Let me tell you a quick story.
On July 17, 1991, I went to a seminar by one of my mentors, Brian Tracy. Why do I remember the exact date? Because when I stood up to ask a question, it turned into a very memorable experience.
Brian dug into my personal life a bit and eventually told me that it was time for me to find a wife!
“Yeah, great idea,” I thought to myself. But I didn’t even know where to start.
Brian told me to write down the ideal qualities for my future wife.
30 days after that momentous conversation, I met my wife as a “prospect.”
If I hadn’t taken that great advice from Brian to heart, two things would have been dramatically different:
- I wouldn’t have recognized she was everything I was looking for.
- I wouldn’t have understood that I wasn’t the right person yet – I had to spend time doing the work on myself to make sure that I was the right person for her!
When you know what you want, you can become the kind of person that attracts that!
Here’s why I bring it up…
This story of meeting my wife isn’t all that different from pursuing your “ideal client” – the type of people you would love to work with!
Imagine what your business would be like if you worked with those perfect clients!
So how do you achieve that goal?
Before you can attract the perfect clients, you have to know a few things about your own business if you really want to make your business repeatable, scalable, or enjoyable.
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6 questions to attract more perfect clients
Where are you really an expert? What today’s consumer wants is a hyperlocal expert who knows the market inside and out and who will guide their transaction to success with minimal interruption to their life. Become that.
Who is your ideal/perfect client? What are the attributes, qualities, and values you are looking for in an ideal client? Maybe it is fun and easy-going people who understand the value you can provide to them, and they respect your level of expertise.
But that’s not quite enough. You also need to ask yourself a follow-up question…
Who do your business, skills, and systems best serve? It’s one thing to say you want to work with easy-going luxury clients, but are your systems set up for that? You need to know what you want, but you also need to look at what expectations the perfect client would have. Once you know what that client is expecting, you can deliver!
Who do you not want to serve? Think about the opposite of your perfect clients! Also, think about what market segments you aren’t ready to serve yet. When you change your mind, make sure you’ve got the systems and process in place to serve them!
What questions and process do you use to identify if the client is a fit? Think about these types of questions:
- Towards and away: Evaluate if they are they moving towards a solution or away from a problem.
- Value elicitation: Knowing your values makes decision-making much easier.
- Basic pre-qualifying: You know what to do here.
Those questions will give you some insight into who your ideal clients are. Then think about the triggers: their tone, energy, and responsiveness when they answer.
What lead gen systems best attracts the ideal client? Don’t fall into the challenge of just looking at your ideal customer as being all cash, ready to close, and will refer 30 friends! We know that “like attracts like,” so who do you need to become to attract your ideal customer?
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P.S. After 18 months of consistent follow-up, I convinced Kathy to say “yes” to my proposal. We’ll celebrate 25 years of marriage later this year!