So you are in a room with lots of people. You’ve “eyed” your ideal client, walked up to them and engaged in a conversation, only to discover that you were totally wrong about this person. You walk up to person after person at the event to realize that you are totally wasting your time. Your ideal client is no where to be found in this room of people. You have now learned the third important step to finding your ideal client … know where you can find them.

When we are on our search for our ideal client, we often forget that before we can find our ideal client we need to know where they are likely to be found. Look for associations, trade shows, conventions, networking events, on-line forums and other common areas that your ideal client is likely to “hang out” and start frequenting those areas.

Make yourself visible as this is key. Here are some tips to doing just that, based on some of the places that you are likely to find your ideal client:

Associations
First and foremost, join an association if they allow for associate members. Secondly, volunteer within your ideal client’s association; sit on the Board of Directors, assist with an upcoming event, or help out in any way that will make you more visual. Having a role where your ideal client can see you, especially where you are utilizing those skills that will be important in your partnership with your ideal client, is key.

Trade Shows
Attend the trade shows of your ideal client. You don’t have to necessarily carry on a conversation right then and there, as many times they are very busy, but as a resource to gather information. Ask those probing questions when you find someone that is not busy and willing to talk. This can be a great opportunity to get a number of your ideal clients in one room – where else will someone hand you that much information.

Conventions
Why not sponsor a convention for your ideal client? Perhaps they will have the opportunity to have a display table for your product or service. Attend the seminars to gather more information so that you can better know your client. Start talking with these clients and let them know you are here.

Networking Events
There are so many opportunities for networking out there, but finding the right one can be hard. Attend several networking events until you find the one that more people within your “ideal” client profile are found. If there is a networking event that is geared solely towards your ideal client you have it made!!

Online Forums
Many people make the mistake of joining an online forum and selling themselves. This is a turn off to most potential clients. The better alternative is to start answering their questions and setting yourself up as an “expert”. Many fear that by spreading your knowledge, you are giving away your “trade secrets” when in fact the opposite is true … if you give them just enough, they will be left wanting more.

So, go where your clients go. It is not as simple as knowing where you are going to find your ideal client and then just going there; remember to become visible to them. Once you have become visible to them, you can start asking those probing questions and finding your ideal client!!

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.

In yesterday’s post, I talked about the importance of setting boundaries for your business and stated that the best thing I did for my business was to establish a boundary letter. Here are the top 10 areas to consider when developing your own boundary letter:

1. Hours of Business – Just as any business states what the hours of business are, so too should you establish hours that you will be available to your clients. They should be stated clearly and should never change without written notification. Remember you are your own boss and whichever hours you establish are fine provided your potential clients know from the very beginning.
2. Phone Answering – Let your client’s know how and when they can reach you by telephone. If you do not wish them to have your cellular telephone do not provide it to them, however if the opposite is true let them know that you are available by cellular phone when you are not in the office. Make sure to tell your clients how long they should expect you to take to return their phone call when they leave a message. If you do not have an answering service on your telephone be sure to advise your clients as to how they can reach you
3. Email Availability – Be upfront with your clients as to your email availability. If this is your preferred method of communication be sure that they are aware of this. Let them know how long they should expect an email to be answered. Also, if you have limits on the numbers of emails you want to receive from them in any given day be sure they know this. Also, let your client’s know how often you check your email and when that is.
4. Turnaround Time – Most businesses have a usual amount of time it takes to complete projects or order products for their clients. Be sure that your clients know exactly what this usual turnaround time frame is. Also, if there are any surcharges, be sure that they are aware of how these surcharges work and when they are applicable.
5. Pricing/Invoicing Policies – Be sure that your client is very clear on what your pricing policies are. How do you track your time and calculate their invoice each month and how quickly is this required to be paid? Do you require a deposit? What constitutes an overdue invoice and what are the consequences of an overdue invoice? Be concise yet thorough in your descriptions so that you can avoid problems at a later date.
6. Referral or Other Bonuses – The best way to grow your business is to get your client’s working for you. Do you offer any referral bonuses or customer loyalty programs and how would your client qualify? What expectations do you have of your client or is this an appreciation? Be sure that they know exactly what is expected from being able to work with you.
7. Vacations and Closures – If you close each year at Christmas, be sure that your clients are aware of this up front. For some this might mean the difference between doing business with you or not. If you have a “back up” plan in place for when you are closed let them know about that as well.
8. Subcontractors/Employees – If you are in a service business and you are selling yourself to a potential client even though others will be assisting you with the work, be upfront with your client and let them know how this works in your business. Make them aware of the credentials of each of your staff and why this system is in place. Let them know that you are still involved and how.
9. Tools or Software Utilized – In particular in my business it is very important to let my clients know in advance which software programs I will be utilizing so that we can ensure that we are compatible. For many programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel just knowing the version someone is using is important when saving documents. For other programs (accounting software in particular) it is important that both parties are using the same version to be compatible. If you are aware of a potential problem and how it is solved be sure to include that in your outline.
10. Termination of Relationship – The final thing to include in your boundary letter is a brief description of what would “push” you to terminate the relationship. Let them know what rules when broken would mean you would sever your relationship. Also, let them know how quickly you will utilize this. For example, if one of your areas to terminate is failure to pay an invoice let them know that all work will cease immediately. If, on the other hand, it is for not respecting your boundaries they will be given one warning/reminder after which time a second occurrence will mean 30 days notice for termination.

I am sure that once you begin to establish your boundaries and are clear with your clients, they will learn to respect you more easily. Remember the most important rule of boundary setting is to stick to your boundaries no matter what. This is perhaps the hardest lesson and one we can talk about another time!!

One of the best things I did for my business was to establish boundaries. These are those items that establish the line between personal and business. For many their business is full of gray areas and this often leads to confusion between them and their clients.

In order to establish boundaries, one must first know what is important to them in order to maintain that true balance between work and life that so many of us are trying to achieve. The first step to doing this is to sit down and really figure out what is important to you and to your business. Here are some areas to look at:

• What is office time? What is family time?
• What are you willing to do? What are you not willing to do
• What would your perfect business look like? What would your perfect family life look like? How do they interconnect?
• What rules do you have to keep personal and business separate?

The next step is to sit down with your family and get their opinion. What are their expectations from you as a business person and what are they NOT willing to “sacrifice”?

The final and perhaps hardest task is to respect the boundaries that you set. If you determine that you will work while your children are at school only then ensure that this is when you work and make it very productive time. If you determine that you will not enter your office after business hours do whatever it takes to make that happen.

The best way to do this is with the aid of a boundary letter. This letter outlines for your clients exactly where the boundaries of your business are. I give my “boundary” letter to each and every client right after our initial consultation and/or with my Proposal. The best thing about a boundary letter is that is sets out my clear expectations from the very beginning and lets my clients know what I am and am not willing to do. For some this has meant the difference between working with me or not, but in the long run I have come to realize that if a potential client does not respect my boundaries then they are not the client for me.

Come back tomorrow and I will outline for you the ten areas you should consider when creating your boundary letter. I am sure that once you are clear with not only yourself, but with your family and clients as to what you consider to be the balance you need between work and life, you will be on your way to creating a truly thriving business.

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.

Take a moment to close your eyes and focus on your vision, your dream … imagine yourself one year, two years or even five years down the road. What does the picture look like? Really take some time to develop the picture. How does it feel? How does it taste? How does it look? How does it sound? How does it smell? Use every one of your senses to make your dream as real as you can. Now open your eyes and start writing. Using these senses, write out your dream in detail so that anyone can be brought into your vision and feel, see, taste, hear and smell it with clarity.

Without dreams and visions, why bother? Without something to work towards or strive for, who cares? Giving yourself something to work towards is the key to creating any success in our lives. If you fail to dream, you fail to have goals. Without goals you fail to have purpose. Without purpose ….

So start dreaming and you will be amazed at where you will go … and even better, believe that your dreams are possible.

DARE TO DREAM !!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we start our own businesses, many of us come from the “Corporate world” as I like to refer to it. When we worked in the Corporate world, we had set days and hours that we were expected to work. This meant that the freedoms to do what we wanted was limited to the times when we were not obligated to be at work. Well, guess what ………..

As business owners, we no longer have to work within that time frame. We are no longer obligated to working Monday to Friday, 9-5, for example. We have the freedom to allow life to be lived, however and whenever we want. Work no longer comes first…our family does. This is one of the greatest advantages to running your own business. The ability to do what you want, when you want. No longer must we schedule our family time around our work schedules.

When you prepare your daily schedule, take the time to look at your family’s needs and schedule that time in first. Then work backwards and determine the best times to focus on the work that needs to be done for your business. For example, if your children are young and at home, schedule in the times they will need you first. Work around their schedule (i.e., focus on work while they nap, while they sleep, while they are at a play date or during their favorite TV show).

When your school age child is going on a field trip … if this can work in your schedule, plan for it. Go with them and have fun. Schedule work around it. Perhaps it might mean picking up some extra hours in the evening after your children are in bed to catch up, but this is the biggest freedom you have as an entrepreneur.

Enjoy your family …. I remember a friend of mine once said that she always seems to reflect when people are dying they often say “I want to spend more time with my family”, but never, ever do they say “Gee, I think I will put in some more time at work”. At the end of life, who says “I wish I worked more?” Take the time now, while you can, to enjoy your life. Your family, your children and loved ones will thank you for it.

When you make a mistake do you ever stop to learn from that mistake? My husband has a favourite response when our kids make mistakes …. he always ask them “Did you learn something?” If they respond no then he always says “Well then you will probably make the same mistake again”.

I always tell my children that I would rather they admit to their mistakes and we can deal with the consequences rather than trying to hide the truth. Let’s face it, the truth always seems to have a way of coming out anyways. My children know that the punishment is worse if they are caught trying to hide something or are caught lying about something. Many times it is hard as a parent to remember the lesson that I am trying to teach them and try to remain calm when they make mistakes. It is not that they are not punished at times for these mistakes, but they understand that hiding it will result in a harsher penalty. I believe I am preparing them for the “real world” and this lesson will make them great (not that they aren’t already wink, wink)!!

