The biggest reason I became self-employed was to have more control.
I wanted to have more control over the kind of work I did, when I did it and how I went about it.
And I especially wanted to have more control over the people I worked with.
I wanted to choose my clients more carefully. Because as a freelance writer I was, essentially, selling a relationship. And I didn’t want to have a relationship with people who didn’t appreciate me or my work. Or who weren’t fun work with.
If we were going to work together closely, I wanted to do that only with people I enjoyed, doing meaningful and engaging work.
That’s what we’re discussing in today’s episode. And to do that, I’ve brought in one of the leading authorities on getting clients in the professional services arena: C.J. Hayden.
C.J. is the author of the classic book Get Clients NOW!, a book I read, studied and applied in my early years as a freelancer. It has served me very well over the years. So I feel honored to finally have her on the show to talk about finding and working with ideal clients.
The notes that follow are a very basic, unedited summary of the show. There’s a lot more detail in the audio version. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. Or you can subscribe in iTunes or on Stitcher to get this show delivered straight to the Podcasts app on your smart phone, tablet or iPod.
What do you mean by “ideal client?”
For freelancers, business is personal. Our days are filled with client interactions. Choose clients you want to work with. Consider factors such as:
- Are they easy to work with?
- Do they give you repeat business?
- Do they pay their bills on time?
- Are they reasonable about deadlines?
- Do they pay high fees?
How do you think most freelancers go about getting ideal clients?
Most freelancers think about how they’re going to land enough clients to make a living. But many don’t think about how to make the process easy and enjoyable. You don’t want to operate from desperation and take any work you can get.
Think about where the best work comes from. Should you have lots of little clients or just two or three big ones?
Take a step back and look at what’s going on.
When you work with clients that aren’t ideal, you don’t do your best work.
There are also opportunity costs: the time you spend on these clients is time you can’t spend on ideal clients. And when you work for clients that aren’t ideal, they refer you to other non-ideal clients.
The longer you stay in that mindset, the more you start to believe this is the best you can do. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
How do you define who your ideal client is?
Think about past jobs you’ve enjoyed. What did those jobs/people/organizations have in common? What characteristics do they share? How did you find them?
Then look at the numbers. What is your average sale? The higher your average sale, the less hard you have to work. You can spend more time doing work you like and less time marketing.
How can you identify the qualitative attributes you want?
Look at where your best clients come from. In many cases, the best clients come from referrals.
It’s rare that clients you love refer you to clients you hate.
Build your business so that more clients come to you instead of you finding them.
It can also be helpful to create detailed personas for your ideal clients. See how your personas compare to your prospects. It’s okay to have two or three personas as long as they aren’t too diverse.
How does defining your ideal client help you get more and better referrals?
The more clearly you can communicate your ideal client, the easier it is for people to refer you.
Define your ideal clients by profile instead of needs. This makes referrals easier because people may not know about needs until it’s too late.
What is the best way to spend time and money when looking for clients?
You need to have a system. In the Get Clients Now! method, marketing consists of four stages:
- Filling the pipeline
- Following up
- Having sales conversations
- Closing sales.
At any one time, one of these areas will need more work than the others. Put your time and money there.
Where should people start?
Come up with a rough definition of your ideal client, and then create boilerplate language to describe the kind of people and projects you want. Test it out to see how it works.
When you feel you’re moving in the right direction, gradually shift your public image and market position to appeal to this group.
What about concerns that specializing leaves us vulnerable to market changes?
A niche consists of two parts: target market and specialty. You can specialize in one or both. If you don’t specialize in either, you’re still vulnerable to market changes.
What protects you from market changes is the ability to shift your skills to different markets or specialties. You need to be able to define your value in different ways and understand how your skills relate to the bigger picture.
Tell us about your Get Clients Now! system
The book and program is a “cookbook” that gives you ingredients and recipes for successful marketing. You can create a 28-day detailed marketing plan in a couple of hours. It helps you choose approaches that are most likely to be effective for you and match your personal preferences and abilities.
C.J. Hayden’s Get Clients Now! system: Getclientsnow.com
