Everyone has had that moment when you first meet a prospective client. They ask a question, or say something.
Just a small interaction and you can already tell what kind of client they’re going to be.
It’s usually much more common in characteristics of bad clients.
You immediately know this person is going to be an issue. They’re going to ask questions relentlessly. They’re going to not trust what you have to say.
They’re going to assume they know better than you.
This happens in regular life too. You meet someone and they start acting a certain way, and it reminds you of that high school “friend” that always bugged you for some reason.
Humans have a natural ability to want to be close to people that believe what we believe. The ones that we enjoy hanging out with because we have similar interests, hobbies, and values.
The ones that we don’t want to hang out with are clearly visible, but the ones that we do want to hang out with are a little harder to find.
We need to know more about someone, spend time with them. Ask them questions, and as we get along, you start realizing that this person is someone you could consider a friend.
The same way goes for clients.
You know why? Because they’re people too.
They’re no different than other people you meet outside of work.
In our personal lives, we seem to make better decisions as to who we want as friends or not, but in our business life we forget about all that.
Who are the people you would want to hang out with?
Who are the people that would trust what you have to say?
Who are the people that have the capacity to understand your point of view? The way you solve a problem?
Those are the people that we so call “target market”.
There’s a whole industry based on it in marketing because people forget to treat their clients and prospects as people.
As what they actually are. Clients and prospects are merely labels that help us forget that they have feelings and thoughts. It makes us assume they are just numbers in a report.
The reason why you know your audience better than you think is because you already have the natural capacity to figure out who you want to hang out with.
If you can tell me what are the characteristics of the people that you don’t want to work with, then you know your audience.
It just takes a little longer to think about it.
Ask questions, hang out with them.
They’re people. Treat them like it.
