Your ideal client is someone who reflects who you are. Here the word “ideal” means “best suitable for your firm” given your products or services, culture and in-house talent. It does not mean “perfect” or “flawless”, nor does it suggest that your ideal client is someone quite “unrealistic“ or “idealistic.”
Let’s look at your clients then, and before I do that, let’s look at you.
Who are you?
Since I don’t know who you are, let’s say that you are a tech savvy, well-read, above-average-smart, pragmatic and highly logical owner and head of an accounting firm. An overwhelming majority of your clients are highly creative, with lots of great out-of-the-box ideas, highly disorganized, not tech savvy, with top-notch people skills.
Why do you attract these clients and not others? They are almost the exact opposite of who you are! Shouldn’t they be more like you?
Who are your clients?
Your clients are attracted to the unique combination of your gifts, talents, skills, experience, expertise, passion, personality and character. That unique combination explains why you tend to choose certain employees over others. You pick people you like and trust. If you are proud of your tech savvy, chances are most of your staff will have to be tech savvy because they speak the same language as you. If you can’t stand people who are poor communicators, you will likely have as few of those serving your clients as you can get away with.
Why do those highly creative, innovative, “bigger picture’, late technology adopters feel attracted to you? Because you—and your firm—offer something that they crave, something they lack.
The smaller the firm, the more your clients resemble who you are, and the lower the rate of dilution of your uniqueness reflected in your clients. In a large firm, a greater variety of movers and shakers leads to a greater variety of clients.
How do you know which of your clients are in the “ideal” category? The ones who are your exact opposite? Or the ones who bear an uncanny resemblance to you? Not quite! Not always!
Your ideal customer is someone who loves working with you, feels energized by you, gets the most value out of you, naturally trusts and respects you, gives stellar testimonials of how you’ve made their life easier to everybody they know, and can easily forgive you a mistake here and there.
And they make you feel the same way. They make you feel energized, stimulated, and willing to give without second-guessing whether you’ve perhaps given away too much of your value in exchange for the price they pay. They are the reason why you and your employees continue to love what you do, even on a bad day and during those dreaded long periods when nothing is going the way you’d like.
How do you know you are not dealing with an ideal client?
You know you are dealing with the wrong kinds of clients for you when you feel drained, uninspired, bored, frustrated, stuck, and always on the defensive when interacting with them. These negative emotions can linger long beyond the interaction is over! No matter what you do for these clients, they like to second-guess you, argue, question your judgment, ask for a discount and often pay late without reason. They are the ones who love to throw at you, “What have you done for me lately?”
Do you still want to woo the wrong clients?
You may argue, “If I fire my bad clients, I’ll soon run out of business!” That’s because you are not aware how the clients that are not right for you affect your performance with your ideal clients. It’s like working in an environment ruled by a toxic boss or toxic co-workers: you may think it’s just work, and you’ll forget about that toxicity soon as you close the door behind your office.
What happens after work proves you wrong: the arguments with your spouse get feistier, and your kids get more of a mouthful than they deserve.
Your ideal clients feel exactly the same as your family members. That same toxic fallout lands on them too. Since they are now getting your second best, why not look around for someone who will give them their best? The last time you felt iffy about the service someone has provided to you, they probably never saw you again, and you probably never spread the good word to the people in your network.
Whether the times are good or bad, having too many customers who are the wrong fit for your firm is a bad proposition for you, your ideal clients and your employees. How many is “too many” depends on your firm. If you want to maintain your firm’s attractiveness to your ideal clients, please consider sealing off the doors through which the wrong clients come.