Ep. 117: Refining Your Focus for More "Hell Yes!" Clients
A client of mine recently told me a story about some frustrating client experiences that helped her shift her perspective on who she does and more importantly doesn't want to work with. And this isn't unique to her either! I find with my clients it's often the most aggravating or amazing ones that allow us to clarify and refine who we want to focus on serving. While it can be frustrating to have to learn from the experiences themselves, it's not really a part of business you can bypass. The clarity comes from the doing. In this episode I'm sharing how to assess clients you've worked with to refine your messaging & attract perfect fit clients.
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Hey, welcome to the it sister podcast. Today's episode is going to be all about how you can refine who you are wanting to serve with your business. So that you can adjust your focus and your messaging to be able to book more hell yes.
Clients. And these are those clients that they just, you know, you send the contract and. You get them on your calendar and you are just so excited. Like you go to the group chat, uh, you go, you know, boxer, your bestie, you hop in, you know, your, your group program and you just are like shouting it from the rooftops.
Like I just got this new client. I'm so excited about them. I, it, you know, feels like a dream come true. They're totally my ideal client. I can't wait to get started. That is a hell yes client. And actually I was just DM-ing with a friend this morning, it's a bit newer, um, in their business. And I was saying, you know, the, the really the best thing you can do is just work with people.
Working with people is going to give you more clarity than anything else. Well, um, obviously there are things that you can think about. You can strategize, you can. You know, decide upon beforehand, but there is nothing like the clarity that you get from actually working with people. And obviously, you know, when we are first starting out, we can decide, you know, like kind of who, who do we think would be, would make the best fit client.
And who's like not a great fit. Right. And then. From there, you can like, like, um, utilize, you know, your, your sales copy and your content, your messaging. Like you can do all of that to try to attract who you believe to be your best fit client and then repel a least good fit client. Right. And so then you, uh, you're doing that.
And then you start to get people in you search. Work with them. You start to do all that. And then there comes a point because like we evolve our businesses, evolve, everything is always evolving where you start to realize different. Trends. And actually, um, when I was visiting my friend Kia of Kia knows social on Instagram.
Um, as visiting key a young few months ago, we actually did like a joint IgG live together, um, kind of about this, but it's, it's funny. Cause it's something that it just keeps coming up in my business and my clients' businesses. And so I was like, uh, I definitely need you to record on this, especially after a client of mine.
Reached out was telling me some of her own stories. And she's also a listener and was like, you should, you should totally talk about this. So I was like, okay, here we go. Um, but basically as you evolve and as you work with people, there are things, these are, they're like these trends, these patterns, these things that you will start to notice.
And you also recognize that there are things you could not have anticipated before that now you're like, oh, this is not, um, like if, uh, if somebody has like this thought or belief or behaves this way or whatever, they either are a great fit where they are not a great fit. Right. And so sometimes it's in those.
Um, clients that we don't work with, uh, the ones that, you know, we have to turn down or they turn down us where we start to go. Okay. What, what was different about that than somebody. The really dreamy ones. And then we recognize like, oh, I know, okay, now I need to make another, some not huge shifts. Like we're not throwing the baby out with the bath water here, but making some smaller shifts in our own business to make sure that, um, we are not attracting.
Those, uh, those clients anymore, because they are not for us going to be the ideal. Um, so I'm going to give you an exercise that you can do in order to help you clarify this for yourself. And then you can start to shift and refine your messaging. And I actually have a recent ish episodes. That is on refining your messaging as well.
So after you listen to this, you could go back and listen to that because they really, uh, work well together. So what I always suggest that my clients do, and I've done this multiple times to myself. Think of all of the people that you've worked with, or if you've been in business a long time, you can look back at the last, like six or 12 months, depending on how many people, um, you know, you've worked with in that time.
Obviously I don't necessarily, you know, we don't want to be writing out like a hundred people, but, um, you know, just write out, uh, everyone not, not like good, bad, or, you know, otherwise like just like literally everyone. Um, and then. Underneath you are going to write out pretty much everything about them.
So, uh, if, especially like, um, what kind of work they do. Like if, if you're, if you're B2B, if you are, have a business, like you're an entrepreneur serving other entrepreneurs, um, it's a good thing to think about, like what kind of work day do now, if you're a, B to C, this might be different depending on, uh, You know, who you serve and what you do with them.
Um, but really just thinking about these, these elements about who they are. So what kind of work they do for whom, who are they as a person, their experiences, and like life circumstances, like, you know, current season of their life, anything like that, their desires and frustrations, um, what you helped them with, what felt awesome.
