Do You Know Who Your "IDEAL" Client Is?
Simply put, your ideal client is someone you enjoy and it is a profitable relationship for BOTH parties.
It's the type of client or customer that makes you say, "Gosh, if everyone was like that, it would be great".
Yet too often you're out there chasing down prospects & leads that don't fit the criteria as an ideal client, just to get some business. This often results in no sale, or if you do get the job, a customer that's more trouble than he's worth.
Knowing the characteristics of your ideal client allows you go focus your marketing, closing and follow up strategies on people just like them. The goal is to reverse the 80/20 rule.
Analysis First
A good place to start is by segregating your clients by volume. If you are like most companies 80% of your revenue will come from 20% of your clients. This is the 80/20 rule and it continually astonishes us how well this works for clients in the contracting and services businesses. It is pretty likely that many of these 20% clients are ideal but not all of them will be.
Ideal Client Characteristics
- Payment History
- Administrative Burden
- Service Burden
- Longevity
These are broad categories and you will need to define specifically what you mean for each one.
Here are some examples of breaking these down into more specific questions:
Volume/Activity
What is the size of their projects?
How many complaints, go-backs, re-dos etc.?
What is the average profitability per project?
Where are they located?
Payment History
Do they pay on time?
Do they negotiate after the price is fixed?
Service Burden - if applicable
How often do they ask questions about the service or project?
Do they demand exceptional or costly change orders?
Are they generally unpleasant to deal with?
Do they restrict your ability to service similar clients?
Do they come back to you for additional work?
Are they happy with you company?
Once you have identified your ideal client characteristics, then you can use them to screen your prospects, target your message and focus your lead generation efforts.
Keep in mind that many of the characteristics may be intangible.
Look for ways to define those intangible characteristics so you can better choose the targets you really want.
Until next time, I wish you much success
Mike Jeffries
866-926-5100
