#1 ~Look at your past customers~
Notice trends in the type of clients you attract and pay
particular attention to the ones who provoke you to be our
best. How do you feel when you get off a call with a
client who’s “got it together”…Great, right? What about
the client who’s a real downer? The phone rings and you
glance at the caller id. Ugh! Not her AGAIN! I’d rather
stick my hand thru the paper shredder than answer the
phone. (LOL, we’ve all been there!) Remember the
tolerations from unpleasant encounters and be sure not to
allow them into your newly formed target market.
#2 ~Think about ideal future prospects~
Make up an imaginary customer. For example: mine is
“Caroline Everson”. She’s a 35 year old coach/therapist,
married, lives in LA and works out of her home office.
She’s been in practice for 3 years and has two
daughters—10 and 6. Caroline’s website is so stagnant it
stinks because it hasn’t been updated for over a year. She
wants to revive her online presence, and attract a full
roster of clients from all over the country in the next 6
months.
Focusing on one person allows you to really get to the
“pain” your prospect is having. What keeps her up at
night? Where is she stuck? How is she feeling? This will
give you the “emotional” element in your web copy to hook
the prospect. Your ideal goal is to connect with the
reader so they will take action and contact you without
hesitation. The tighter your niche, the better!
Also remember that your niche can have sub-niche’s and can
change at any minute. This is a process…do not obsess…
it may take 1 week, 6 months or even a year to figure out
exactly who is your ideal client.
#3 ~People we DON’T want as customers~
The message we craft is to attract the folks we WANT to do
business with. If our message is CLEAR, we will weed out
the wrong types of prospects by allowing them to
self-qualify and not bother contacting you.
Sometimes I’m asked by people who haven’t visited my
website if I can create their e-commerce site, or other
commercial site. By simply stating who my niche or market
is (therapists & coaches) it gets me off the hook easily
and prevents me from getting involved with a project
that’s not in my area of expertise.
So, ask yourself… who’s your Caroline Everson?