Figuring Out Who Your Ideal Client Is And Developing A Plan To Reach Them

Do you want to love your job?

Do you want to avoid burnout?

Do you want to be proactive so you can avoid problem clients?

Do you want to land your ideal client the majority of the time?

Of course you do!!

Then you need to know your target audience.  Regardless of what business you are in (you could own a grocery store) it is still important to know who you want to serve.  (I bet the ideal client for a grocery store is NOT someone who only buys 1 item).

“But I love ALL of my clients” you say.

Ok, but I’d bet that you love some more than others.  I have a lot of great clients but when I think about WHY they are all great, it’s because they fit certain criteria that I already know I work best with.

At the 2014 PSO conference,

Marcus Sheridan (Sales Lion)
Jerod Morris (Copyblogger) AND
Ryan Hanley (Content Warfare)

ALL mentioned “ideal client” in their presentations.  If one had said it; not a big deal.  But when all 3 marketing powerhouses talk about the same thing – I sat up and listened.

At the 2015 conference, Dr Andy Roark put it out there that he is a goofy guy.  He is fantastic with clients who bring their kids with them because he has kids of his own and he is a big kid at heart.  He gets them!  His ideal client is a family.  How many vets do you think cringe when someone brings in their 3 young children?

Not Dr Roark – he embraces it.  Because that’s exactly who he clicks with.

This is not about your only client, it’s about your ideal client!

Of course Dr Roark can help the pet of a retired couple.  But if he loves working with families, that’s where his marketing focus should be (and it is!)

We are looking to target the 10 out of 10 client, the one you LOVE to get calls from.

Of course we are going to take clients that don’t hit all of the criteria, we may even find a special pet that we’d take for $0.00.  But when you know what fits best with you and your business, you are not going to take clients that score a 0, maybe you won’t need to take anyone who scores less than a 5, or maybe even a 7.

Can you imagine having a business filled with your favorite clients?  Awesome right?!

Some of the questions on the assessment may not be relevant to your particular business at this particular time. And that’s ok.

You can answer them in regards to your future goals – i.e: I don’t accept online payments but I’d like to in the future.

Maybe you don’t care what kind of animals they have, you want more of a relationship with the client themselves.  Great!  We’re going to use all of that information to make a target marketing plan so you can be reaching your ideal audience on a regular basis.

At the 2015 conference, Lara Galloway talked about clarity and knowing what you want.  What do you want in a client?

You need to be able to define what you want before you can get it.

Answer this assessment to help you start defining EXACTLY what it is that you want:

IDEAL CLIENT ASSESSMENT FOR PET SITTERS

 Your ideal client has:
A) Dogs
B) Cats
C) Horses
D) Combination of any of the above

Your ideal client has:
A) 1 animal
B) 2 animals
C) 3 or more animals

Your ideal client lives within:
A) 5-10 minutes from your house
B) 10-15 minutes from your house
C) on the way to/from somewhere that you frequent (i.e another job, school, parents house)

Your ideal client wants you to:
A) take their dog on a walk
B) let their pets out in the yard for potty and play time and/or play with the indoor cat
C) only the basics of food, water, cleaning the litter box

Your ideal client has animals that:
A) Have special medial needs and are on medications
B) Have senior pets that may need an extra level of care
C) Have no health issues and are on a regular diet

Your ideal clients wants you to stay for:
A) 15 minutes or less
B) 15-30 minutes
C) 30-45 minutes
D) an hour or more

Your ideal client found you through:
A) Web/Google search
B) referral from current client
C) Social Media
D) flyer you have posted
E) referral from someone in pet industry (ie groomer, vet, trainer)

Your ideal client:
A) Travels and needs you for longer stretches at a time but when they are home, they don’t need you.
B) Works outside of the home and needs daily visits Monday-Friday (or a combination of days, maybe not 5 days a week)
C) Is home and is usually there when you arrive to help with their pet(s)

Your ideal client wants you to come:
A) 1x a day
B) 2x a day
C) 3x a day
D) more than 3x per day
E) spend the night in their home

Your ideal client:
A) Expects a text/email with a picture at every visit
B) Expects a text/email with a picture every day
C) Expects an update 1-2x throughout their trip
D) Doesn’t need any updates

Your ideal client:
A) Uses your software to schedule visits
B) Emails you when they need to schedule
C) Calls you on the phone to talk in person.

Your ideal client pays you via:
A) Online using a credit card
B) Automatic withdrawal through their bank account
C) Check or cash left on the counter for you to pick up when you do your visit

Your ideal client:
A) Plans ahead and sets up visits more than a month in advance
B) Contacts you within a week of needing services
C) Contacts you within 24-48 hours

Your ideal client:
A) Becomes a friend.  You know about their life, their kids, and they know about yours.  Even though their pet has died, they still send you a holiday card.
B) You get to know them a little bit but more through pictures they have in their house and why they need you to help with their animals.  (Going to Disney this month, kids are off to college).  They don’t know much about you.
C) You don’t know much about them and that’s fine.  They book services, you do the work; and that’s it.

Are you getting a better idea of who your ideal client is?

Share with us any questions we may have missed.  Once we collect as many questions as we can we will put the assessment into a downloadable PDF file for you.

Spend this next week really thinking about what your ideal client looks like.  Remember at the conference when Dr Roark was talking about an ideal client Avatar?  Exactly that!  We are building an avatar.

Next week we are going to delve into the HOW of target marketing to your ideal client.