How do you know who your ideal client is? Your Ideal Client is some one who:

• Has problems and challenges you can easily fix and solve with your eyes closed
• Sees you as a valuable necessity they treasure, instead of a necessary evil
• Likes you, appreciates your hard work, and will tell their friends, peers, and contacts about you
• Will pay you what you’re worth and will be happy to do so because they know you’re worth it

But how do you find out exactly who they are?

Grade Them.Look at all of your clients for a set time period and give each one a grade — A, B, C, D, F. Don’t think about it too much. Just go with your gut instinct and be honest — Don’t worry! No one will see this but you.

Your Grade D and F clients are ones you should fire and transition elsewhere right away!

Your Grade C Clients are on the fence. If they can become Grade A or B clients with better training, keep them. If they really should have been Grade D or F clients but you were being nice, think about a staggered exit plan for these clients too.

Not look closely at your Grade A and B clients. These are your best clients — The clients you want a lot more of. All of your best clients have at least one thing in common (if not more) and you need to find out what it is: Are they all men? Are they all the same age? Are they all moms? Do they all have the same problem? Are they in the same industry? Do they attend the same events?

If you’re not sure what your Grade A and B clients have in common, ask them! Ask them what events they attend, who they look to for mentoring, what websites/blogs they frequent, what challenges they have, what they dream about, etc.

Once you have a clear picture of who your ideal client is, create a Client Persona for reference.

A Client Persona is a profile of a person who would be the perfect client for you. Start by giving them a name and find a stock photo online to represent them and make them real to you. Then describe in detail everything you now know about them (the more specific the better):

• List what they are passionate about, what is important to them, and what they cherish
• List their hobbies, likes, dislikes, and pet peeves
• List their demographic information
• List their challenges, needs, and struggles
• List the events they go to, the people they follow, the media they consume, etc.

When you have completed your Client Persona, put it somewhere that is easy to see and reference.

Every time you work on marketing your business, writing blog posts, editing your website, filming a video, etc. do it with your Client Persona in mind. Tailor the content to speak directly to them and to address things that are important to them. If you can do this, your ideal clients will "click" with your content, resonate with your message, and feel compelled to read more, contact you, or click that buy link.

I’m reading up on the people who joined the same mastermind group I did this year and I’m reading a lot of bios on Facebook while I finish sorting all of my “friends” into Facebook lists.

I am AMAZED at how many bios I read that leave me totally confused.

I read the description of what they do, then read it again, and I am left thinking, “That sounds great, but what does that mean and what do you do?”

Over and over I am reading bios that, while they sound warm and fuzzy or creative, don’t really tell me anything… I just wish I could say, “Your business bio needs help!”

When I am reading a business bio, I am looking for a few key pieces of information:

• What do you do (how to you get paid)?
• Who do you do it for?
• What results do you create?
• Why are you different?

Let’s look at an example of a bio I came across on Facebook. It read, “I can help you live life to the fullest and make your dreams come true.”

I read that and thought to my self, “Seriously!? I know this person isn’t a genie with a magic lamp who can give me three wishes. So what do they actually do?”

If you finish telling someone what you do, telling them about your business, or delivering your commercial, and they respond with, “Wow that sounds great, but what do you actually do?” It means that what you’re saying isn’t working.

Now, I know someone of you may be thinking that I am dead wrong.

Some of you may intentionally do this when talking to someone new as a marketing strategy to get the person you’re talking with to ask more questions about your business.

And, I get it as a strategy for face-to-face networking … But it doesn’t work online. Online, if I get confused and can’t quickly and easily see how you can help me, I’m moving on to someone else’s website or Facebook page.

So here’s what I want to know:

Can you clearly explain what you do in one sentence so I don’t respond with “Sounds great, but what does that mean or what do you exactly?”

Earlier this week I posed this question to the Bourn Creative Facebook Community and some people could answer the question… and some couldn’t.

Below are some examples that were shared on our Facebook page (Thank you, thank you, thank you!). And, since I am always changing, tweaking, and updating my own short bio, you’ll also see my suggestions on how they could be even better!

Sharon Holbrook
Cybertary is a group of highly skilled professional virtual assistants (VA’s) that provide administrative support and specialized services to businesses, entrepreneurs, executives and busy people.

