I often work with business owners who mistakenly believe good business is taking on any client who will pay them. And, I get it, because I’ve been there! When I first started my own business I took on any client because I didn’t understand that I could actually attract clients who made my life easier, my business more joyful, AND allowed me to expand my revenue. I’m going to show you the exact path on how you, too, can attract and serve your dream clients and create an even more successful business.
Get Crystal Clear on Dream Client
First, you have to get clear on who your dream client is. Often when we start working with clients, we find that they’ve outgrown who they thought their ideal clients are. As their business has evolved, as they’ve evolved, as their products, programs or packages have evolved, their clients perhaps haven’t evolved with them. If this is how you’re feeling right now, it can feel like there’s a mismatch between what you’re delivering or what you’re offering and the clients who are showing up. This is a sign that you need to take a moment and get crystal clear on who your dream client is NOW.
An easy way to do this is to think about your favorite client. Who’s your favorite client in your business? That one who lights you up, who’s easy to work with, probably pays you on time, and refers other clients to you? The question to ask yourself is, “If I built a client profile based on that client, what would my business be like?” This question typically elicits, a limiting belief that says, well, that’s not possible; there’s not enough of those clients out there. But that’s a lie. The truth is, there are more than enough dream clients for you (believe me, we’ve tested this!). But the first step is to make that list of all the attributes of your favorite client so you can make the decision that you ONLY want to work with more clients like them.
Make Sure Your Belief is in Alignment with Your Dream Client
The second trick to landing your dream clients is to make sure you believe it is even possible. Think about your favorite client and ask yourself, “What would it be like if my entire business was filled with clients just like that one? Get a sense of that; really lean into it. Then notice your belief about that. In other words, what’s your limiting belief about whether or not that is possible for you? Now lean into that thought for a moment, and whatever that limiting belief is, ask yourself what are three things that are potentially not true about that limiting belief.
This seems like an odd question and often scrambles the brain for a minute; it’s like, what? What do you mean? What’s not true about it? I know a lot of things that are probably true about it. But when you ask yourself what’s not true about it, your brain will go there, and you’ll start to come up with some things. Maybe, what’s not true about there not being enough of those types is, “There are 8 billion people on the planet, there are enough clients for everyone, and there are enough dream clients for you.” When you say that to yourself, you start to see how the limiting belief begins to fall away. What else is not true about it? I don’t know that it’s not possible for me; I haven’t made the decision that I’m only going to work with dream clients, so I haven’t even tested it. What else isn’t true? I know other businesses that only work with their dream clients; that’s what they do day in and day out. And they seem to really love their business. So, if it’s possible for them, it’s possible for me too.
See how you do this? You just start to peel that limiting belief away, thought by thought. Underneath all of that, not only is it possible for you to only work with dream clients, it’s what you desire most; it’s what you’re being called to. And underneath that is the opportunity for you to say no to clients who are no longer a fit.
Now, that can stretch you a little bit because saying no to clients who aren’t a good fit means that you’re saying no to money coming in. And that can feel disconcerting. But I want to assure you that when you begin to say no to clients who aren’t a good fit, your confidence will grow and soon an ideal client will come along and strengthen your belief even more.
50 Ideas Process
The third trick to land your dream client is to use the 50 ideas process. When I feel stuck, this is one of my favorite things to do to figure out how to work with more ideal clients. I first learned about this process from my mentor, Brian Tracy, and since then I’ve seen other people using it and I’ve even seen studies completed that show the power of using this method!
Here’s how it works. Take out your favorite journal and a pen, and start to write down all of the ways in which you could only work with your ideal clients. You could phrase a question such as, “What’s the fastest and easiest way for me to work with 20 (or more) ideal clients monthly?” Then begin to write the answers and see what flows through! It’s going to be a stretch (and most people want to quit) to come up with 50 ideas, but on the other side of that 50 ideas, you’ll find gold.
Once you have your 50 ideas, I recommend that you break it down to your top 10, and then once you have your top 10, break it down to your top five; in that list of your top five ideas, you will find the gold. You will find the way that’s probably been waiting for you!
