Customer Success: Knowing Your Ideal Client

Single Web Developer seeking long-term relationship with ideal client in need of CMS-driven website. Must have good sense of humor, at least $500 for a down payment and own your own domain.

I once attended a business event where there was a panel discussion that included some pretty successful business leaders. Following the discussion there was a question-and-answer session with the panelists. A member of the audience told a quick story about a client relationship gone bad (very, very bad), and asked the panel members for advice on how to salvage the relationship. Without hesitation, and almost in unison, the panelists said, “Fire the client.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could you fire your client? What would people think of you? What about your bottom line? What if your other clients found out? At the time, I was in start-up and was focusing nearly half of every day trying to get new clients. The thought of actually having to fire a client had never even crossed my mind.

While reflecting on that experience in the weeks that followed, I had what was for me a “light-bulb” moment. I had begun to accept the idea that firing a client could be a successful business strategy, albeit in extreme cases. If that was true though, if there would be times when I might need to fire a client, then perhaps I had been missing something else too.

If I could fire a client, then I could also hire one. Not just one though, and not just in extreme cases. I could be hiring all of them; selecting each one of my clients.

I was always so thrilled to get a client, any client, that it never occurred to me that I might not want just “any” client. I might want, and be more successful with, a very specific kind of client. Some clients are better than others. This concept began to change my whole perspective on clients.

I immediately reviewed our web firm’s website and realized the content in the whole site was aimed at everyone on the web, at anyone who might stumble across our site, anyone at all. It didn’t care; “just let us build your website, please, please, please, just let us build your website.” We were trying to be everything to everyone.

You might think that someone once trained as an expert rifleman, someone who could hit a target the size of a basketball from 500 meters away, would know better. You can’t just aim everywhere and expect to hit your target. Also if you’re aiming everywhere at once, there is a good chance you will hit something you didn’t intend to. If I didn’t figure out how to aim my marketing and services at the clients I wanted, then I really shouldn’t be too surprised if I wasn’t attracting them.

The question then became, “What or who is my target?”

If the perfect client walked by me on the street, would I recognize her? If the perfect client called me on the phone, would I know he was perfect within the first few minutes of the conversation?

At the time, my ideal client was a total mystery to me, and until I solved this mystery it was highly likely that I was attracting less than ideal clients. By not focusing my marketing and services to attract the clients I was best suited to work with, I was, in a way, marketing to clients who would likely be “underwhelmed” with my services and who likely would not be much fun.

It took me several weeks to think it through and really figure out with whom I wanted to work. I made lists of what kinds of businesses and organizations I really didn’t want to be associated with. I made lists of people I admired and tried to describe them as if they were already my clients. I made lists of organizations where I had experienced past success, and where I had not really enjoyed working. I tried looking at this puzzle from every angle possible.

I also remembered a segment of a radio interview with jazz vocalist Carmen McCray when she was asked about the secret of her success, and she answered (I’m paraphrasing here), “Always hire musicians who are better than you are.” And that advice played a large role in shaping a concept of whom I wanted to work with. I wanted clients who were smarter than I was, or, at a minimum, at least as smart as I was.

Over the years, my perfect client concept has evolved considerably; it’s also had tremendous influence on the direction of my business and, I believe, played a large role in the successful client-vendor relationships at my web firm.

Meet my ideal client:

My ideal client is working to make the world a better place for all of us to live in. She’s well educated, articulate and passionate about the mission of the organization she represents. She has good boundaries and excellent time management skills. She’s focused and stands up for what she believes. She knows what she wants her website to accomplish, and while curious about how the software works, she is respectful of my team’s knowledge and experience; she trusts us to do a good job for her. She has good financial management skills or works for an organization that does. She has a large social network and always has something nice to say about everyone she works with. She may not be the “decision maker” in her organization, but she has significant influence in the decision making process. She learns fast and she can laugh at herself, and with us, as we work together on her site.

That is my ideal client. That describes what the men and women I have the most success working with are like. Those are the people I was recruiting to become clients of my company, and with few exceptions, those are the people the web firm is currently serving. Your ideal client will likely be different.

One of the things I found interesting when defining my ideal client for the first time was that very few of my friends and associates in the music industry would make good clients for me. They might be some of my best friends, be outstanding people to perform music with, and be perfect web clients for someone else, but they just didn’t match up with my ideal client profile. At the time I started my web business, I was supporting my web habit by working as a musician and I had a ton of contacts in the music industry. Letting go of this potential client base was not an easy decision, but it was the right decision.

For me, the first step to building good client relationships is finding a clear answer to this question (or one like it that helps you describe your ideal client):

“Who are the people I want to surround myself with every day?”

If you have a clear vision of your ideal clients, and can aim your marketing and services right at them, I believe the odds are in your favor when it comes to attracting and engaging those clients.

We work both hard and smart in this industry. The rewards for our work can take many forms. Some of those rewards could be the relationships we build with our clients. Finding those ideal clients may take some hard work, but working with your ideal client could be the smartest thing you do.

Who is your ideal client?