Hi everyone!!!

Today is our third week of our Defining Your Ideal Client series, and you guys, I’m SO excited about this post!!!

You can read the first post here and the second post here!  Today we’re diving into the specific questions you need to ask yourself ABOUT your MOST FAVORITE CLIENT(S) in order to create an Ideal Client Profile.

Now, you may have seen lots and lots of how-to’s on creating Ideal Client Profiles everywhere you turn on Instagram and Pinterest. But, a lot of those how-to’s are seriously lacking in the detail department.

I laugh when I see questions like “What’s your ideal client’s favorite Starbucks drink?” Well, saying a grande mocha frappucino with extra whip isn’t going to get you very far.

Here’s the thing… we have to ask ourselves WHY our clients like grande mocha frappucinos with extra whip. You may think this is a silly example question, but it can actually tell you quite a lot about someone if you only use your imagination and dig deeper into the WHY!

 

I’ll give you an example.

Client 1 walks into Starbucks and orders a tall regular coffee with room for cream and sugar. But why? What does that tell me about her? It tells me that she’s probably pretty simple and easy to please, not complicated, not picky… it tells me that she’s comfortable with the usual. She’s not high maintenance. She knows what she wants, and it’s not over the top. She’s happy and content with simple joys in life and doesn’t need fluff. She might not be too adventurous, maybe her personality is a little quiet and reserved.

Client 2 walks into Starbucks and orders a grande ultra caramel frappucino with extra whip and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. But why? What does that tell me about her? It tells me that she probably tries every new drink that Starbucks offers. She’s probably pretty adventurous when it comes to food and drink, maybe with other areas of her life too. It tells me that status is important to her. I would go so far to suggest that appearances are important to her. She might be the type of girl that values getting her hair and nails done often. She also knows what she wants, but in a different way than Client 1…she might be a little more extravagant and over the top.

You might accuse me of stereotyping or profiling here, but you have to understand that is basically what we have to do in order to understand where our ideal clients are coming from! 🙂

Neither of these profiles is right or wrong. They’re just different. And you have to figure out for yourself what fits the type of client you love most. I can tell you right now that my ideal bridal client leans more toward Client 1. Yours may be totally different and that’s fine.

Answer the following questions with YOUR MOST FAVORITE CLIENT EVER in mind!!! 🙂 And use your imagination if you need to!

Let’s move on to some other questions. Here are some basic ones that should be super easy to answer:

1. What is my ideal client’s age? Don’t overthink this. The smaller the range, the better.
2. What is my ideal client’s location (where they live)? Are they fairly local to you?
3. What is my ideal client’s gender?
4. What level of income to my ideal clients have?
5. What type of jobs do my ideal clients have?

Those should be pretty easy to answer.

Let’s move on to some more advanced questions. So the key to answering these is NOT to STOP at your answer. After you answer, you need to ask yourself WHY that is the answer.

1. What is your ideal client’s love language? (ex: gift giving/receiving, quality time, acts of service, etc) WHY?
2. Where is your ideal client’s favorite place to vacation? WHY?
3. Again, what type of job do your ideal clients have? Your career path can say A LOT about you! WHY?
4. What types of hobbies does your ideal client have? WHY?
5. Where does your ideal client like to shop for clothes? WHY?
6. Where does your ideal client like to go out to eat? OR do they stay home to cook? WHY?
7. What do your ideal clients value? (time, quality, experiences, family, travel, money, convenience, the list goes on) WHY?
8. Where does she like to spend her free time? WHY?
9. What type of pets does she have? WHY?
10. What’s her Starbucks order? 😉 WHY?

For each of these questions, this is what you should end up with.

1. A snippet statement.
2. An explanation statement.

Here are a few examples from my own Ideal Client profile (for my bride)!

 

SHE IS A GIVER.

Gift giving is her love language, and generosity is important to her.

 

SHE LOVES THE MOUNTAINS AND THE COAST.

She doesn’t care where she is, as long as she’s with him.

 

SHE IS JOYFUL.

She finds true happiness in the smallest of things, like good music or a great hair day.

 

Now, you could ask yourself TONS more questions, but I hope these ten questions help you get started!!! 🙂

So, here’s your homework for next week. Answer these questions without influence from anyone else!

If you’re struggling with any of this, feel free to email me directly at hello@kevyndixonphoto.com. I’m happy to help! 🙂

 

Can’t wait to see you again here next week!

xo Kevyn

 

Want a seat at my in person workshop on October 7? Come join the fun!!!