Identifying Your Ideal Client

When I first left my corporate job, I sold Pampered Chef for several years. You see, I had told My Pampered Chef consultant, while she constantly complimented me about my corporate sales and marketing capabilities (sucking UP for sure), that it was just not the right time, and my employer wouldn’t like me having a second job. So when I quit Merck and Co Inc., she knew my main objection had disappeared into the wind (along with my very generous weekly paycheck). She pointed out that “You love the products and you love to cook, so why not earn products while sharing what you know?” By implying that I was already an expert, she “reeled me in” like a fish on a line. She knew that by feeding my ego at this crucial and vulnerable time in my life, that I could be convinced to shoot for the Brass Ring (or the Golden Spatula…as it were).

After three years in that role (while I started my face painting business simultaneously), I learned that knowledge of your potential host and their friends/family is crucial to whether a Pampered Chef party, or career, is a success or not. Try speaking the praises of a “lifetime-guaranteed 13-inch family skillet” to a group of under-thirty-somethings who order out pizza and make macaroni and cheese as often as they can. Or selling baking gadgets to the 25 year-olds who spent most of the party on a smoking “break” out on the deck.

Somehow I managed to sell a ton of Pampered Chef products, and win some prizes, and even earn a free trip to San Diego. I learned quickly that more parties held, created more parties scheduled, (like a stone thrown into a pond makes lever expanding ripples). More guests at a party creates a much higher income level for that party, as every guest can find SOMETHING useful in the catalogue.

But most of all, I learned that I needed to identify my ideal host, and work with her to make her party as successful as possible for BOTH of US. We needed to learn what types of cooks the guests were? What was important to them? Healthy eating? Time-saving techniques? Better baking? Efficient movement around the kitchen (while keeping an eye out for toddlers)? Involving other family members in meal prep? Or: drinking tons of wine and hanging out with girlfriends during the work week to gossip and dis’ their husbands? (Thank goodness Pampered Chef sells an awesome corkscrew!)

It’s no different in this industry.

Who is YOUR Ideal Client?

Don’t know? Then read on…

Let’s try an exercise:

• Who was your best client during the Holiday madness, or all of last year?
• Who would you love to hear from again because you had a great time at their event?
• Who made you feel welcome and loved and appreciated?
• Who understood how valuable it is that you provide a memorable experience for every guest, and they made it EASY for you to do your best?
• Who had great guests, well-organized events, well-behaved children (or adults)?
• Who gave you a fabulous tip, when you were just doing what you normally do?
• Who, during the last two months, made your “Best Clients of All Time” list?

Go ahead, look at your calendar, find them and write them down. Take a minute or two, I’ll wait (besides I have a Turtle Fudge Skillet Cake I need to check on).

Now, for the BIG question: WHY are these people on your list? What characteristics do they have in common? I’m taking about age, gender, family size, profession, perhaps socioeconomic status, perhaps things they have in common with you, their demeanor, or their personality type. Write them down too! (I have to take my cake out to cool…so excuse me for just a sec…)

You have just begun constructing the Profile of Your Ideal Client. This is important, because all successful businesses have to have a target customer. In today’s information-rich world, FOCUS is especially crucial to us, the small business owner. We can’t be everything to everyone, we don’t have the resources.

So narrow your focus, target YOUR ideal customer! Not your competition’s ideal customer, yours. Identifying that specific individual that has the characteristics of your Ideal Client will make your marketing efforts so much easier. It is that person with whom you have an emotional connection. After all, you can’t wait for them to call you again! Your life would be a dream if all your clients were JUST LIKE THEM.

Once you identify your Ideal Client, you can then work on understanding their needs and wants, and what problems they have. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could be their GO TO solution for every “perfect event?”

If you are interested in learning more about the IDEAL Client and how they fit into your overall business strategy, please join me for a FREE in depth webinar on the topic.

Your Ideal Client: who are they and how to find more of them.
Sunday March 3, 8 p.m. Eastern

We will cover: how to define and target your ideal client, how to establish the rules of engagement, how to know whether someone is or is not IDEAL for you on the first contact (spotting those “red flags” is as important as knowing who you want to attract).

You will leave this webinar with a list of attributes for your IDEAL client and action steps for how to reach them.

You can register here!