So you’ve narrowed your search in that crowded room and picked out your ideal client because they looked exactly like your ideal client. You approach the client and begin talking with that client and realize, “Wait! I was totally wrong. This is not my ideal client”. You now know that choosing your ideal client cannot be based on appearances alone. Now is time for the second step in finding your ideal client. Now is the time to start asking those probing questions to find your ideal client. Now is the time to master the “art of conversation”.

Before you can ask those probing questions and start that conversation, it is important that you know what values are important to you.

Is there a lifestyle that is important for your ideal client to possess?

What is their vision in life? In business?

How do they work? How do they live? What is the balance between the two?

What are their opinions? Their ideals? Their values?

Now that you know what values are important to you and for your ideal client to possess, what questions can you ask to make sure that you can determine that the person falls into your ideal client role model? Remember to word your questions so they are non-invasive and casual in nature. Some questions are easy to ask, for example, if your ideal client is a mother, asking “Do you have children?” is a topic that most mothers would never find invasive. However, if your ideal client is in a certain tax bracket, asking “How much do you make?” would certainly be very offensive to most.

You can get the same result by simply carrying on a conversation and learning about them and their lifestyle. Remember how a person talks and carries themselves in a conversation can sometimes be very telling and other times very deceiving. In our example above, some people may be in a certain tax bracket, but living a lifestyle of someone in a tax bracket well above them or well below them.

Remember that finding your “ideal” client, one that fits every single criterion may be a daunting task. It is important to know which values are the most important to you, the ones that you are NOT willing to compromise on and which values you are more willing to. For example, my ideal client owns a business that is growing. They realize that they can no longer do everything on their own and would like help. They appreciate my value and worth and trust me to be their confidante. They value my opinion and ask it frequently. They respect my boundaries and never push the limits of these.

The last statement, “they respect my boundaries and never push the limits of these”, is one of those values that I will NOT compromise on. So for me, finding a client that will respect these is crucial to a good relationship. Of course, if I ever asked a client “Will you respect my boundaries”, there answer would undoubtedly be “Yes”. So I must ask the right questions to get this answer. Sometimes this can be answered simply by asking “What expectations would you have of me?”, “What do you see as a perfect relationship between us?” These answers can answer a lot of questions for me. If, for example, they stated that they were looking for someone available 24/7, I know that would not be my ideal client because one of my boundaries is that I have business time and I have family time and I keep them separate and apart.

I think that, as a Virtual Assistant, I have an advantage that many others do not. I cannot base my search for the ideal client on appearance alone since many of my clients I will actually never meet in person. Finally, it is important to keep in mind that your search is not over. You may think that you have found your ideal client, but there are also two other areas to consider when searching for your ideal client and we will talk about those further in Parts 3 and 4.