What felt hard at school? And this doesn't have to be things like, you know, what kind of magazines so they read and where do they go on vacation and where do they like to shop for clothes, right. Unless that directly ties into like what you help them with. Don't worry about that. Like, think about just, you know, all, all of the, all of this stuff.
And I'm going to give you some examples in a minute to help illustrate. But really what you are doing here is you're looking for those patterns. You're looking for those trends, uh, especially anything that is like the dichotomy between that awesome versus hard or sticky or not so awesome. Right. Those things that felt really easy and light and fun about some of them.
And then the other ones that were like, ah, this just felt really draining or, um, Like there was a lot of friction and not, not like in a good, like, uh, oh, this was like a fun challenge, but in a way that's like, oh, this was, this really drained me. Right. So we don't want to be like, we can have challenges that invigorate us or energize us and feel really fulfilling.
And then we can have challenges that are really depleting and draining and not fun. And then once you, um, can see those differences, those patterns, those trends, it's good to think about smaller, more subtle details between those types of clients. So I'm going to give you some examples now. Uh, so let's say that you are a business coach, so you might realize that of the ones where you were like, Okay.
This just felt really good. This felt really like super aligned work. It was really fun. I really
loved it. I really was like getting in the groove and, uh, it just, it felt so, so good. Then you might realize those projects, those clients, the things that you're working on, or the things that were unique to them is that they all happen to be course creators.
And they all happen to be already bringing in over six figures in revenue and they already had teams or some level of support that you could, um, That they could leverage, right. That you could say like, oh, here's, you know, like here's what we're going to do. Or like, you know, they, they decided what they're going to do.
You're helping support them. And you're like, great. And how are you going to get your team involved? Right. So they had, they had that support. Um, and maybe they're also comfortable with Facebook ads, right? So they're already doing paid marketing. So on the surface, because maybe you've also worked with like all these different types of businesses, right.
So product based businesses and, um, like done for you service providers and. Uh, photographers and like, like you've just in the last 12 months, like you have done the gamut, right. You've, you've worked with like earlier stage people. Um, you've worked with, you know, people changing industries, like, and it's not that you hated any of your clients.
It's not that any of them were bad. Uh, in fact, like, even if you love. Every single person that you worked with and you were really, um, grateful for them. It's, it's not about a problem clients or anything like that. Like this doesn't even have to be a negative against any single person that you've worked with.
It's really just looking at yeah. What lights you up the most. And that might be something interesting, like when you, when you're starting to think about like, oh, and I, I, you know, when I worked with her and I worked with her and like, I worked with her like, oh God, it was so like, I just loved it. I was forward to the calls.
I always felt exhilarated when he got off. What, like, what are the common themes? Right. And that is when you notice, oh, isn't that interesting? They all had this very specific type of business making this specific amount of money and we're used to paid ads and they had a support team. Right. Because them, what you could do, it's not that you have to niche immediately, but you could start thinking, okay.
W, how do I like refine what I'm doing? How do I refine my offers, my messaging, my content, any of that to bring in more of those types of people and maybe fewer of the other types of people, or you could just straight up niche down. Oh, you know what this offer that I have, this one-to-one coaching offer that I have, um, is now exclusively for people who meet these specific criteria, right?
It doesn't mean that you hate every other entrepreneur doesn't mean that you didn't enjoy the ones that you worked with. You are just now realizing, oh, this is what really, really, really lights me up. So I'm gonna give another example. So that's, that was like B2B. Now we're going to go with like B to C, so business to consumer.
So you're a life coach and you write out all your clients for the last, you know, six to 12 months and you love working with all of them, right? Maybe there was one in there that you're like, eh, I don't know. Okay. Like, I didn't, I didn't love chatting with her or whatever,
but like overall, like you love what you do.
You love your clients, you love all of that, but then you start to write down, you know, you're like Connie, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All the things about Connie, um, Sera, blah, blah, blah, all the things about Sarah. Jessica, all the things about Jessica and you start to realize, oh, isn't that interesting? All of the ones who were, who I just loved, who I felt like we got the best transformations that we did, the best work, the deepest work, um, all of that.
They were all divorced women with kids. They were all figuring out the next chapter in their life. They were all like financially comfortable or stable. They have very high achieving, um, personalities, and they weren't like in a hot mess state. They just wanted expert guidance. Like they had control, like, or they had, you know, like basic control over the day-to-day.
Maybe not like the big picture rakes. Feeling a little out of control. They want you to coach them, but they're getting through the day-to-day, right? Like they're, they are, um, like moving their life forward. They're making things happen. They, um, are, you know, able to still be that high achiever. And they, you know, they're working there, they're doing whatever they're raising their kids.
