the past or how smart they are or how, whatever they are.

They’re in there, taking action all the time. On our website, we have our Wall of Fame page, TopSecrets.com/results. And on that page are page after page of video testimonials, audio testimonials, written testimonials of people who have taken action and gotten results. To me, everyone on that page is an ideal client because they do it.

They take the action, they get the result. And as a result of that, we have a great relationship. Because when we take on a new client, we are making a promise to them. We are promising them that we’re going to be able to help them get to where they need to be in terms of their visibility, their sales, and their profits.

And we take that promise. extremely seriously. I can tell you, there are times where I’m talking to a prospect and I can recognize in the call that this person isn’t as serious about it as I am.

And in those situations, I’ll usually up the call quickly and say, okay, you know what? It doesn’t sound like we have a good fit here because guess what? I can’t want it for them more than they want it for them.

And so for me, in identifying ideal clients, I need people who have the motivation, who have the desire, who have the discipline and just the willingness to move forward.

People who are decisive enough to be able to say, yes, I want to do this. Let’s move forward on it.

Because the people who just take forever to make up their minds and who don’t respond to calls and all that type of thing? Been there, done that. No longer my ideal situation, or even close.

Jay: Well, I love this point. It’s so profound. You’re exactly right. When I’m doing a consultation with somebody, I know in the first five minutes what type of person they are.

Are they calling me in a panic because they’ve just learned something? Because we’re in the tax business, and so When, people just found out, they just saw their 1099 or something, and they’re like, oh my gosh, I didn’t know anything. That’s typically not going to be the client that is ideal for us.

Another type of client, where they’re being proactive, they’ve been doing research, they’re taking their time, that’s the type of customer that I’m going to close. That’s the type of customer that is ideal because when I’m requesting documents from them, or when we’re setting up something for them, they’re in that, active mode, that doing mode.

So I could tell right away, you know, I really want to work with this person. This is going to be a great relationship. And the other ones I’m like, okay, you know, we may end up signing you up, but I can tell right now it’s going to be a little bit more painful.

David: Yeah. And sometimes we have to make those decisions. Am I willing to exert the extra effort? Or am I going to say, no, you know what? This isn’t a good fit.

And maybe it’s an age thing. I don’t know if the older I get, the more likely I am to say, I want to make sure that fit is there ahead of time. But I find that it just creates a much better environment for us, for everybody who works in our organization, for the client, for the people they work with.

When everybody’s on the same page, it flows. So if you’re thinking in terms of your business and growing your business and wanting to have the type of business that you’re going to want to live in for a long time, then I would really strongly encourage you to consider what is my ideal client and how do I have to adapt what I’m doing to make sure that I’m attracting people like that and repelling those who are not a good fit for what I do.

Jay: Yeah, we’ve got a customer, we’ve, no, he’s not a customer. In fact, he’s not even a prospect anymore, but we’ve been dealing with him for the last five days. He reached out to us, he made it sound like he wanted our expertise, he was gonna use our services, but what he was really looking for is somebody to confirm something that he had already decided.

So every single time, we’re giving him free advice…

David: Free consulting.

Jay: Because, that’s right, free consulting. And he’s arguing with us about the result and he’s already decided what he wants. He’s not going to do business with us until we tell him what he wants to hear. And you know what?

That is fraught with legal situations for us. But my partner and I, after four days, we’re like, what in the heck are we doing? You know, we just need to tell this guy, look, you have received way more, that you didn’t pay for and go and find somebody who will give you the yes you’re looking for.

David: Yeah, because the moment we compromise our own integrity to try to appease someone who is a non-client to begin with, now it’s like, okay, why are we even in business? Because none of those things are compatible.

Jay: Yeah. You said something a couple of podcasts ago that really resonated with me. And that is that if they can bully you a little bit, if they figure out that they can get you to compromise, they’re going to latch onto that, right?

They’re going to say, look, I know if I push a little bit, if I’m more of a pain, if I’m a little bit more of a squeakier wheel, then they’re going to abuse that. Not everybody. I mean, we’re talking in generalities. People are generally good, but there are these types of…

David: We’re talking about non-ideal clients.

Jay: That’s right.

David: That’s what we’re talking about. Those are non-ideal clients.

Jay: Yeah, and identifying that quick and both of you getting on with your lives.

David: Exactly.

Jay: How can people find out more, David?

David: Just go to TopSecrets.com/call. Schedule a call with myself or my team. We’d love to have a conversation with you.

If you’re in a situation where you’re trying to attract ideal clients and you maybe don’t even know where to begin, or don’t know how to identify who they are, or where they hang out, or how you can reach them, or what you should say or how you should say it in a way that gets results, let’s have a call. TopSecrets.com/call. We are here to help.

Jay: All right. Once again, it’s been a real pleasure, David.

David: Thank you so much, Jay.

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