I sat in a sales meeting a few years ago, when someone asked me, "Who is my ideal client?" A question I have always loved the most, because as someone who claims to call themselves a marketer, my answer always keeps me out of their distinguished club.
It's an overhyped question, or perhaps more accurately, because we place too much emphasis on it. We're all so focused on making sure our message caters to the pain our "potential customer" has that we overlook who we are. For example, suppose you're in the ammonia refrigeration business. In that case, I'm pretty sure your ideal customers know who you do business with, and even if they can't figure it out, the ad platform will ask you to make it easier for them once you finish telling them exactly who the ad is for. Their interest, their demographic, their precise geographic location, and if that doesn't work, your profile, your website, and everything else will.
I have no idea what I'm talking about, I know. Sorry, I'm just a guy over here focused on telling a compelling story, but for me, an ideal client comes down to one thing, and one thing only. Allow me to explain with a few relevant analogies:
Once upon a time, I worked with a guy who patronized me in front of the boss, but then, when the boss left the room, would belittle me to my face. "You just don't get it, do you, Derek?"
Once upon a time, I interviewed for a position at a medical device company, and the sales manager interviewing me said (more like warned), "If I ever have to show up and help you close a deal, I'm going to fire you."
Another time, I worked for a sales manager who always started his micro-managing sales meeting debriefs by asking me if the women I met with that day were "hot."
All three of those people have one similar characteristic trait, can you guess what that is?
Those analogies, plus a few more, have had a strong influence not just on how I want to help others, but also on who I want to work with. After stripping away everything on the surface, what's left are regular, normal people just like you and me. Sometimes (probably closer to all the time), we allow ourselves to overlook the bigger question: who are we, and who do we actually want to work with?
So, yeah, my ideal client has less to do with an industry, and more to do with character, and the people I work with...I'm trying to convince them that focusing on their story rather than catering every single thing to an imaginary ideal client is more effective, because with that kind of thinking, you'll end up being distracted by the noise. Noise that diverts our attention to obsessing over demographics, pain points, geographics, and lookalike audiences.
My ideal client, and yours for that matter, shouldn't be a dick (in case you hadn't figured it out yet). I think that works for all of us, but until Meta, Google Ads, or, God forbid, LinkedIn Ads have the option to cross that characteristic off the list, I think we'll all be fine focusing on telling real stories and working with people who get it.
The prospective client who asked me that question didn't hire me after I gave them my answer.
Thanks,
Derek
