Welcome to the Ambitious Introvert Podcast created especially for introverts, empaths and highly sensitive entrepreneurs to help you build, grow and scale a successful sustainable business. I'm your host, Emma Louise Parkes, business and mindset coach for ambitious introverts. After 17 years working as an air traffic controller, the ultimate fast paced, high stimulus extrovert friendly role. My mission now is to show introverts that they too can create big results and success because of who they are not in spite of it. I focus on introvert friendly business and marketing strategy to help you switch overwhelm for clarity, confidence, and clients.

Welcome, welcome to this week's episode of the ambitious introvert Podcast. I'm Emma Louise, and this fairly short solo episode was inspired by a conversation that I had with a client earlier this week. So I think these are really useful things to share. Because the conversations that we have behind the scenes or things that I see coming up over and over again, for clients that always makes me think, well, they're going to be coming up over and over again, for listeners, other people in my audience, other people growing businesses. So I think it can be really useful just to share a little bit of context in that.

So this particular client, who has worked with me for a long time, had done some market research calls with her ideal clients. And I'm gonna put ideal clients in inverted commas, air quotes there. So market research calls super helpful, super helpful in understanding your ideal client, understanding the language that they use, how they would describe their own struggles, how they would describe exactly what they're looking for. So really great thing to utilise. So this client hopped on some market research calls with these ideal plants. And actually, what it ended up doing was it ended up making her doubt her offer, and actually wonder whether anyone needed it, and would buy it. So we had quite a long conversation back and forth on on Slack about this. And then a light bulb went off in my head, and I was like, Oh, I can see what's happened here. So I'm going to share this with you now. And I'm going to start off by talking about what an ideal client is not.

So bear with me, I will get eventually to what an ideal client is. But let's start with what an ideal client is not. So an ideal client is not anyone that you can help. So what had happened in this case, is the mistake we had made is the text inviting people to the calls, didn't prequalify if they suffered with the problem that this client actually solves. So it was more like, Hey, would you be happy to jump on a market research call with me? So these people got on the call, and she asked them about do you do suffer with this? Do you struggle with this? And they were like, no, no, it's not really an issue. Or maybe like, yeah, a little bit. But you know, just like, whatever, it's not a big deal for me. So this made her think ‘no one really needs what I do’. No one's going to pay for this, it's not really a big problem to people. It's not really, it's not really a thing like no one, no one cares about this.

What all of these people did, however, is they all discussed various other problems that were different for each person, that her work could really help. But in trying to incorporate this into her messaging would make her messaging so general, there have been no specifics whatsoever. So in her mind, she's like, but all of these people need help with all of these things, and I can help them. But because we didn't prequalify on the call that they needed to suffer with this one particular problem. There was no evidence there that anyone would invest to solve this problem. Now there is plenty of evidence that people invest to solve this problem. It's all over the internet there. They are invested in other people to solve this problem, you know, left, right and centre. It's a very common thing. But what can happen is we get so blinded by the people right in front of us, or the conversations that we've had that we got, oh, no, no. So the mistake here is, she got her ideal client mixed up with anyone that she can help. These people were an ideal client in that they were the right gender to be an ideal client. And they were, you know, in the right kind of time of life or whatever to be an ideal client, but they didn't suffer with the problem that she solves. Therefore, we should never have had them on the call because they are not, in that case, an ideal client.

Again, I’ll give you another example of a client I worked with who is a fantastic copywriter, and she really loves to write for coaches and online businesses. is, but there was one industry that she really doesn't love writing for. And it became a bit of a standing joke because something would always be a bit off, when people in this specific industry filled out the form, there would be something that didn't feel good, or on the sales call, she would find it hard work, or they would have a sales call, and they would go off with someone else that was niched down to their specific industry.

So you know, of course, she could help. She's a fantastic copywriter should write for anyone. But just because she could doesn't mean that she should write because she didn't enjoy it. It didn't flow, it just wasn't what she wanted, they were not her ideal client, the thing that's really important to differentiate, because we can help someone doesn't make them an ideal client at all. And when we stand really clear, and this is what I do, and this is who I help, this is what they struggle with. And this is what they achieve after our work together, when we can stand firm in that and know with complete confidence that that person is out there and that our offer gets results, then all of this kind of we can put the blinkers on and not even worry about what other people are saying. So that's the first thing that ideal plan is not. Second thing that an ideal plan is not is anyone that fits into your niche.

So let's take my business, for example. I work with introverts. But not every introvert is an ideal client. For me. First off, I don't work with people in corporate, I only work with business owners, but even then, not every introverted business owner is an ideal client for me. And that would also change based on the offer that I'm selling. So if we think about my one on one offer, a lot of introvert business owners are too early in business to really benefit from that offer. So just because they fit into my niche does not make them an ideal clients, some people might be too far ahead, or some people might be looking for support to say set up ads for passive income, not my zone of genius, not something that I support my clients with. So they are not an ideal client. For me, someone else might need deeper emotional support than a coach can offer. So it could be that, you know, yeah, they fit into my niche, they can be an intuitive business owner, but actually the problem that they want solving requires a different approach. So it's not anyone that we can help with our services, because that will be really, really, really broad. And it's also not anyone that just fits into our niche.

So what is it? What is an ideal client? So I want you to look at the ideal client, through the lens of your business, and not from the clients perspective, because what we can so often do is be like, oh, this person is an ideal client and put so much pressure on that we have to impress them, or they have to feel this certain way. Actually, when we’re talking about ideal clients, we want to look at it through our business, because we are assessing Is this person a good customer to purchase service from my business, that's what it comes down to.

