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How to Easily and Quickly Attract More Ideal Clients
“Tea, Earl Grey, hot,” commands Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. And he gets a perfect cup of piping hot English brew exactly the way he likes it. Three factors are at work: 1) Picard knows what he wants, 2) he articulates it clearly, and 3) he has a system, the starship’s “replicator,” for producing his desired outcome every time.
Too bad you can’t just step up and order perfect clients like Picard and his hot tea. But in the real world, you can use a process called “Slots and Replication” to achieve a similar goal: When you clearly articulate the attributes and character of your ideal clients, you can put in place a system for replicating them. This system—asking for and getting quality referrals—is the lifeblood of many successful businesses.
The Ideal Client Profile
Before you talk to your existing clients and strategic alliances about referrals, you need to create an Ideal Client Profile. This description should be detailed and specific.
Think about who your best clients are right now, and consider what makes them so great. Ask yourself, In what ways are they alike financially, professionally, or personally? What attitudes and aptitudes set them apart from the masses and make them such exceptional, enjoyable clients?
Slots and Replication
Your objective should be to take on only those clients who match your Ideal Client Profile. Once you have written your Ideal Client Profile, you can figure out how many people who match this criteria you’ll need to meet your business development goals. It’s a pretty simple calculation to establish the income you desire to earn and extrapolate the number of clients required to achieve it. Begin with the end in mind, as Covey says.
With this valuable information in hand, you can create a business management tool I call “Slots and Replication” to track your acquisition of great clients and keep you aware of how many more are needed for you to reach your goals. Here’s how you can make your own:
- On one piece of paper, print your Ideal Client Profile.
- On another piece of paper, number backward, starting with the total number of ideal clients you need, and print a list of your ideal clients. Don’t list all of your existing clients; include only those who already match your Ideal Client Profile (they match every item on your Ideal Client Profile).
- Continue numbering backward until you have “slots” to represent all of the ideal clients you need to reach your income goals. Use additional sheets of paper if necessary. For example, if you need 100 ideal clients, then you might have four sheets with 25 slots each. Maybe you’d already have 27 clients’ names you could include, and you’d see at a glance that you have the additional 73 slots to fill.
Now you’re ready to attract those additional 73 people. The objective is to replicate the 27 who are already ideal. You’re absolutely crystal clear about how many and the kind of clients you want. It’s time to talk to those 27 and see who else they know—who are just like them. Your existing ideal clients are your replicators. You must simply give them a precise description (your Ideal Client Profile of your business), and ask them for the names of people who meet it. Show your strategic alliances and centers of influence your Ideal Client Profile to obtain referrals from them also. Make a list of your strategic alliances/centers of influence and potential strategic alliances/centers of influence (think outside the box) who you think have clients who fit your profile or they would know people who would fit your profile.
So it is with clients. Once you define the type of person you most want to work with and let your clients and colleagues know about it, you’ll start to see this type of person everywhere. It won’t be a matter of chasing down prospects to fill those slots; instead, you’ll easily attract and notice ideal potential clients.
Figure out exactly what you want, state it clearly, and allow the “replicators” to work for you. Reap the rewards!
Use the online exercise to help you get started by going to: http://accountabilitycoach.com/assessments/icp/
For help with this concept, choose from the many high-value and high-content tele-seminars for only $27 USD that can be found by going to: http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/coaching-store/audio-store/
If you don’t have an Ideal Client Profile you need one!
If you have one, you might want to review it and make sure it is current and specific so you can attract the kind of people you want to attract. Utilize this complimentary online program to help you create your Ideal Client Profile. We welcome any feedback on the process to how we can make this online exercise even better. http://accountabilitycoach.com/assessments/icp/
For additional assistance in this area, obtain the audio learning program entitled: Tele-seminar – Creating Your Ideal Client Profile and Learn the Slots and Replication Exercise.
Focus on acquiring the clients you really want
In talking with a client today, he was telling me that he needed to change his Ideal Client Profile to reflect an increase in their assets under management. Instead of $1.5 million in assets they needed to have $3.5 million. He then made a comment that it is harder to find $3.5 million clients than $1.5 million. I asked how come he thought that. What makes it harder? He pondered this and said he guessed it would be the same. So we talked about him being the expert in helping $3.5 million people make smart choices with their money so they could have the kind of life they wanted. Where does he find $3.5 million clients? How can introduce him to them? Who does he have to become to be the expert to these people? What systems and processes does he have to have in place to be that expert they are looking for? How does a $3.5 million client expect to be communicated with and how does he demonstrate that he is their expert? Then how does he keep them once he has them? What team of experts does he have to have I place to support the $3.5 million client? What has to happen for people to seek him out as this expert?
Put yourself in the highest probability position to receive what you want. What do you have to change or do to be the expert and achieve your goals?
It is just as easy to find $3.5 Mil clients as it would be anyone.
Put yourself in the highest probability position to achieve your goals!
In talking with a client today, he was telling me that he needed to change his Ideal Client Profile to reflect an increase in their assets under management. Instead of $1.5 million in assets they needed to have $3.5 million. He then made a comment that it is harder to find $3.5 million clients than $1.5 million. I asked him how did he come to this conclusion. What makes it harder? He pondered this and said he said he guessed it would really be the same. So we talked about him being the expert in helping $3.5 million people make smart choices with their money so they could have the kind of life they wanted. Where does he find $3.5 million clients? How can introduce him to them? Who does he have to become to be the expert to these people? What systems and processes does he have to have in place to be that expert they are looking for? How does a $3.5 million client expect to be communicated with and how does he demonstrate that he is their expert? Then how does he keep them once he has them? What team of experts does he have to have I place to support the $3.5 million client? What has to happen for people to seek him out as this expert? He came up with a strategy to attract these clients and felt more confident that he could really do it as it isn’t any different to find a $3.5 Mil client than it is a $1.5 Mil client.
Put yourself in the highest probability position to receive what you want. What do you have to change or do to be the expert and achieve your goals?
It is just as easy to find $3.5 Mil clients as it would be anyone. Go get ‘em!
Expect to receive a ‘mother load’ of referrals and you will! – High pay-off Activities
Expect to receive referrals from everyone you ask and you could put yourself in a high pay-off situation. Yeah, you might be afraid to ask for referrals for whatever your reason is. Get over it and start asking! You could receive referrals from each person you ask in the amount of 10-100 or more. Show up like this is what you expect – 10-100 referrals. People who ask for referrals - receive referrals. I have known people who have received 90 and 175 referrals from one existing ideal client source. The source can be an existing client, a prospect, a friend, acquaintance, or strategic alliance / center of influence. A person I know received in excess of 200 referrals from one strategic alliance source. I call this the ‘mother load’ of referrals. Another person received directories of groups where their client was a member with names of ideal client profile candidates highlighted and pertinent information about each one. I call these occurrences, the ‘mother load.’ It may not happen often but it can happen to you if you believe it can. It can come to you in big numbers from all different sources and potentially result in high pay-off. Expect it to happen and it will. Start receiving your ‘mother load’ of referrals.
