Clients aren’t like kids; you’re allowed to have favorites.
You know the ones we’re talking about. These are the clients that you’re excited to work with each time you see them. They’re the ones that you instinctively go above and beyond to provide the best experience possible, and by the time you finish a session, you have more energy than when you started.
These are the ones you need to sit down and have a conversation with to learn how to get more people like them into your business.
Before you get to that point, you need to do some homework.
Take at least 30 minutes without any distractions, aka put your phone in a different room while you’re working on this, and complete the following exercise:
Create a list of your favorite clients.
After creating your list, define the following for each client:
Problem set (these are the problems this individual has that you’re helping to solve. Take note of whether or not helping them is inspiring for you.)
Personality type (categorize as you see fit)
Communication style (think about how they communicate in relation to how you prefer to communicate)
Trust level (on a scale of 1-10, how much do they trust you)
Demographics (age, sex, socioeconomic status, etc.)
Now analyze your data.
You’re looking for trends/commonalities between the people you enjoy working with the most. The intention is to give you greater clarity on exactly who your ideal client is on a more granular level.
After you’ve completed your homework, you’re ready to start asking questions.
If you find you really enjoy helping middle-aged mothers with multiple children get out of pain, you need to sit down with the clients you already have so you can better understand them.
Find out why they trusted you to help them, what resonates with them in your messaging, and what’s been most impactful for them in the process of working with you.
Ask about the things they and other mothers in their position are worrying about. Ask them how their life has changed since they started working with you. If you’re delivering on your promises, ask for referrals; odds are they know plenty of people just like themselves who could use your help.
This doesn’t have to be a formal conversation where you sit down and interrogate them; it could be a conversational thread strung through multiple sessions.
Either way is fine.
The important thing is that you take the time to intentionally work through this process, and the reasons are twofold.
First, the better you understand your ideal client, the more you’ll enjoy your work. Burnout rates in the fitness industry are incredibly high, and much of that comes from the fact that most trainers are willing to work with anyone with a pulse and credit card.
Second, you’ll never get better marketing material than having your ideal clients tell you about their problems and how you helped them in their own words. Once you clearly understand exactly who you’re speaking to and the language they use, connecting with them becomes exponentially easier.
In summary
If you want to attract more of your ideal clients, it won’t happen by accident. One of the easiest ways to attract more of them is to clearly define who your ideal client is by examining the clients you enjoy working with the most and then gathering specific information from them to help you attract more of your ideal clients to your business.