So personally, I would define an ideal client as someone who has a problem that your service solves. And that is ready, willing and able to invest in your service. So I'll say that again, then I'll break it down. Your ideal client is someone who has a problem that your service solves. And that is ready, willing and able to invest in your service. So the first point there, someone who has a problem that your service solves. So this is where we went wrong. In the first example of the calls these people on the calls, very nice people, my client would have liked to have worked with them, but they didn't have the problem. And if they don't have the problem, no one, no one is going to invest money to solve a problem they don't have, okay? Businesses exist to solve problems. It's simple as that. It's an energy exchange of someone feels discomfort in an area of their life. They work with someone, they exchange money, that person gets rid of the discomfort. So whether that's a coach or a consultant, or a healer or a copywriter or brand designer or a speaker coach, like it could really be anything. But when there's discomfort, we are willing to say I'm uncomfortable. If I pay you some money, will you make that discomfort go away? And that is a simple business transaction.

Okay. So someone has to have the problem. And it has to be the problem that your service solves first off for them to be an ideal client. Otherwise they are not. They're someone else's ideal client. And then that is ready, willing and able to invest. And these are three different things ready, willing and able. So the first, how are they ready. And what that means is, are they at the optimum point of their journey. So it could be that someone has a call with me about working one on one, they could be little early in their journey, the investment feels like a stretch, because their revenue isn't quite up there yet, completely understandable. And they could feel like, Oh, I just added another couple of $1,000 a month coming in, like, I would totally do this. So they're not quite ready. There's nothing wrong with that, they could well be an ideal client in two or three months, or they could be someone else's ideal client, that could be no coach, that would be the perfect fit for them. So if they are not ready, then they are not an ideal client, even if you can see the potential, you know, you could help them and you know that their service would be great. If they are not ready. We're not in this business of convincing them, right. So they're not ready, they're not an ideal plan.

Are they willing to invest? This is different, okay. Some people could be completely ready, they could be ready to make the big leaps the next level or lose the 10 pounds or deal with the trauma or, you know, get their website written, whatever the thing is, but if they are willing to invest the money, again, they are not an ideal client, your ideal client will turn up with their problem, see your service and be like, yes, yes. Like, there's, there's no question here. So if they're not willing, if they're like, why don't I don't want to spend the money on it? That's fine. They are not an ideal client. In the terms of your business? Yes, of course, you could help them. But we're looking at this from a business lens. If they're not ready, and they're not willing to invest in your services, then they're not an ideal plan. And then are they able to invest? Again, people could be ready and willing, but they're not able, they physically don't have the money available. Okay. And if they physically don't have the money available, yes, of course, you might think I'd love to work with this person. And of course, you might think, Oh, I could really help them. Okay. But again, we have to move those thoughts aside, because they are not the ideal plant, if they are able to invest, then they are the ideal plan. And this may sound a little bit like black and white. But the reason this is important, is, especially as an introvert if we have this person in our mind as an ideal client that, you know, we could help, but they're not ready, willing and able to invest, we have that person in our mind. And we write content to that person, or we create content for that person.

And it's like, Oh, you, you really wish that you could grow your business. But you know, you don't want to invest the money, or you don't have the money to spend and all of this and then people go Yeah, yeah, that's me, that's me. And the people that resonate with it, I'm not in a position to invest. So when we actually look at it through this lens of ready, willing and able, if that same piece of content could be like you want to grow your business, you know, now is the time you know that you'll get a return on your investment, then you will attract the people that are in that state. So it's really, really important. And it's not saying that there's anything wrong with this people that are not ready, willing, and able, but it's just understanding that there's no buts with an ideal client. It's not our their ideal client, but they don't have the money to invest in me. Because from your business's point of view, that is not ideal. Your business is there to solve a problem and to make money for you. So the really can't be this, like, oh, but Oh, but so that's something that I would really invite you to think about. When you're looking at your ideal client, are you? Are you kind of grouping people into that? But going Oh, if only they this or if they did this? Because it should be so clear what your ideal client is that those things are just like, oh, okay, in that case, no, they're not, or yeah, they're absolutely ideal.

One of my former mentors, Gemma Wen has a really great way of putting this that I'm going to share, she doesn't call it your ideal plan. She calls it your ideal paying clients, for that very reason. So do you see that flips your mindset straightaway to be like, Oh, the ideal client that's actually going to pay for my services? And it gets us out of this? Oh, they're ideal. Oh, but they can't afford it. Or oh, they're ideal, but oh, they're not ready. Yeah. So your ideal paying client, and she said, that is the person that is going to come to you imminently that is the person that could reach out to you today, tomorrow, next week. And be like, I want to have a discussion about working with you and go on and sign a contract and pay because they are ready, willing and able. So if you find yourself in this, like oh, they're an ideal client, and then you're not really sure and Maybe they don't have the problem or they have the problem, but they're not willing to invest, come back to this ideal paying client and try looking at it through that lens and see how it works. So that was just a super quick roundup, like I say, because sometimes these conversations that I have behind the scenes I know can be really helpful for all of you.

So in summary, don't confuse the ideal client with anyone that you can help, right? The ideal client must the most important thing before you even go any further is they must be suffering with the problem that your service solves. If they don't have that problem, it's going to be really, really difficult to convince them to invest because it's just not a problem for them. Right. So it's so easy, like I say when we are consultants, coaches, creatives, healers, any of these things, practitioners, to know that our modalities and our skills can help anyone. But don't confuse anyone that you can help with being your absolute ideal paying client.

Thank you for listening to this episode of The Ambitious Introvert Podcast with me, Emma Louise Parkes. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe, rate and leave a review on iTunes. As a thank you one lucky reviewer each month will win a 60 minute one on one coaching session with me where you'll get the clarity and confidence to attract your ideal clients. And if you know someone who could benefit from listening to the show, then please do share and help me reach as many fellow ambitious introverts as possible.