One thing I’ve learnt about marketing is to be very clear about who you want to serve, if you really want to succeed.
You want to position yourself as what Russell Brunson calls an “Attractive Character”. That is, you want to naturally attract those you’ll be happy to work with and serve at the highest level…while repelling others.
One way that has been recommended is to write out who your dream client is; that is, who you’d love to serve.
While applying that to my system, however, I realized it’s not realistic. And unless you’re an experienced marketer, you’d only set yourself up for frustration.
Not realistic how?
I asked a client about his “dream client”, and for real, he started dreaming.
I don’t blame him; I caught myself dreaming too when I was doing this exercise.
Researching your “dream client” forces you to actually “dream”.
And when you dream, you give yourself permission to be lofty and unrealistic. Or merely aspirational.
The supposed essence of the exercise is for you to identify several traits in the people you’d love to serve. But most can’t handle that freedom to dream away.
Solution?
I started looking for a way to fulfill the essence of “dream client” while leaving the wild dreaming out of it.
So I tried “I Wish” client.
I tested it on my wife, a makeup artist: “hey, who is your ‘I wish’ client; someone you wish would patronize you?”
The answer that came out of her mouth made me realize that I only made “dream client” even worse.
Without giving it any thought, she said “the Governor’s wife.”
And I was like “woah, slow down now!”
While it is very possible for the governor’s wife to patronize her, it will be very unrealistic (and even unwise of us) to use the governor’s wife as her avatar. Apart from the fact that there can only be one governor’s wife per state (rather too small a demography + too much competition), she’d set the bar too high and probably repel other equally great, or even better, clients.
“I wish today”
So I went back to her: “okay, who is your ‘I wish today’ client: that is, someone that, if you were just waking up on a Monday morning to prepare for work and wishing or praying that God sends great clients to you today, who are the kind of people that would come to your mind? A client you’d really be happy to see today?”
Then she started mentioning names of some of her great clients. I saw the smile on her face from just talking about them.
I asked her why she chose those. She started telling me good things she likes about them: how they are friendly and humble, despite their social status; how they NEVER question whatever she does for them; how they NEVER try to beat her price down; how they give her feedback later with gratitude; how she’s at the top of their mind whenever they need makeup services; and so on.
Who wouldn’t love to work with those kinda people?! Lol.
Do this NOW:
Then I gave her a free marketing tip.
I said: write these traits down and always actively look out for this type of people. Whenever you’re marketing your business or putting content out, focus on these people; have them at the back of your mind. Let your message attract these people, while it repels others.
This is my charge to you, too: think about those who are an absolute pleasure to work with; those that make you feel most fulfilled when serving them; those clients or customers that make you happy, then begin to tailor your marketing to them.
NOT everybody is your client/customer!
I know you might think everybody is your client or customer. I’m not saying don’t work with everybody (even though you’re wrong); accommodate as many different types of people as possible.
But when it comes to marketing, you can’t be here and there; you must have an avatar (or a few avatars, depending on how many markets you serve). And you must also streamline your message towards a type of people.
Now tell me, where you’re to choose just one group of people to cater to in your marketing message, who would you rather call out; your best clients or the random, just-there ones?
I’m sure you made a smart choice!
(Don’t let me even go into how the Law of Attraction also works here.)
So…stop dreaming too big or too wide when marketing your products/services; just focus on your best clients; the ones you’d really love to have come patronize you…then use them to fill out your “I wish today” client profile.
Startup?
What if you’re just starting out and don’t have the luxury of different existing client/customer experiences?
Same principles apply!
“I wish today” helps you make your dream client real. You’re forced to think about someone you could meet today; not someone you could possibly meet in the near future. Not presidents of nations and billionaires of the world. But the successful business woman who values growth over money (pulled this from my own avatar).
Growth
Definitely, as your business grows and as you also grow in capacity, your “I wish today” client profile grows too. Perhaps someday, the president of a big multinational company would naturally be your “I wish today” client and it wouldn’t sound ridiculous.
Till then, be as realistic as you can, while you also dream big at the same time. Striking a balance is key.
Need help?
“I wish today” client profile is a task that comes in form of an essay under the Audience Intelligence section of the Septuplar Sales System. If you want me to guide you in creating this profile and give you feedback afterwards, then you want to join my coaching program.
Your audience is just one of the 7 pillars of business growth we’ll install in your business, to ensure you start consistently getting profitable sales.
Simply send me a DM to signify interest. First, we’ll determine if you’re a good fit for the program. Then we can move on from there.
Cheers to attracting both your “I wish today” clients and your “dream clients”!
Oludami