(Suggestion: Use the first person instead of the third person. Instead of “Cybertary is a group of…” the sentence could read, “As a Cybertary franchise owner, I am part of a group of…”)

Traci Rockefeller Cusack
I write news releases, pitch news stories, place advertising, post event information, and anything else needed to promote my clients and generate exposure for them.

(Suggestion: if Traci has a particular type of client she works best with, she may want to name her ideal client, i.e. retail and hospitality businesses.)

Emily Davis Gareis
I teach yoga with a side of Health & Wellness.

(Suggestion: Yoga teacher is clear, but what does “a side of Health & Wellness mean?” I’d think about explaining that a bit more)

Kelli Wilson
I help women between the ages of 40-55 to reduce stress by working with them in person or over the phone to eliminate mental, physical and spiritual clutter so they can function more efficiently in their lives and business.

(Suggestion: On Facebook we added in Kelli’s ideal client. She’s got her description nailed and now it’s just time to refine the flow. Here’s an example: I help women ages 40-55, either in-person or by phone, reduce stress and eliminate mental, physical, and spiritual clutter so they can function more efficiently in their lives and business.)

Richard Jules Hassman
The Business Resource Guy helps connect business to the resources that help them run more efficiently and profitably, such as merchant services, mobile payments, point of sale solutions, referral strategies, and the like.

(Suggestion: I am clear on what the Business Resource Guy does, but is that Richard? I’d change up the intro a bit to make it more personal. Here’s my example: I’m The Business Resource Guy, connecting businesses to the critical resources they need to increase efficiency and profitability, like merchant services, mobile payments, point of sale solutions, referral strategies, and more.)

Scott Edington
I create affordable but high quality videos to help people promote their products, events or services!

(Suggestion: I need more info! I know you create video… but do you shoot the video? Write the script? Edit it? Optimize it? Distribute it to video sharing sites online? And what people? Who is the ideal client for your service?)

Alycia Edgar
I work with solopreneurs to understand the story behind their numbers and create systems to drive the profits in their business.

(Suggestion: State the obvious. What is it that people can pay you to do? And, you don’t even mention your two big differentiators – being an accountant and a former retail business owner. I’d say something like, “I use my experience as an accountant and a former retail business owner to help solopreneurs to understand the story behind their financials, establish systems to increase business profits, and create a plan for growth.)

Patricia Simoneau
Grassroots Marketing + Brand Design specializes in helping small town and rural entrepreneurs grow their businesses on the world stage by providing design, marketing and writing services, in print and online.

(Suggestion: Make it more personal. Maybe start with “My business Grassroots Marketing…”)

Tina Gleisner
I connect women homeowners with the information & home professionals they need to complete any project related to the home from buying or remodeling, to maintenance & repairs, decorating, organizing and enjoying/entertaining at home.

(Suggestion: Add in a differentiator to explain why they should listen to you or choose you. Maybe start with, “I make it simple for women home owners to connect with the information and professionals they need for home-related projects like buying or remodeling, maintenance and repairs, decorating and organizing, and more.

Cathi Harley
I empower women entrepreneurs to grow their business to be wildly successful by finding clients who love them, follow them and buy from them — then create a BUZZ about them to draw even more clients to them!

(Suggestion: Even though Cathi is a marketing coach, this description could be for any number of different personal empowerment, public relations, marketing, or branding coaches. I say be more specific, such as: “I empower women entrepreneurs to grow wildly successful businesses with marketing strategies that create a buzz and draw in more ideal clients who are ready to buy.)

Debra Jason
I help entrepreneurs communicate their passion in a way that turns their words into gold so they convert prospects into paying customers even if they have been struggling with how to put their ideas into words in the past.

(Suggestion: Narrow the target market to a specific type of entrepreneur and tell me what I can hire you to do. From this sentence, I know you work with words, but do you help craft commercials, write audio, or video scripts, repurpose content into products, or write copy? Here’s an example: “I help women entrepreneurs communicate their passion and expertise with copywriting that turns prospects into paying customers, even if they aren’t sure what to say.)

Karen Carlson Hughes
Style YOUniversity is an online learning community that helps you look good so you can thrive in the life you lead today with wardrobe and image techniques in support of the life you’ll lead tomorrow!

