- Defining your targeted client profile can boost the quality of your lead generation efforts and pair you with consumers who can most benefit from your expertise and style.
Have you ever wondered what it would take to have your real estate business filled with clients who appreciate you, are fun to work with and who regularly send you referrals? The process is much easier than you might think.
You probably have heard of the Law of Attraction, but do you know how to apply it to attract your ideal client?
If not, follow these steps.
1. Create your personal top 10 client list
The first step in this process is to examine what you have already attracted in your business, both the great clients as well as those you wish you never met.
To do this, look through your CRM of past clients and pick out the your personal top 10 best clients ever. List each name on a sheet of paper or on your mobile device.
2. What made them the best?
As you remember the transaction(s) you did together, what exactly made them your best client?
Were they easy and fun to work with? Were they always prompt about returning their paperwork? When there was a problem, were they reasonable to work with in solving it? Are they still happy to hear from you?
How many other transactions have resulted from your knowing them? Write down as many reasons as possible.
3. Transaction details
The next step is to list key transaction data and demographic factors. This includes area and price range where they purchased, the type of home and neighborhood, plus key factors about their lifestyle.
Also, note your clients’ approximate age, gender, marital status, career, whether they have children, any pets, hobbies, favorite charities and so on.
The most important transaction detail, however, is how you met them. Whether it was through a past referral, paid leads, door-knocking or open house, you want to go back to the same “gold mine” to find more like them.
4. Look for patterns
In the corporate world, it’s common for companies to create a persona that represents their target buyer for their product. Many companies often give these personas names, such as “Mike” or “Mary.”
To apply this approach to your business, look through what you have written for each client. Distinct patterns generally emerge.
Sometimes the patterns are tied to a specific neighborhood, school or lifestyle. Almost always, however, there is a clear pattern in terms of age, marital status and careers.
You may discover that your best clients are easygoing and fun to be with — or they may be straightforward, no-nonsense types. You may be attracting more international clients or perhaps first-time buyers or multi-generational families.
Now create your own “Mike” or “Mary” who typifies your ideal client. Finding more “Mikes” and “Marys” will now become your primary lead generation goal.
5. Define your worst nightmare
Repeat items one through four, but this time with the top five to 10 worst clients you have ever experienced.
Again, pay special attention to what lead generation activities put these people in your path, what made them difficult to deal with, as well as any transactional details that may be relevant.
To demonstrate how this works, the company I used to work for in Los Angeles determined that our lawsuits arose primarily from three different situations: new construction, hillside properties and whether the buyer or seller was an attorney.
The company also identified that the probability of being sued depended on how close the property was located to Century City; the closer it was, the higher the probability that there would be a lawsuit.
6. Have clarity about what you want to attract
Attraction is always at work in your life. The secret to attracting your ideal client is to have clarity about what you want to attract. Steps one through six provide you two distinct sets of profiles of what does and does not constitute an ideal client for you.
You will use each list to create your personal Ideal Client Profile.
The first list already has all the positives from your top clients. Make a list of these positives — the longer, the better. As the old saying goes, “Be definite with the infinite.”
Your nightmare client list also has a wealth of information as well, but you must reframe it in a positive light. This approach works best if you only use positive statements, i.e., avoid using the words “not,” “no” and “don’t.”
For example, if you had a client who was an alcoholic, avoid saying, “I don’t want to work with an alcoholic client.” Instead, the positive reframe is, “My ideal client lives a healthy lifestyle and is addiction-free.”
To illustrate the power of this approach, I was leading a training class where one of the participants shared how he generated $300,000 in income his first year. His secret?
“I made an ‘ideal client profile’ that was 15 pages long, right down to the belt and tie he wore.”
When I asked if his ideal client had shown up yet, he answered:
“No, but a lot of his brothers and sisters sure have.”
7. You attract who you are
Your clients reflect the best and worst in you.
For example, if you are attracting dishonest clients, are you being dishonest somewhere else in your life? On the other hand, if you are honest and dishonesty is showing up in your business, chances are you didn’t heed the gut feeling that told you this client was trouble.
Raise your standards by being willing to say “no” to clients who are not a good fit.
8. Upgrade your ideal client list by upgrading yourself
The final step in this process is to go through your ideal client profile and place a checkmark by each characteristic that also describes who you are.
The unchecked items represent the areas where raising your standards will result in more ideal clients for you.
Bernice Ross, CEO of RealEstateCoach.com, is a national speaker, author and trainer with over 1,000 published articles and two best-selling real estate books. Learn about her training programs at www.RealEstateCoach.com/