They're doing all of that. They just want. Uh, an expert and they understand it. And the value of hiring an expert to coach them through this transitional phase of their life. Well, what you could do if you want to too, is again, you don't have to strictly niche on this one audience, but what you could do is maybe you're like, oh, you know what?
I would really love to have an office. Just for this type of client, right? Maybe that's like a group program or something, or maybe that's a course or a membership or whatever. Like you could still do your one-to-one work. You could still coach kind of whomever is, is coming through who is a good fit in other ways, like your values and things like of that nature.
Um, but maybe you do something else that is just focused on. People who meet these criteria, right? That is a way that you can do this for yourself to refine what it is that you're doing and who you're speaking to. And all of that. So that, again, we're not talking about like huge pivots here, right? We're not talking about complete, uh, like doing a complete 180 degree, um, shakeup in your business.
This is just about refining. And again, I want to emphasize so, so much that you do not have to hate something in order to decide that you no longer want to work with that type of client. And I want to emphasize this because I think when we do hate something, it's very easy, right. It's, it's very easy to see, like never again, will I work with someone who XYZ, right.
Like something like that, right? Like if you're. Um, and again, like, this is a, let me put a pin in it here, obviously, because I know how my values, and I know the values of my regular listeners and everything. Like, we're not talking about anything discriminatory here, right? Like if you are somebody who's like, well, like, you know, I just don't.
My, my beliefs just don't align with like the LGBTQ community. So I don't want to serve them. Like, no, please. Like, we'd stop listening to my podcasts. I don't need you in my universe. Right. Not talking about anything discriminatory here. I mean, if you are like, I am a brand
designer and I, every time I do somebody's very first brand.
I don't care if they're like totally fine with my higher rates. It's not fun. And it has nothing to do with ADEM as a human it's just like they don't, they, they don't know how to answer the questions well enough yet, um, to make my part of my. Side of this. My job in all of this, um, is easy and fun as it can be.
It feels like way too much effort. Uh, and it's just not fun. And I don't like it. Right. That is something where you can say like, oh, isn't that intriguing? That whenever it is, you know, somebody's getting their first brand design and they're a newer entrepreneur that even if I love them as a person, the project just is not, it's not fun for me as somebody who is more well-established and can, um, answer like the initial intake form a lot more easily.
And they kind of understand the process and all of that, right? Like that is something where you can go. I'm drawing a line in the sand now, and maybe, maybe you come out with something different. Maybe it's a course, maybe it's, you know, a group program. Maybe it's something else that you do that so that you could still support newer entrepreneurs because maybe you still really want to be able to support them, but you can draw a line in the sand and say for my done for you brand, uh, work.
I only work with people who meet these criteria that, you know, specifically would mean that those brand new entrepreneurs are not fitting into that criteria. Right. So that's sort of what I mean about like making that distinction. Um, so again, that's when that can be one of those distinctions that is a lot easier to see because you're like, this feels right.
It's no good. Every time, every time I work with this type of person, um, I just don't love it. Like it's easier to go. I'm not doing that any more. I'm putting up putting a healthy boundaries for myself around that type of work. It's a lot harder when you do that. Hate it right when it doesn't feel awful when it just feels kind of mad because then you're like, well, I feel like I should, like, I'm able to help them.
I feel like I should help them. Right. And it can be a little harder. I feel like for ourselves, for a lot of us to put that boundary. Into place, because also not for nothing, it feels like Lee potentially leaving money on the table. Right. Um, and so I'll give you an example of my own business. So I have a lot of experience with product based businesses.
I can really help product based businesses. I have tons of knowledge. I've tons of experience. I've worked with a lot of product selling people before. I love them. I love their business. It's been an absolute dream to work with them. I would not trade it for the world. Um, a lot of them I'm still constantly shouting out on, you know, on social I'm shopping from them.
I'm recommending them. However, what I have realized over the years, especially in terms of, um, one to many containers, right? So like my group program, rebellious success, as I'm getting ready to relaunch it and I've gone back through and I've done this exercise on my own. Right. So like writing out, you know, um, every person I've served.
Yeah. And characteristics about them or whatever, so that I can refine it so that it's easier for future rounds for the most perfect fit people. Um, the people who are going to get the best, like results, transformation, like it's going to be most worth their investment, all of that. Like
how can I refund.
That's because at the end of the day, like being in alignment with my own value of integrity, I don't want to just like, quote unquote collect claims. Right. And they're in their money. Right. I'm not just trying to cast a wide net and be like, woo hoo out. You know, let me just take in as many people as I possibly can.
And like, uh, you know, celebrate my bank account and. Who cares if it's not the right fit for them. Right. Like, no, I don't want people investing in things of mine that are not the right investment that feels out of integrity for me, even if they're happy to pay it. Right. Even if I love them as a human, even if I love working with them, all of that again, there's no, there's nothing negative about it.
It's just that, like, I know that sir. Support containers. Aren't right. For certain people for certain reasons. And I don't want to, again, just be making money for the sake of making money. Um, and so what in that, what I realized is. Yes, while there are things you can learn from that container, uh, from the rebellious success program as a product-based seller, you can absolutely take what I teach and you can implement it and you can see results.
However, some of the difference between the industries makes it so that there would need to be. Multiple modifications for a product seller to make it work. For instance, when I am talking about offer design and pricing and things like that, because I have experienced in both service and product based businesses, there is a natural cap in the world of products.
With pricing and packaging and all like marketing, all of that, that is different than in the world of service base. And while there is some overlap, conceptually. At the end of the day, somebody who is like making and selling candles, I can't just say, oh, well, if this is how much money you're currently making, and this is how much you want to make and whatever.
Oh, I know. Just come out with a line of hundred dollar candles and sell those and you can make up your revenue difference, whatever. Are there people out there who buy a hundred dollars candles? Yeah. Is it going to be a bit more challenging to help a product-based seller create market and sell hundred dollar candles to fix their revenue problem also?
Yes. Right. So again, it does not feel in integrity for me. To say, Hey, this rebellious success program is just open to anyone. Like if you have a business and you are established and you want to make more money sustainably, like come on in here, because I personally know that it is going to be harder for that person to take everything I teach in there.
Implement it, uh, quickly without a lot of those modifications, right? It's not that I don't want them to succeed. I obviously do. It's not that I can't help them in some other container or form or fashion or whatever. It's just that it doesn't make sense for that container. I don't feel like it is the best use of their time, their money, their energy, their attention, um, to be.
In a, in a program like that. So the next time, like when it launches, um, shortly soon, like in the upcoming, um, this fall, that is going to be a distinction that I make on the sales page, uh, and on like the application and things like that. So that is just like, I wanted to give an actual real life example again, of.
It's not something that's a negative. It's not that I hate them. It's not, it's not anything like that. It's just that as I have gotten the clarity from working with clients again, like taking it all the way back to the beginning, as I've got the clarity from working with different clients in different capacities and different containers.
All of this. I have refined who is a hell yes. Client for me over the years, because I have also evolved to, I have learned more. I have seen more, I have experienced more. And so it's understandable and it's natural that we would evolve as time goes on. And again, this doesn't mean that anything is. You know, you're being bad or wrong or exclusionary or, um, or that you're going to have to do so much work to.
Scrap everything and start over. It's none of that. It's just merely realizing how can I be in integrity with myself that I am showing up for the people who are going to get the best results from this offer that I have and ensuring that I am. Speaking to them and not worrying about trying to speak to everyone else, because at the end of the day, you know, we can't, we cannot be everything to everyone.
We have to hone in. We don't necessarily have to like hyper niche, but we have to, we have to hone in, um, we have to have intentional messaging. We can't just like be vanilla. Um, cause that. For Sans to work a lot harder than we have to. And it's really confusing for other people. And it makes sales conversations really, uh, sticky and all sorts of stuff.
So that is, that's my take on it. Brain dump out everyone that you've worked with, right. Everything about them. You can think of, look for themes. Think about the ones that were especially great, and the ones that felt okay. Blah, um, or neutral. See what comes up and then take that data and refine from there, whether that is just general overall messaging or messaging for certain offers or creating new offers, et cetera.
If you have any questions with this, uh, simply come on over to Instagram at consulting. I'd love it. If you say hi, you can screenshot this posted tag me, let me know your list. Or you can just find me on my website, send me an email. Um, anything like that. I'm always happy to answer questions. Cause I know that this can be really tricky and if you're listening to this and you're like, but I haven't worked with enough people yet.
Just give it your best guess work with people. Just start working with people. You're it's likely that you'll probably undercharge at first. This is okay. Like it's likely that things will be a little messy and you'll be a little all over the place. That's okay. Again, the clarity will come from the action.
Once you have the clarity of working with people, then you can refine and you are going to repeat this process, um, pretty much kind of on and on, uh, throughout the life of your business, even. It might not be large shifts later on. It can just be subtle things that will come up here and there that you will notice, um, over time.
Uh, that you can infuse into your copy into your messaging, into your offers, um, et cetera, but this is just a normal part of doing business. So as always, thank you for listening and happy selling.
