Attracting ideal clients for heart centred business women is wonderful mix of science, strategy and magic!
Where do I find my ideal clients?
As a business coach I hear this often.. Let’s turn it around to take the slog out and get them to find YOU!
I started my complementary therapy business back in 1993, naive, keen and so excited to get treating people.
My FIRST EVER client taught me an embarrassing, never to be repeated but SO VALUABLE lesson in attracting ideal clients!
Lesson 1. Know who you DON’T want to attract.
When I started my first business back, I was a typical massage therapist. I wanted to help everyone and would massage almost anyone I could get my hands on.
It was interesting – in the widest sense! My first ever paying client came to see me in a holistic clinic. He had found my brand new, probably hand written business card in the window of our local health food shop Greens in Leigh-on-sea.
He phoned up and told me he wanted to be massaged naked and without towels as he was allergic to a lot of things. Alarm bells straight away but I persisted. I had a client!
I massaged him, covered in paper, in THE MOST AWKWARD treatment room ever. The bloody couch was against the wall. And the massage THE MOST AWKWARD EVER!
When I left the room for my client to get dressed, I told the (much older than me and worldly wise) woman who was running the clinic that he had been strange. Apparently she told others working in the clinic that I was attracting the wrong sort of clients so she didn’t want me there again!
Lesson 2. Call a friend or a coach. Ideal client is best not done alone!
I made my excuses to said client that I wasn’t the therapist for him and not long afterwards, I joined a local therapists support group.
We were exchanging stories and I sheepishly told these older, very down to earth and experienced therapists what had happened.
“Oh him, he came to me, it was waving in the wind! He’s banned for everywhere” and listed all the therapist he had been to and was no longer welcome. He picked the new therapists from the window of the health food shop then came with the same story.
My relief was massive, I wasn’t abnormal. It wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t already a failure with my first client!
Once I knew who I DIDN’T want to attract, focussing on those who I did was so much easier!
Lesson 3. Learn quickly and refine your niche regularly
Define and revisit your ideal clients regularly, at least every six months. You’ll always move on with a clearer vision of who you really want to serve.
In my twenty five years as a complementary therapist, I had a just couple of requests and only one who asked once he was on my couch! I had set my boundaries and developed a good filter.
Lesson 4. Get clear on your non-negotiable Ideal Client qualities.
After a year or so I had attracted a core of amazing clients who literally paid all my bills each month. It meant I could enjoy my work, my business grew steadily and I had people who I learnt from and grew with each week.
These clients were all well off and could afford to pay me. This might seem obvious but we can often be marketing to people who can’t afford our services so we feel we should discount. It brings up all our rejection issues, people pleasing tendencies and so much more.
They were all fun to be with. We had interesting conversations. The interest was mutual. They wanted to know what I had been up to and vice versa. I never got bored of them.
They respected me, my knowledge and expertise and they trusted me. This meant they referred family, friends, work colleagues to me. They helped me expand my practice.
They valued the work I did, considered I was worth every penny they paid me and never quibbled when I increased my fees.
There is much more but these are a great foundation. We highlight many more when I work with clients on this.
Lesson 5. You don’t need to chase ideal clients.
Be in the right energy, share your marketing where they hang out and know them well enough to attract them.
Defining your niche, finding out who you most want to work and then attracting these people, without chasing them is a combination of science, energy, strategy and a bit of magic.
These amazing people found me and so many more. Incredible opportunities too. I was on their radar so I popped up. Some of these people stayed with me for twenty years.
They found me in the Yellow Pages that we had then, the 1990’s equivalent of social media. They even saw my adverts in the local press. I put myself out there, I didn’t knock on their door and they found me. It wasn’t complicated. This is what can happen when you know who you want to attract, stay focussed on what you want, not what you don’t want.
Then your RAS, the Reticular Activating System in your brain starts showing you where to post and your clients RAS find you. The perfect meeting of energy and vibration.
It does take application and focus. It also takes getting truly clear on who you want to serve, what their challenges are, and much more.
I had a very happy therapy practice for many years, earnt good money and some clients became friends.
If you are new to business or up-levelling and reading this, you might like some help to do a really good job identifying your ideal clients. I’d love to help!
Are you keen to set up YOUR ideal client attracting ecosystem?
Book a complimentary discovery call here! https://rosemarycunninghamcoaching.as.me/