Know Your Ideal Client to Attract Better-Fit Leads

What if you could connect with your ideal client emotionally by understanding what drives them? Through this emotional connection, you could attract customers from competitors while transforming satisfied customers into fully connected ones.

Emotion motivates people, so we need to understand what motivates your ideal clients to create the reason for them to take action.

For any partner organisation, winning new business can feel like a never-ending challenge.

Partners tell us daily that they are wasting time on unqualified leads, relying on current customers for new opportunities, and getting distracted by the need to find new lead sources. What they would rather do is spend more time converting qualified leads instead of qualifying them from the first touch, while generating sales from a mix of existing customers and new business.

Salespeople need the ability to spend time with their highest-probability prospects. That means the marketing team needs to hand over leads that are already qualified and ready to buy.

We know this is much easier said than done. Creating a funnel that drives a competitive offer is no easy feat and requires a specific approach to how you structure and deliver content through each stage of your funnel.

So, what comes after you have designed your competitive offer by leading with insights, communicating value, and creating action?

Know Your Ideal Client

Traditionally, knowing your ideal client means identifying their industry, role, title, organisation size, demographics, geographics, and perhaps exploring psychographics a little too.

Understanding and unpacking these characteristics is very important when segmenting the industry and building a target account list. But to really attract the people you need with the messages you put into market, you must understand what emotionally drives them.

By knowing what drives them, you can uncover the messages that will motivate them to take action and strengthen your ideal client profile.

Why Your Messages Aren’t Resonating Right Now

If the messages you have in market, whether on your website, socials, sales emails, or conversations, are not creating the activity you want to see, it might be for one or more of the reasons below.

1. You don’t really know who they are 

We are not talking about organisations here. We are talking about the people in those organisations who are going to make decisions. Stating they are a decision-maker is not enough. We must understand their fears and frustrations in the role they are currently in to better understand the things that will really drive them. If you can connect their fear or frustration with your product or solution, you are already on the front foot.

2. You’re not clear on what they need 

When you do not know what your ideal client needs, it is difficult to tailor an offer message that appeals to them specifically. As a result, they see a generic product or marketing message in front of them that does not connect what they want or need with what you are offering.

3. You’re not clear on what they value 

We have considered fears and frustrations, and now it is time to think about wants and aspirations. Understanding what your ideal client wants to happen most right now gives you a connection point with them. There is no use selling your solution to them if it is not what they actually want right now, or where they aspire to be or have in the future.

Building Customer Context

When you know your ideal client, you can create a connection with an emotion they already have. Once this connection is made, you create motivation.

To unpack your ideal client and reach them on an emotional level, you must unpack the four characteristics below.

Frustrations 

What frustrations is your ideal client facing that they want to move away from?

What are the things they deal with day to day that are necessary in the running of the business but are not really moving them forward? They likely know there is a solution to this problem, but they do not know where to find it or what it looks like. Are they wasting time, money, or resources? Are they frustrated because they cannot finish projects, get approvals, or reduce manual processing?

Wants 

What do they want to happen most right now?

This is the result that you are trying to give them, but it is pointless if your solution does not satisfy their want. So, look outside your solution and think about your ideal client in their workplace, in their world, and consider what your ideal client wants most. What is most appealing to them right now?

Tip: If you are struggling, start by making your points the opposite of your frustrations and refine from there.

Fears 

If nothing changes, what do they fear will happen in the future?

If they cannot or do not find a solution for the problem, what will happen? Will they be punished, lose or waste money, reduce productivity, damage reputation, increase staff turnover, miss business growth, or fail to meet KPIs?

Aspirations 

What are their aspirations, hopes, and dreams for the future?

What are they looking to achieve now that will result in an outcome for the future? What is the big goal? Do they want to climb the ladder, increase staff satisfaction, grow the business, or something else entirely?

Things to Remember

Emotionally understanding your customer and delivering messages that target those emotional characteristics generates emotion, which creates motivation for them to take action.

You must have presales, sales, marketing, and anyone else talking to your market on the same page, delivering the same message for it to resonate in the market and start attracting interest.

Knowing your ideal client is one of the clearest ways to improve message relevance, attract better-fit prospects, and convert more qualified leads.

Are you ready to create steady lead generation?