This lesson is important to bring into our businesses. No one person is infallible … we all make mistakes. It is what we do with those mistakes that will distinguish those that grow from those that remain stagnant. When you take the time to analyze your mistake and determine the best “course of action” to ensure that this mistake is never made again, it is then that you will allow yourself to grow as both a person and a business owner.

Many people try to hide from their mistakes or blame others, but it takes a “big” person to stand up and admit they made a mistake. When you do admit your wrongs, others are more likely to trust in you and want to help you to learn from that mistake.

For my business, I offer a 100% guarantee. When something isn’t quite right I think it is important for my clients to let me know that I am in the wrong. I pride myself and my business on providing this guarantee. It does mean that I must take the extra time to make sure that things are “perfect”, but I believe my clients deserve nothing less.

I have made mistakes and some of them have been very costly, but my clients have all appreciated the fact that they know I don’t hide from the mistakes I make and in fact they appreciate that I am human too.

I found this article on Ezine Articles and found that it said pretty much what I was going to tell you so … as the saying goes … why try to reinvent the wheel!!

Let me know your thoughts …

NOW IS THE TIME OF YEAR TO FOCUS ON THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS PART I

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels a bit rushed over the holidays When you actually take the time to think about it, you’ve probably had some incredible experiences during the past year, but it is also time to focus on your business and its marketing especially if you are in a service related industry which tends to be slower now. Reflect on the past year…

Write down what inspires you now … What inspired you to start your own business? I believe that every business has a story to tell and that story is your “brand” that is just bursting to escape and be shared with the world through your poignant marketing campaign.

Describe what you would like your business to look like three years from now. Write a descriptive paragraph or two of what your business would look like if you were describing it to another person. Now imagine you’re one of your customers three years from now. Describe your experience in doing business with you or your company. How is the experience? What is it like? Can you get excited? Is this the kind of business you’d feel proud telling your closest friends and family members about?

Now that you’ve done that write down what has to happen between now and then for your business to actually look like you just described? What are some of the things that are in your control… that you can do something about? And what are some of the things that could happen that are not necessarily in your control… that you have no influence over? Things like price increases by your suppliers, tightening of credit guidelines, market conditions, the economy, and so on.

Next, what back-up plans do you need to put in place to compensate for the things you have no (or limited) control over? Are there some other products or services you might be able to represent or lean on if things get tough with your main products or services? Have you worked out a joint venture arrangement with another complimentary but non-competing company who represents other products that you may refer your customers and qualified prospects to?

And finally, who are the people and what are the resources you need to help you accomplish your three-year goal? Do you know who they are? Can you identify them? Do you have the proper relationship with them that you can enlist their aid when you need it? Do you have a plan that you can readily describe and discuss with them that will sell them on helping you?

Are you ready to take your business to the next level?

Copyright 2007 ProfitsMakeOver, Inc.

Gail M. Barsky, ProfitsMakeOver, Inc. works primarily with small business owners. Gail’s proven systems and strategies help business owners’ increase: the size of customer transactions, profit margins, the frequency of purchases, the number of years customers do business with you, referrals and boost conversion rates. Gail works only with a handful of personal clients. Her results have been impressive and have earned her substantial recognition and notoriety. Gail frequently offers “Breakthrough Business Development Seminars & Workshops.”

Gail M. Barsky, Esquire offers a FREE 20 Minute Business Strategy Session Call to interested business owners. Schedule your FREE private call with Gail M. Barsky, personally at http://www.profitsmakeover.com and click on the link marked FREE Strategy Call.

I will bring you Part II tomorrow.

With the holiday season fast approaching I took some time to watch my children prepare their Santa letters. Of course, every single item on that list was something they truly didn’t need, but felt they would just “die” if Santa didn’t bring it to them! We are fortunate to belong to a society of want rather than need. So many in the world are not nearly as fortunate as us and we truly should be grateful for the wonderful gifts we have been blessed with.

All that aside, let’s be realistic. We realize we are fortunate, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t really, really want something just as my children really, really want the latest and greatest new toys this year. This too is true about our businesses. I am sure you can make a list right now of 20 things that would be great for your business and really, truly make your life much easier. So what things are you going to put in place to get those 20 things this year? Yes they may be things you truly don’t need, but why not treat yourself? If you have truly taken the steps to set up a thriving business and to develop strategies to allow your business to continue to grow it’s time to reward yourself.

Take your wish list and pick at least one thing on that list. Now set yourself a goal. Make the goal a realistic goal, but something you truly need to work towards. Next I want you to make yourself a promise. When you reach that goal this year, I want you to reward yourself with that one item on the list. I am sure the incentive of the “prize” waiting at the end will be enough to truly get you working towards completing that goal and in doing this you will truly have created yourself a thriving business.

So I will go first … my goal is to develop my business to a point where I have a Project Manager fulltime and I am working only when I want to (in other words my business is self run)!! So now for the reward …. my reward will be …. to take my family on a cruise. This is a dream we have always had, but never gone any further.

What about you? What is your one big goal and what will your reward be if you reach that goal by this time next year?