The Ideal Clients : Who are they? Where are they?

Who are your ideal clients? Do you have a wish list...if only I had more ...doctors...? Do you know who in your existing client base are your ideal clients? Have you defined why they are your ideal clients? Have you told them?

As more financial service/financial planning businesses endeavour to differentiate themselves it seems there is a plethora of "re-creations" of adding arms to the business of JV's and COI's and service propositions and bite our tongues...CVP's.

The problem with all of this is that without a clear articulation of who your ideal client is, how many of them are in your existing client base and importantly what are their qualitative and quantitative characteristics - then all the above is pointless.

At the most basic level an ideal client is:

- someone who takes our advice
- someone who shares our values or at least whose values we respect and vice versa
- someone who understands how the advice we have provided meets their needs (in other words they can attribute meaning and significance to the strategy employed)

In greater detail these ideal clients also:

- are well liked in the family and social circle
- are trustworthy
- are of a certain age that fits our target audience
- has a certain occupation in line with our niche positioning
- is or will be a profitable client for our business
- has a love for themselves and the family group they are part of
- is socially adept
- is well connected

By determining who in your client base you would like to replicate if you could by applying some of this criteria you can easily and quickly determine what it is you need to do in our business to grow and grow exponentially.

One of the first things you need to do is tell these clients -(hopefully many that presently sit in your client base - but perhaps only a few that you need to now replicate) - that they are important to you, that they are your ideal clients, why they are your ideal clients and why you like working with clients just like them.

To articulate that message you need to speak in client terms that resonate with the values they have - remember values alignment is a key to them being an ideal client. The message needs to state how it is that what you do meets these needs and values with the tools such as product being only the capabilities that deliver the strategy.

Once you do that you are on a path to turning these current ideal clients into advocates and sources of referrals.