Do Your Clients Measure Up?
Do you ever turn potential clients away?
Do you have some set of standards to determine whether a client is a good fit for you?
If you answered yes to both of these questions, I’m doing a happy dance for you. Having a clear understanding of who you can and can’t serve is one of the most powerful tools in your CEO toolbox.
When you know the qualities your ideal clients should have, it’s incredibly freeing. You deserve to work with clients who value you and will benefit from their time with you. On the surface, that may seem arrogant, but the whole point of leaving corporate life was so that you could do the work you truly love with the people you really want to serve.
In the early days, I said yes to clients that now, in hindsight, I know weren’t a good fit for me…and me for them. The energy drain in situations like that is high, and the more times you say yes when you should say no, the harder it becomes.
The idea of a client yardstick came to me as I was reminiscing with some of my sorority sisters about old recruitment (rush, for all the old timers) parties. Let me explain, especially if you were not part of the Greek system or your only image of sorority life is from Animal House.
During the recruitment process, potential new members get the opportunity to visit every sorority. Through that experience, they meet with sorority members, learn more about the mission and values of each organization, the philanthropies they each support, and how their particular sisterhood enhances a member’s collegiate experience. At the same time, each sorority is getting a sense for who this potential new member is, why they want to join a sorority, what they want out of that experience, and whether they might be a good fit. This process occurs over a number of rounds and days and allows all parties the freedom to mutually select the organizations and potential new members they want to ensure everyone finds the right home.
Potential new members have some criteria or idea of what they’re looking for in an organization and the experience they want, so too does each sorority. Every organization has an internal mechanism they use to determine whether this potential member will be a good fit for their organization, just as the potential member has the opportunity to remove organizations from their list for similar reasons. It’s a mutual selection process, and it’s one of the things I love most about the recruitment process.
This same concept translates beautifully to business. When prospects come in contact with your business, they are evaluating everything about you. Your values. Your mission. Your understanding of their needs. Your ability to help them get their desired result. The value to them of working together. Your personality and overall fit.
Likewise, you have to do the same. Not every client is going to be a good fit for you, and that’s okay. In fact, it’s essential to discern who those best-fit clients are as soon as possible, because it allows you to best leverage your time and serve them well.
If you’ve ever had a client that was challenging, demanding, didn’t appreciate your values, or just didn’t want to do the work, you know why having some kind of measurement tool is important. And chances are, you probably have this information in your head. Today, I’m challenging you to get it on paper.
This internal measuring mechanism is what I call your Client Yardstick, and it’s something you can use in all your marketing and sales efforts. You may have also heard this called a red velvet rope or client boundary checklist. The concepts are similar, and here are four questions to get you started.
When you think about the clients you truly want to serve, clients you’ve been able to serve really well, and clients who’ve done the work to get the results they wanted, what did they have in common?
What are the must-haves to be your client? Think about the specifics of your niche or the problem you solve.
What are the attributes or characteristics you’re looking for? Think personality traits, stage of their business, specific things they need to have in place or have done, geographic locations, or even age range.
What are the deal breakers? Think anything that is an absolute no for you, and be very specific.
This information becomes a powerful tool in your Client Attraction strategy because you can determine whether or not someone meets those characteristics, often before you even get on a call with them. This saves everyone time, energy, and potentially money. There’s nothing worse than being in a business arrangement and finding out that the person you said yes to really isn’t a good fit for your services or in the right place to benefit from them.
You do not have to work with every person who comes your way. It’s okay to say, “I don’t think we’re going to be a good fit,” and then pass them to someone else in your network that you know can serve them better.
In fact, let me be bold and say, it’s your moral and ethical obligation to only say yes to best-fit clients. I know it can be hard, especially when you’re struggling to find clients and need the money, but I challenge you to hold space and say yes to only those who fit your yardstick. It will make a world of difference.
And remember, your yardstick, like your ideal client, evolves over time. So, allow it to grow and evolve as you and your business evolve. This is the work we do in Client Attraction 100. Getting clarity around who you want to serve, whether they’re a best-fit client for you, building compelling offers, and showing up boldly is the best launching place to making money and build a solid pipeline of clients in your business.