(Suggestion: I’d make it more personal. Maybe say, “With my online learning community Style YOUniversity, I provide you the wardrobe and image techniques you need to thrive in the life you lead today and step into the life you’ll lead tomorrow.)

Liz Nonnemacher
Wickedly Chic: I’m the voice behind the web’s #1 resource for promoting & marketing independent businesses. Independent Shopping for the Wickedly Fashionable

(Suggestion: Well, that’s more than one sentence. So let’s condense and explain it a bit more to avoid sounding like a fashion-related retail business coach. Maybe say something like, “I’m the voice behind the web’s number one resource for promoting & marketing independent businesses to wickedly fashionable independent shoppers.

Now, how about you? Do you have a one sentence professional business bio that clearly explains what you do, so people don’t respond with “That sounds great, but what does that mean?

If so, please share it below! Or … need some help with yours? Contact me and let’s talk about your brand!

1. Attract the viewer
2. Declare your message
3. Get them to take action

With so much noise on the web today, and the natural ADD nature of most web surfers, your worst enemy is the browser back button. After someone lands on your website from a search engine, status update, marketing promotion, Tweet, or email link, you have a very short window of opportunity to keep them on your site, so let’s cover each step.

Attract the Viewer

If your site looks unprofessional, is difficult to navigate, has boring cookie-cutter content, or has an overall harsh feel to it, your visitor will probably hit the Back button before the page finished loading. This is where good design matters.

Good design for business websites is about designing for your target market, not your peers, other designers, or your competitors. Good website design is also about is making sure the user can find the information they want quickly and easily. And it definitely helps if your website isn’t ugly and doesn’t look like your “friend’s husband who is good with computers” built it for you.

Declare Your Message

There are numerous small factors in this statement that all add up to a lot when trying to make a first impression with your website in under 10 seconds. If you are using a free hosted web design program and your site sits on a URL with anything other than your domain name in it, you are silently declaring.

1. I don’t take my business seriously.
2. Not enough people actually hire me, so I can’t afford a self hosted site.
3. I have no idea what I am doing, nor do I know who to ask for help.

The same goes for your domain name selection. In the US, a business should use a .com extension, and not a .net, .biz, .tv, or any other extension. The only exception would be for a non-profit to use a .org. Regularly our clients say to us, “But the .com of my business name is taken and I have already registered my business license.” To solve this we suggest using a domain name that declares the solution you provide.

Also, your domain name should be easy to remember and easy to spell with common terminology. Avoid using numbers in place of words and avoid using hyphens. Think about verbally telling someone your domain name. Will you say “Just go to GardeningFunForYou.com” or will you have to say something like, “Just go to Gardening dash Fun for, that’s the number four not the word, You with you spelled out.”

In web design, there is the term, above the fold, that has historic roots to the newspaper industry. After years of study, publishers and editors found that by putting the most important and compelling headlines, stories, and photos “above the fold” of the newspaper so they were the most visible in the racks and stands, they sold more papers. The same holds true for web design. Your most compelling content, calls to action, etc. should try to remain “above the fold”. In web design, this is what is visible in a browser window without having to scroll down the page. Most studies suggest that a height of 768 pixels is what most browser  windows are set to.

When designing your website or creating your content, you need to put your most important items above the fold. We usually include:

1. Business name, Logo and/or Photo, Tag Line
2. Primary Navigation
3. Email Marketing Opt-In Offer
4. Calls to Action or Primary Headlines

When someone lands on your site, and the most important information about your business is above the fold, your visitor can absorb everything quickly and determine that your site is exactly what they are looking for.

Get Them to Take Action

Now this doesn’t mean that you are trying to get someone to buy something or opt-in under ten seconds. “Taking Action” can be as little as scrolling down the page and reading all of your content or clicking on a button or link to learn more. Well written headlines that answer a question that your visitor has, along with important info in the first few sentences, is usually enough to keep someone on your page, especially if this content is visible above the fold.

Avoid pop-up windows, videos or audio messages that automatically start, or too much advertising. Your business website’s sole focus is your target market and serving them to the absolute best of your ability. It should focus on providing useful, valuable information quickly.

• Your content must be easy to find, well organized, clear, and reachable by two to three clicks of the mouse or less to reach it.