Unfortunately, when we get that list and we get those ideas, we’re often in a bit of resistance to take action. There may be two top ideas, and you’re thinking, I could take action with this, this definitely feels like a direction I could go, but I maybe have some resistance; maybe it’s outside of my comfort zone. This is where I want to encourage you to push through; even if it feels uncomfortable, do it anyway. Take that next step because that’s what will bring your ideal clients to you. If you’re looking for inspiration, my youtube channel is full of business, sales, and marketing ideas, so don’t forget to subscribe!
Make It Easy
Make it easy for your ideal clients to find you and for you to find them. Once your ideal clients get to your sales page or your webpage, you want to make sure that it’s really easy for them to know which step to take next. In other words, what is the client journey or the customer journey for your dream client? This might be a little bit different, or asking this question might make you realize that it’s time to tweak one of your packages, to increase your pricing, or to shift something in the process. Notice what’s coming up in this area.
This is where marketing really comes into play. Marketing is everything. For example, I was speaking at a multi speaker summit, and there was a client who was watching the recording of the summit and was directed to, at the end of the summit, download my free Quantum Revenue Expansion Masterclass. The client made it to my website and downloaded the free class; after she downloaded it, she enjoyed it, and she said she wanted to learn more. So then she went back to my website and hung out on my blog; on the blog, she found out I have a podcast, listened to a couple of the podcasts, and on one of the podcasts, we invited her to take a next step, to book a call with us, which she did. That’s how she ended up in our world.
I share that with you because marketing is everything. That’s why you want to be visible in a lot of places because you never know where someone’s going to find you. Once they find you, though, you want to make sure that they have a clear next step that they can take from either the blog, the website, or from the podcast. In other words, where are you leading them? Where do you lead your dream clients to easily find you?
How I Learned My Lesson
Years ago I was hired to work with a team of 10 sales people who didn’t want to be coached at all. I still remember meeting the sales team for the first time and getting the sense that they were in a lot of resistance. They didn’t want to be coached because the truth was, they weren’t being held accountable. The owner of the company didn’t hold them accountable, so they didn’t have to come into the office. There was nothing that they needed to do because they got paid anyway. The only person on the team who wanted to be coached was their top salesperson, which wasn’t a surprise. She was already successful. She wanted to have more success. She wanted me to hold her accountable, which I see often; top performers want to be held accountable, probably like you do.
Fast forward six months and I was miserable. I would show up, only to find that the salespeople didn’t show up for our meetings. They had a lot of excuses. They didn’t come into the office, all except for that one top salesperson who came in over and over again and was hungry for coaching and more information.
At the end of the contract, I finished the agreement, and I remember thinking it just felt off. In my heart of hearts, I knew that I never wanted to work with a sales team like that again. At least not one that didn’t want to be coached and whose leader did not hold them accountable either.
What became clear to me was that I didn’t have to work with clients who weren’t a good fit. It took me a long time to get that, but I realized I never have to work with clients like that again. Once I got that clarity and I made the decision, I never looked back. Since then, I, and our team, are very discerning about the clients we work with. We want to work with highly coachable clients, clients who are ready to go to the next level, and clients who don’t live in excuses but are excited about moving through resistance and doing whatever it takes to get to the next level. Clients who are at about $200,000 in revenue and want to hit $500,000 or want to hit a million. We are crystal clear on who that client is in terms of the deliverables they want, and also who they are and how they show up in the world.
I hope you enjoyed my four tricks to landing your dream client! Remember, first, you have to get really clear on exactly who your dream client is. Second, your belief has to be in alignment with the idea that landing your dream client is possible. Third, take yourself through the 50 ideas process and develop 50 ways to land your dream client. And fourth, make it easy for your dream clients to find you.
Let me know in the comments below if you’ve ever had a dream client seemingly just find you out of the blue, and after you ask them, where did they actually find you? If you haven’t yet, definitely download our FREE Quantum Expansion Masterclass. I promise that it will change the way you think of your clients, your pricing and your business!
