Step One – Identify Your Ideal Client

Not every client is right for every professional.  Sometimes the personalities are just not a good fit.  Sometimes what you are best at is not what that client is looking for.  You and your client will both be happiest when you are right for each other.

Many professionals trying to build their practices want to cast as wide a net as possible in order to catch as many clients as possible.  The problem is we are not using nets, we are using lures – we have to ATTRACT the clients we want.  If you target the clients that will most appreciate your special qualities:

1)         It will be EASIER to attract clients.  A generic message does not give anyone a specific reason to seek you out.  A well targeted message hits home, giving that audience a reason to want YOU.  If I advertise myself simply as an attorney, no one has any reason to choose me over any other attorney.  If I advertise myself as an attorney who handles dog bite cases, the people who have been bitten by dogs will want ME to represent them instead of the other generic attorneys out there.  By narrowing my audience, I increase my value.

2)         You will attract LESS of the clients that are NOT the right fit.  Again, if I advertise myself simply as an attorney, the clients I do get will be the least choosy – the ones who do not care about my value.  They will probably just be choosing me because they think I will be cheap, because they think they can push me around, or because they think any attorney is as good (or bad) as another.  Those are NOT the clients I will enjoy working with.

3)         You will attract MORE of the clients that are the right fit.  If I want clients who want to protect their relationship with their spouse, I need to get the word out that I am an attorney who works to to protect relationships.  Then I will get clients who share that value, and clients who do not share that value will go bother other attorneys.

Exercise 1

Before you can start finding the clients that are the right fit for you, you need to identify what the right fit is.  Exercise 1 will help you think about the characteristics of the clients you like working with the most, as well as where you might find those clients.