In three words
If I asked you to describe your best friend in three words, I bet that you could do it. You might use words like adventurous, patient, caring, loving, loyal, generous, or steady. But because they’re your best friend, you’d be able to choose three words to help me understand what that person was like.
Now describe your business to me in three words.
How’s that going?
Maybe I could ask you to describe the personality of your business. Does that help?
How much time and resources do you invest in getting people to know your business? But have you taken the time to clarify what you want to be known for? What’s the personality of your business? Is that the personality you want people to experience? Is that the personality that will attract your ideal clients?
Might be doing it wrong
Often business owners are desperate to bring in new business. So they go about advertising and marketing in various ways hoping to attract more clients.
But are they attracting the clients they love to work with?
How about you? Are you working with the clients that you love to serve? Are the clients that find your business your ideal clients?
If you’re not attracting your ideal clients, what are your plans to change that? Or are you just settling for the status quo happy to have some clients?
Changing is hard, but it’s necessary
Often change is hard because it feels insurmountable. The culture around you will have you believe you will fail unless you make the whole change at once. You may also feel that if you don’t accomplish the whole thing you will be no better off than when you started. Both are untrue.
If you’re not satisfied with the status quo, then change is required. You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect something different to happen. However, you can choose to create a vision of the future that is different than the past.
Once you’ve developed a new vision for the future it starts with one step in that direction. Then you take another step. Keep taking one step at a time towards your new vision of the future. You will arrive there or at least be a whole lot closer then if you’d never tried.
In both cases, I believe you’ll be better off than if you’d never set out to make a change.
Who is your ideal client?
So what do you need to change in order to attract your ideal clients? If you haven’t done it already, I’d suggest you start by determining what kind of people are truly your ideal client.
However, if you’re not attracting your ideal clients, you probably should look at the message that you’re actually putting out there. Because that message is attracting the people that you’re getting. If you want different clients, you need a different message.
You may need to get clear about expressing your personality in your marketing material. Because if you’re not being you, then you won’t be attracting the people that you really like.
Be your self. Then express who you are in your words, pictures, and design as it tells the story of who you are and who you wish to serve.
Be brave. Be yourself. You’ll be much more likely to attract the clients you will love working with.
What’s your next step?
Photo credit: Genuine. Heartfelt. Eternal. Those are the three words we’d use to describe this scene. Thanks for sharing the moment, Priscilla Du Preez.