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Her Next Step Episode 013: Interview with Erica Holthausen of Honest Marketing Revolution
Erica Holthausen of Honest Marketing Revolution
Too many new service businesses make the mistake of trying to have “everyone” as their client. It just doesn’t work.
Clients get frustrated when they feel you don’t understand their unique problems, and you as the business owner don’t know what solutions your clients really need and how you can best help them.
Identifying and marketing to a specific group of clients that best fit your strengths and abilities frees you up to better serve the clients who find and hire you. A win-win situation!
Listen in as Erica Holthausen and I discuss the process of identifying your ideal client.
Key methods discussed:
- Using “who you don’t like” to find who you best serve
- How to start big and narrow down
- Using images as a magnet to your best clients
- “Free writing” to get your ideas out there
Resource links: Erica’s website Flicker Creative Commons Pictures Google Image Search (Specify “free to use or share” under Usage Rights on this page)
Her Next Step Vision Board Post Book about “free writing” to access your creative ideas: Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content
What methods have you used to find your best clients? Please share them in the comments below.
Darlene, it was such a pleasure to chat with you about identifying, finding and connecting with your ideal client. I’d love to hear from other folks, and I’m happy to answer any questions that come up.
Thanks, Erica! I’ll start out with a question: When you meet someone for the first time at say, a networking meetup, and you are pretty sure this person would be a good client for you, is it appropriate to simply tell them? What would be good to say to them if they don’t have a clue you could help them?
Oh, Darlene, this is a great question! But before I answer it directly, I want to mention that how you engage with your potential client is even more important than what you say. In personal interactions, our tone of voice and body language matters a whole lot more than the words we use. So dump the elevator pitch, reconnect with your passion for your work and let yourself be enthusiastic. Real enthusiasm is contagious and always gets attention.
In addition to tapping into your enthusiasm, there’s another important mindset shift that needs to happen before you continue the conversation. You want to put service before sales. If you approach this conversation with your eye on your potential client’s purse, she’ll feel it (and you will too). So the key is to be of service even in this conversation. Be generous with your knowledge and wisdom. After you’ve demonstrated that you can help them, it’s a whole lot easier to then let them know that this is exactly the type of work you do and you’d be happy to set up a complimentary consultation to see if it makes sense for the two of you to work together.
If the meeting does not allow for you to have such an in-depth conversation, ask to continue it! One way to do it would be to say, “Would you like to get together for coffee on Friday? Your situation sounds like something many of my clients have been though. I’d love to hear more about your business and I’ve got a couple of ideas that might help.”
And, of course, use this encounter to help you get even clearer about your ideal client. What made you think this person would be a perfect client for you? What can you learn from her that you can apply elsewhere? Did she ask any great questions that could become a blog post? And if she did, you could always answer her questions and then email her with a link to your post! Even if she doesn’t become a client, she may well become a source of great referrals.