• Your design must help reinforce and enhance your brand, position you as an expert, and build your credibility.

• Your back end must integrate automation tools that make your job easier, make the visitors’ experience better, and streamline your processes.

Your goal is to create a synergy between the overall site, the design, and the content that helps create chemistry with your visitors so they keep coming back.

In order to grow your business, and maintain your sanity, you must learn to say NO. Saying no to potential new clients is something they do not teach in business school, and in the real world of entrepreneurship, is very difficult.

At Bourn Creative, we have experienced growth year after year, and one element that continues to thrive is that we actually have become more selective on who we choose to work with. I know that seems a little backwards, as clients are also choosing to work with us, but let’s face it, clients shop around, so why shouldn’t you?

Accepting less than your ideal client usually has one of three outcomes:

1. You work way too hard to make them happy, and end up eating it on your hourly rate or sacrificing sleep and time with your family.
2. The project gets completed to your standards and their expectations, but you never hear from them again. No repeat business, no quality referrals, and no raving fans that will help promote your brand.
3. The project goes sideways and you find yourself either in a contract dispute, or end up working for free after you give a refund.

FYI, all of these have happened to us in the past, and one of the ways we have been able to maintain a steady stream of great clients now, is by being selective and regularly just saying no. It took us awhile to get here, but after looking back we have identified some common elements that usually lead to less than an ideal client or project outcome.

Six Red Flags That May Signal a Big Fat NO!

Your prospect is price shopping. If during your initial conferences, your prospective client is too focused on cost, and not results, you have two options; say no, or see how good of a salesperson you are and use the opportunity to convince them why you are truly worth the investment. Sometimes people just need a little nudge to move forward. If their only concern is price, nothing you say will change their mind.

Your prospect doesn’t really want to work, or has unrealistic expectations. This is harder to sniff out during a preliminary meeting, because most people are genuinely excited about starting something new. The key to filtering out the prospective clients who have a get rich quick mentality, or approach their business like a hobby or side job, is to set clear expectations before a contract is signed. It’s OK to set expectations for clients before you engage in business. The ones that are truly ready to work with you will appreciate your seriousness, and the ones that are not will move along to someone else who will tell them what they want to hear.

You don’t understand or believe in what your prospect is doing. If during your preliminary interviews, your client can’t articulate their ideas enough for you to understand their vision and their goals you are probably not meant to work together. Also, if they engage in something that you have a moral dilemma with or simply find ridiculous, don’t take their money and try to do a good job, because you won’t.

Your prospect asked you to do something that is out of your circle of competence. If someone asks you to do something that you do not know how to do, kindly decline, but use this as an opportunity to evaluate if their request fits into your big vision of yourself and your business. If it does, you should be motivated to go out and enhance your skill set and grow your offerings. The first time you try something new in your business, it shouldn’t be an experiment on your client’s dime.

They do not understand or value your process. Our roots were formed as a design company, and still rely on our creative process to get the results we get. This takes time. I have yet to find someone who can create someone’s brand, design their logo and collateral materials, build an awesome website, conduct keyword research for SEO, craft a marketing plan, and then get the implementation going in a week. After you explain everything, if your prospective client doesn’t understand why it takes the time for you to work your magic, they may not be the bet fit for you.

No matter what nothing you do for them will help. It is easy to take money from someone; the hard part is feeling good about. If your potential client has a flawed business model or engages in practices that you know will not convert sales, and is not ready to receive constructive criticism, they are not your ideal person to work with. Let them down easy and move on.

How to Say NO Gently and Professionally

After you have made the mental decision to say no to your potential client you must do it gently and professionally. One good tactic is to state that you are simply too busy to take on any additional clients, and then provide an actual referral to somebody else. This is great a chance to refer business to someone you may be in competition with or someone who needs the work more than you. They are not your ideal client anyways, so who cares, and they will love you for it. A little Karma goes a long ways.

It is hardest to say no the first time, because you are turning down revenue. We personally have said no to some monster projects, based just on the vibe we got from the prospect. It was really tough turning down that much money, but after looking back, I am really glad we did. It just wasn’t a good fit and would have probably sucked us dry.

So trust me, after a few times it gets easier to say no, and after a while, you will only be working with your ideal clients who will truly value your abilities, become raving fans and repeat customers for life, and provide an endless supply of quality referrals.

