Once again, I'm working on my business plan and I'm at my "Target Market" section. I got to thinking about what my ideal client would be like. I'm not talking niches or industries, I'm talking about personality, background and management styles. THEN, I became curious as to what everyone else's ideal client would be like. C'mon, we're all different, I'm sure we have different pictures of who that would be. So, this is your chance to dream, create that fantasy client in your mind and make a wish.

I'll go first

My ideal client:

• Is professional in all that they do
• runs their own business with integrity and high ethical standards
• is way too busy to micro-manage
• Realizes the value of quality and hard work
• Expects no less or no more than what they do themselves
• has a good sense of humor (is personable)
• is socially aware and not "too big for their britches" no matter how successful they may be
• is openminded to new ideas, technologies and innovation
• is conscious of the clarity of their instructions and eager to clarify further if need be
• is respectful at all times
• embraces the ideas of "partnership" and "relationship"
• is open to constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement

That's all I can think of at this late hour. Before I log off, though, I have a couple of more questions for you...

1) Do you try to aim your marketing at these types of people whenever possible (I know that you don't know a person's personalities before you meet them, but do you at least design your marketing materials with this type of person in mind?)

and

2) If you do, do you find that you attract clients closer to your ideal than not?

For those who don't market to their "ideal" client, I'm curious if your results would change in your favor if you did. I'm not saying that you're not getting business, I'm just wondering what type of business you're getting. Are you finding yourselves developing the kind of business relationships you'd like to have?

G'night, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

Hope you had a nice sleep.

This is an interesting question. I'm looking forward to seeing what others say. Until this week I would have said that my target market was small businesses with less than 4 employees, but this week I did some Visio work for a large muti-national pharmaceutical company and re-formatted a Word document for someone at a large insurance company. The pharma company found me on the web and the insurance company was a referral.

So I've learned not to pigeon-hole myself.

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Julia

I'm surprised. I would think that most larger companies would hire help from within or "loan" current employees for certain projects. We used contractors at the telecommunications company I worked for, but most were treated just like employess (i.e. they worked on site right beside the rest of us) and at least half of them were ex-employees that retired or got downsized. That's very interesting to know and definitely something to keep in mind while marketing. I was thinking last night that it would make sense for larger companies to contract out like this (many already outsource there tech support and customer service departments). Especially with the way the economy and, especially, gas prices and such. They would probably save a ton of money and downsizing wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue, imho.

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

Hi Stephanie, I do pursue my 'ideal' client as clearly and literally as possible - not only because having a clear idea helps keep me focused but because I've learned over the last few years that ignoring the ideal which I've worked so hard to 'define' for myself can lead to issues later.

Not that I'd recommend ignoring potential clients who don't fit that mold perfectly - some of the most wonderful working relationships we have in our clientele today are with those who took a bit of work getting to know before we were sure they'd be a great fit for us.

The reason I like to focus on my ideal is simply because I believe in the notion of energy and positive thinking, etc. - when you have a good mental image of what it is you want, you're all the more likely to be able to manifest that!

The one thing I noticed about your list is that it's a bit vague, and really describes aspects of anyone's ideal working relationship (we all want to work with people who are personable, respectful, open minded, etc.). I might suggest expanding your list to more specific items even - include things like budget, the types of projects they offer you, the frequency with which they require work of you, etc. (Check out this older thread on a similar note for more ideas on this!)

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Oh, yeah. I guess that stuff is pretty important lol

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy: