Listen More Assume Less! by @womensbusinessa

by Jane Willmott

When it comes to your ideal clients and knowing what they want, assuming isn’t a good idea!

Often when I speak with people about their ideal clients most of the information they tell me hasn’t come from their ideal clients, they’re actually just assuming that they know. But when you assume that you know rather than actually hearing it from the horses mouth, you potentially end up with a whole ideal client profile that’s completely and utterly wrong.

Assuming anything is never a good idea but it’s specifically a bad idea when it comes to creating your ideal client profile. You’re going to use that profile for your marketing, for your offerings, you’re going to use it for pretty much everything in your business when it comes to trying to attract clients and turn them into sales, so it’s a pretty important part and one that shouldn’t be left to assumptions!

So what you need to be doing is listening, you need to listen to your ideal clients and build your profile based on what they’ve told you, that way you know that the ideal client profile you’re working from is what they say, they need and what they want.

But how can you actually find any of it out?

1. Create a survey

You can create a short survey and ask your ideal clients to fill it in, make sure that the questions you ask are going to help you build a picture of your ideal client, so don’t just ask any old questions think carefully what answers you really need from your ideal clients and then ask the relevant questions to get those answers. When you put the survey out there make sure that you let people know in advance exactly who it is that you want to fill in the survey, how many questions and roughly how long it’ll take them to finish it. Some people include a small gift at the end of the survey this could be some sort of download or a 15 minute call.

2. Go to where they hang out and engage with them

If you know they hang out on social media and specifically in groups on certain social media platforms then go over to where you know they hang out and engage with them. You can post questions to get a better insight and you’ll strike up a conversation with them at the same time, you can also observe what they’re actually talking about and the language that they use too.

3. Have a real conversation, pick up the phone

Nothing beats getting on the phone (or Skype) with your ideal clients, this gives you an amazing opportunity to really go in depth with them about their problems and what they’d really love to change right now. You can post where your ideal clients hang out and ask if they’d be willing to jump on a quick call with you, just to give you some feedback about your business and your ideas, you could even offer to solve a small problem with them on the phone. I’ve actually had clients do this and walk away with clients too!

Remember to make notes, if you see your ideal clients talking about something or maybe even something they’ve just mentioned in conversation to you, make a note of it because it’ll help you when you’re building marketing, sales posts, social media posts etc

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Jane Willmott is a successful business coach, she specializes in working with online business owners (coaches, experts, virtual assistants, bookkeepers, accountants, trainers etc). Jane works with them to create amazing strategies, that enable them to rise up and be the go to expert in their field, grow a raving following and blaze their way to their income goals.

Jane has clients celebrating regular 10k days, 6 figure months, quitting their full time jobs, have 3 month waiting list and much more. All of her work with her clients is tailored, there’s not a done for you strategy in sight!

Melissa Stewart

Melissa Stewart is the founder of SheOwnsIt.com. She is a Purveyor of Possibility, Entrepreneur Advocate and Coffee Addict. She believes that behind every successful woman is her story. What’s your story?