But, if you are marketing with benefits, results, and stories, and you bring your audience to that do anything, pay anything point, you get an “A+” and you’re probably nodding your head because your sales reflect that and you’re kicking butt.

Let’s talk about the marketing debate Features vs. Benefits.

In the features vs. benefits marketing debate, benefits will always win. Why? Marketing with features is boring! No one wants to read that. Do you ever get excited to read the owners manual for anything? Doubt it. Do guys ever read the instructions that come with assemble-it-yourself toys or furniture? Rarely.

Your audience wants to know instead how your product, program, or service is going to help them. They want to know how it will benefit them. They want to know “What’s In It For Me?”

For example when marketing with benefits, ask your self, will it:

• Save them money?
• Make them more money?
• Save them time?
• Reduce effort?
• Make things faster?
• Create more opportunities?
• Make them feel smarter?
• Eliminate fear?
• Position them as an expert?
• Grow their business?
• Be more convenient?
• Reduce stress?
• Increase confidence?
• Provide more freedom?
• Eliminate frustration or struggle?

When you only market with features, you’re making your audience do all the work to figure out how it will benefit and help them. When you prospects have to work at making a buying decision, your conversions will be fairly low.

Your customers, clients, and prospects want an easy, no-brainer buying process. They want you to do all the work for them and show them the answer to their biggest question, What’s In It For Me.

But here’s the catch: Usually the benefit you associate with the feature is the assumed or perceived benefit. It’s usually what you think they think is the benefit. This isn’t what your audience is looking for. They want the results. They want to be shown exactly how they will benefit.

So, when you’re marketing your services, products, and programs, you need to be marketing benefits and you need to do it with these three steps:

1. Make sure you really know your audience inside and out
2. Stop thinking like you and start thinking like them. Put yourself in their shoes and get in their minds
3. Write your marketing content based on the emotions felt when they achieve the results and experience benefits of working with you or using your product.

When you can market a business with the emotions-based benefits and results as a priority, you’ll be reaching for the marketing grade of  “A+”

When a consumer visits your website you only have a few seconds to capture attention and interest. If your website fails to hook them and they leave your website, they may never come back! This could potentially cause you to loose prospects, lose customers, and lose profits.

Here are five things to remember when creating or upgrading your business website to make sure you present your business professionally and credibly, and make a great first impression:

• Just as you need to dress appropriately for a business meeting and put your best foot forward, your business website needs to also put its best foot forward with a clean, polished, professional appearance.
• You wouldn’t neglect your office and let it become an unorganized mess, so don’t let your website become an unorganized disaster either. Keep images in one place, audios in another, documents in another, and use a consistent naming convention to everything is easy to find and streamlined.
• When you are talking about your products and services, you need to be clear about your message and you need to keep it simple. Your website works the same way, so make your website content clear, concise, and simple.
• Just like the time you tried to convince your friend to go to a conference with you, your website should compel your visitor to take action.
• When you meet a new contact in person you give them your business card to make it easy for your audience to contact you. You need to approach your website the same way and make sure that when a visitor comes to your site, your contact information is easy to find.

Unfortunately, the next thing that usually happens is that others try to copy the successful ad for their business.

Here is the problem, they don’t adjust the ad to fit their marketing or their focus and the ad fails to answer the three key questions every marketing piece must answer for its audience in order to be successful.

The result is failure and money and time wasted on a marketing piece that was copied instead of thought out and planned.

I don’t want to see you make the same mistake, so I am sharing with you the top three questions every successful marketing piece needs to answer to produce the results you want and attract the clients you want.

1. What is this about?
First, you need to make sure that the content and the message is crystal clear, ensuring the reader can quickly figure out the purpose of the marketing piece, who it is for, and what action you want them to take.

2. What’s in it for me? / Why Should I care?
Second, you must communicate the benefits the reader will receive as a result of taking the requested action. Tell them how it will help them, make their life better, or increase their business. This is your chance to tell them why they should care about what you have to say.

3. What makes you an expert?
Third, you need to establish your expert status and build your credibility. You need to let them know why they should listen to you and what makes you qualified to be an expert. Your audience needs to trust you and believe you before they will take the action you are requesting.

