Somewhere around the year 2002, I really started to dislike, no despise, my after-the-fact bookkeeping clients.  It seemed all of these clients were grouchy, demanding, nasty and not doing well in their own businesses.    One afternoon, I had reached my limit and instead of staying at my desk working, as I normally had in the past, I left and went to St. Mary’s by the Sea.  St. Mary’s is a beautiful park on Long Island Sound near to where I live.  I don’t know if it was the change of scenery or not, but something magical happened that day.  That short respite gave me what I needed to begin looking at and thinking differently about my business and who I wanted to work with.

You see,  for my company, this service was a problem every way you looked at it – from clients not paying on time to not paying at all; work being submitted late, work not being submitted at all; clients not responding to our questions – you name it, it happened.  I was unhappy, my staff was unhappy and most importantly the write-up clients were not happy.  The point is just because you have the skill to provide a certain type of service does not necessarily mean you should offer that service.

I recognized I was not placing any value on this service so why did I expect my clients to?

For your business to be its most attractive to others, you must value and enjoy all the services your company provides.  It is only then, you are in perfect alignment and can attract to your business those clients who you enjoy working with.

The first step to identifying your ideal client is to become crystal clear about who it is, you are meant to serve.  Once I became clear that we should not be offering after-the-fact bookkeeping and who my ideal client was, I was able to communicate that in my marketing materials, 30-second speeches at networking events, and, on my website.  My ideal clients were able to see and identify themselves in my marketing message and how we could help them. In essence, we became magnetic.  

You too can become magnetic and work with clients you love.  To start to figure out whom you like to work with, answer these 2 questions.  They will have you well on your way to establishing who your ideal client is!

1)  What is not perfect/working for me right now?  For example, it may not be perfect for you to have a client who does not pay you in a timely manner.  It may not work for you to have an employee who comes late to work everyday.  Once you start considering what is not perfect/working, you will find that you can develop a very long list of characteristics.

2)  Now look at your list and identify the opposite of these characteristics.  For example, it is perfect for clients to pay us on time, every time.  It works best for me when my employees are on time when arriving to work.  

Once you have answered these two questions, read through your answers to question #2 and read what you’ve written. This is the start point for your ideal client.

“I have to sign this prospective client because I need the money that I’ll earn from this account.  I will say “yes” to whatever it is that they want and I’ll worry about how to handle it later. ”

In this mindset my main focus is on the money and I am desperate to do anything it will take to sign this new client, including discounting my rate and agreeing to provide services I may not be comfortable providing.  I am sacrificing all of my needs and the way I operate my business to meet the needs of the prospect and make them happy.

A prospective client can smell the fear a mile away and when you are operating from a place of desperately needing cash, you are operating from a place of fear.  When a prospect smells fear they will usually try and negotiate the fee you have quoted downward and/or ask for additional services to be included for the same price. 

This is a huge red flag even if you are operating from a place of fear.  It is really important that you pay attention to that gut feeling.  You know the one.  If you allow this prospect to become a client they usually have unrealistic expectations of you and your services and will always ask for some sort of compromise.

So how can you prevent this from happening?  By teaching this client how to properly work with and treat you and your business and this begins during your qualifying phase, in your initial conversations.   

When your main focus is on the money you will meet your short-term goal of bringing in a couple of hundred dollars a month but, remember, that couple of hundred dollars could end up costing you thousands!

Want to know more?  Click here to learn more about my 8-step easy-to-use and easy-to-implement process on How to Qualify a Prospect & Work With Clients You Love!

Has that thought ever crossed your mind? 

Did you ignore that feeling in your gut?

The one that said, “Don’t do it, you’ll regret it.” 

Often the feeling is more subtle.  Something’s off, but you can’t tell what.  You need the client fees, but don’t see the train-wreck coming until after you work together.

For me, that thought happened one time too many.  It seemed for every one new client that I absolutely loved working with there were two that I absolutely dreaded. 

There is no such thing as coincidence.  I came to realize on some level that I was contributing, whether consciously or not, in bringing these clients into my life and my business.  That’s when I learned that I had the power to change these circumstances and to work with only those clients that I loved.

Ask yourself…

□ Who is my ideal client? 

□ What do they look like and what types of characteristics do they possess?

□ What four or five things they must have in order to work with me and my firm?

By defining the answers to these simple questions you will be well on your way to establishing the criteria against which you will measure a prospective client. 

Want to know more?  Click here to learn more about my 8-step easy-to-use and easy-to-implement process on How to Qualify a Prospect & Work With Clients You Love!