In case you missed out on the Small Business Supercharge in May this year, we’re pulling some highlight moments from the day to publicize!
This Week: Darrell Amy’s Presentation on Ideal Clients, and why you need them in your business
The fastest, most efficient, and most enjoyable way to get your business to the next level is through Ideal Clients!
Having a clear understanding of your ideal client profile, and setting your business up to attract them, will set you up for success as you move forward with your business.
Ideal Clients (A Definition)
An ideal client is someone who can buy everything you sell, and is someone you enjoy working with. The flip side of that, is that they want to purchase everything you sell, and they enjoy working with you in return.
In other words, there is a cultural fit between you (your business) and the client.
Here’s why this matters...
These kinds of clients tend to stick around longer, and are easier to cross-sell. This phenomenon is a proven fact, and one that others like Mike Michalowicz are talking about (He references this in his book The Pumpkin Plan, when he says “Not all clients are created equally.”)
The reality is, there’s a slow way and a fast way to grow. There’s a prosperous way and a painful way to grow. And these kinds of clients help you along the fast and prosperous way to grow.
For Example…
I was down in South Florida working with a technology company. We did a revenue growth workshop with them, and started by talking about clients and the hard facts. Our first question was “How much revenue would an ideal client bring in if they stayed on for 10 years?” Our next question was “How much revenue would a run-of-the-mill client (someone who buys one, maybe two products/services) bring in if they stayed on for 10 years (An unlikely prospect, but we asked the question all the same)?”
When we added everything up, we saw a stark contrast!
The Average Clients would bring in $36K over a 10 year period ($3,600/Year).
The Ideal Clients would bring in $866K over a 10 year period ($86,600/Year).
What I want you to see here is that there is an exponential potential of 25x when you’ve got ideal clients.
Here’s the kicker...
From a sales and marketing standpoint, it takes almost as much work to land either client.
Except that ideal clients are easier, because there is more cultural and value alignment with the company before a sales call is even made. So not only is it easier, but these are the kinds of clients who are more likely to stick around. Because the average run-of-the-mill clients are going to be vendor-hopping and most likely won’t stick around.
It boils down to this…
There are two ways to grow your revenue: Net New Business, or Cross-Selling.
The awesome thing about Ideal Clients is that they are far easier to cross sell. Most businesses struggle with revenue growth because they’re attempting to pursue a Net New Business model, and they don’t attract the kinds of clients that they want. So if you want to avoid struggling with that business model, identify your ideal client and design your business in such a way that it attracts those people!
As soon as you understand who your ideal client is and then set up your business to attract that kind of client, you’ll have the ability to accelerate your revenue growth. No, that’s not a redundancy of words. Your revenue is currently growing in some fashion. When you set your business up this way, you accelerate that revenue growth.
You might be wondering if these Ideal Clients are unicorns that don’t exist, or that are extremely difficult to find. You might be thinking “Darrell, I can’t afford to go after these clients!”
I would say, you can’t afford to not be going after these clients!
Unlike a gigantic corporation, you’re a small business. As a small business owner myself, I know you have a limited amount of time, budget, effort, energy, and resources to make your business grow from a marketing and sales perspective. You can’t afford to be trying to appeal to the whole market, that takes more resources than you have.
But when you’re able to focus in on the right types of people and dial in on a message that resonates with them, every aspect of your business gets easier; from operations to fulfillment to sales, the whole business works more smoothly with ideal clients!
Want to see Darrell speak in person? Book an interview for the Grow Retreat, which he’ll be speaking at in January, or check out his content page to see