Could you pick your ideal client out in a crowded room? Many times the answer to this question is no. The first step to finding your ideal client in that crowded room is to narrow down the search, but where do we start? Let’s start with the obvious choice: appearance.
Create an image of your ideal client in your mind. It’s your client so go ahead and create them in any way possible as this is for your own benefit. All the stereotypes go out the window. No one has to know that you have personal prejudices that are weighing on your decision. This is your ideal client and you can mold them however you want. Now that you have that image, it is time to describe them in detail.
What do they look like?
Are they male or female? Young or old? Thin or fat? Short or tall? What race are they?
How do they dress?
Are they a business person, blue collar, or white collar? What is their socio-economic status and is that noticeable in the way they dress?
What characteristics or personality traits do they have?
How do they act in public? Are they outgoing, laid back, or reserved?
That’s just a start; keep on going until you have the exact picture of your ideal client. Describe them by gender, age, stature, and race to first get a picture of what they really look like.
Now take that one step further … look for ways to determine education, residence and career. There are physical traits that can assist you in making this determination … you just have to look for them.
If you are looking for a well educated, upper class, business person, are you not likely to look for a different person than if you were looking for a high school educated, middle class, working person? Of course, the stereotypes are not always going to be accurate, but you will be able to find your ideal client if you look far enough.
This is not the only determination to use, but it is a start. You now have a way to pick those people you want to talk with first in that crowded room. The key to remember is that like associates with like. For example, when your ideal client is a upper class, well educated, business person and you walk past that person in the blue jeans to the person in the designer suit, if the person in blue jeans is actually upper class, well educated business person, that person in the designer suit is likely to know that they are just hiding in jeans!
So now that you have your first step in narrowing down your choices in that crowded room, I want you to spend the next two weeks honing in on that skill. Take the time to start approaching those people and see how well you read people. My bet is that you won’t always be able to pick your ideal client by image alone. In two weeks, I will give you the second key to narrowing the search even further.