By answering these three questions in all of your marketing materials, you will soon see your conversion rates increase. Just don’t forget to include your contact information, including your address, phone number, and website at minimum!

See something I missed? Let me know!

Let’s just say I wasn’t very surprised when not a single person in the room raised their hand. These eWomenNetwork entrepreneurs understand that you don’t just market your business for the customers you have right now, but for the customers you want to attract in the future.

For example, the signed contracts that are coming in to my office almost daily are results from contacts made and relationships built over the last three to six months. Likewise, the marketing I am doing now will fill my business in the future.

So, if you’ve been hiding from your marketing lately, get your butt in gear and start marketing so you can attract more prospects and attract more clients now and in the coming months.

Here are a few tips to help you attract more clients with ease:

• Write articles, blog posts, press releases and more to help establish yourself as an expert in your industry.
• Be the go-to resource for valuable information your target market needs by publishing a high content newsletter.
• Turn your website into an invaluable resource for your prospects and clients and continuously update it with new, fresh content that they want and need.
• Work on your business and not just in your business. This will help you stay on top of your marketing and will show your customers that you value your business and are committed to not only helping them grow, but helping yourself grow as well.
• Get yourself a support team who can help lighten your load and get the stuff done that you dont want to do. This will free up more of your time to do what you love, aming you happier and making your business more fun.
• Create multiple streams of income. Yes, this will help you add to your bottom line, but it will also allow more poeple to work with you or sample your products or services. Maybe someone can’t afford to hire you, but they can afford to buy your do-it-yourself handbook. Or maybe someone can’t come to your workshop, but they can buy the audio recordings.
• Build a quality list. Work on building your list and adding people to your database, so you grow your audience of hot prospects who have already said they want to hear from you and learn more about your business!
• Create the content your audience wants and deliver it to them in multiple ways. Provide written articles or reports, videos, or audio recordings and make sure that you are speaking or writing directly to the reader for added impact.

Do you have any comments? Other ideas for attracting clients? Please leave your comments below.

We usually end up there at least two or three times before Halloween, so I guess you could say Bishop’s has become a yearly tradition. Each year, the Bishop’s Farm re-invests in the business, adding new attractions and improving old ones. And, each year, we come back excited for the traditional train ride, petting zoo, pig races, caramel apples, and to see what’s new!

This year I noticed something different.

This year was the first year we went on the weekend. $10 for parking, $10 per kid for face painting (check out my little pirate and butterfly!), $4 per person for the coyote mountain slides, $4 per person for the train… and with pony rides, the corn maze, food, and buying pumpkins, you could say they have truly embraced marketing and the power of a captivated, emotion-driven, tradition-loving audience to turn a profit.

In the final quarter of this year, I encourage you to follow the lead of Bishop’s Farm and evaluate your business. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Why do people work with you, hire you, buy your products, or invest in your services?
• What emotions do you evoke with your business, products and services?
• Why do customers come back? And, why do you want them to come back?
• What makes their experience with you and your business special or memorable?

And, for your future success and continued growth and profitability, here are few more of the most important questions to answer:

• What can you do to IMPROVE your business next year?
• How can you make repeat customers feel special and get excited?
• What NEW things can you add to your business?
• How much are you going to RE-INVEST in your business and your future success?

If you’re anything like me, you pause just for a moment when a business person hands you something like that, and you wonder how they can represent themselves so poorly.

Investing in professionally designed marketing materials instantly gives your business an image upgrade.

Investing in professional graphic design services also shows your prospects and clients that you value yourself and your services enough to invest in them, so they should too! Think of it this way, if you don’t value yourself enough to invest in professional materials for your own business, which will help you build your bottom line, how can you expect anyone else to value your services or products enough to pay for them?

If you are concerned about cost, look at the total needed and figure out how many products or services you will need to sell to earn your investment back. Or better yet, how many you need to sell to save enough to invest in high quality professional design.

Remember, it only takes one bad impression or one bad experience to lose a prospect or even a client forever. Consistent, custom design and compelling marketing materials help your business appear professional, credible, and dependable. They are also are your best client attraction tool.

When high quality design is combined with an attention-getting headline, targeted copy that speaks right to your target market, and an irresistible call to action, you will begin to pull your ideal clients right to you!