How to Find and Engage Your Quintessential Clients
As a wellness practitioner, you might be under the impression that you should market yourself to everyone you encounter. Just about every single person on the planet could benefit from what you have to offer, right? Nope.
Serving the maximum number of people seems like a good plan, and casting a wide net might allow you to catch a few unexpected clients. But here’s the thing: Trying to sell yourself to everyone also means you’ll be blasting marketing messages at folks who simply aren’t interested or in need of your services. You waste marketing dollars and precious energy attempting to convince the un-convince-able to work with you. By being too general, you also avoid sharing the specific messages that are perfectly targeted for your ideal client base.
A much better plan is to focus your outreach at the subset of people who are already primed to hear your message and who are consciously (or subconsciously) seeking your services. Instead of broadcasting to all, you should focus on those who fit your ideal client profile. To market and grow your business successfully, you will need to identify and engage your Quintessential Client (QC).
What is a Quintessential Client?
Fair question. In essence, your QC is all the characteristics you want your ideal client to possess, rolled into a single avatar. You create this character to solidify your understanding of your target audience and to help you develop new products, messaging, and and services. This is the person you hold in your mind as you go about building and promoting your business, the person you truly want to work with, the person who can benefit most from your offerings, the person who’ll leave you stellar reviews and tell her friends about you.
And why should you bother cooking up this imaginary person? What’s so important about characterizing your QC if she’s not even real?
At Hey Marvelous, we believe that developing a thorough understanding of your QC is one of the most important steps you can take toward building a solid, sustainable business. It’s an understanding that can and should guide your communication and content strategies. Because when you communicate with potential clients, your communication must pique the interest of the right people, the ones you actually want to work with. And when you build content, it needs to be meaningful to those same people. Understanding exactly who your QC is guides your communication and content strategies in the right direction; toward your perfect-fit clients.
If you skip this step, you run the risk of creating an entire business that never takes off. Your messaging may sound scattered or unfocused, which leaves you looking unprofessional and disorganized. You waste time and money on activities that don’t move your business forward, and are left feeling uncertain about your overall direction.
As we mentioned earlier, it can be tempting to cling to the idea that your services are for everyone, and that the entire population of planet earth could benefit from and enjoy your offerings. While technically true, this mentality can be a real trap. Although all people could benefit from working with you, only a small segment of them actually will. And when you market to the entire known universe, you end up resonating with no one. You want to niche down and connect with your ideal customers. Not only does this make you more interesting in the marketplace, it serves as virtual homing device for your QC.
How to identify your Quintessential Client
Now that you’re sold on the idea that a QC can be a game-changer, let’s dive into how to identify and define the QC that best suits your business model. The keyword here is “details.”
You want to start with general demographic information like age range, gender, family status, and income bracket. But then dig deeper: Imagine where your QC shops, which blogs she reads, which hobbies she enjoys. What does she search for online? What’s she reading right now? What did she do for her birthday last year? Is she more relaxed in a bustling city or a quiet cabin? Think about her pains, fears, and problems so you can find ways to help her solve them. Consider her dreams, plans, and wishes for herself so you’ve got a peek inside her aspirations. If your QC had access to a wellness expert like you, what would she wish you could accomplish together?
Remember, too, that defining your QC is crucial … but so is allowing her to evolve. As your business grows and shifts, so will your ideal client. Get her pegged now—right down to favorite shampoo and Instagram crush—but check in with her occasionally, and update her profile. She will change right along with you (and your business).
Still unsure of how to get friendly with your unique QC? Here are some questions that will help you understand and define her:
What does she do for a living? Does she enjoy her job?
How much money does she make?
Does she live in a house, apartment, or condo? Own or rent?
Married or single?
Kids? If yes, how many? (Boys or girls?)
What kind of car does she drive (make, model, year, color)?
Where does she vacation?
What books does she have on her bedside table right now?
What blogs does she follow?
What movies does she love?
What are her favorite bands?
Where does she buy her coffee and what does she order?
What kind of computer and phone does she own?
Where does she shop for clothes? How would you describe her style?
How has she decorated her bedroom?
How would her friends describe her personality?
You can also set up a mock interview with her and ask these questions:
What is your biggest fear or problem?
If you had a magic wand, what would you change about your life? The world?
What makes you feel overwhelmed? What keeps you up at night?
What area of your life are you ignoring (but know needs attention)?
What’s the perfect solution to your biggest worry or fear?
If your biggest fear/worry/stress was gone, what could you achieve?
How would you feel if this problem were to be solved?
What kind of person do you want to work with to solve it?
What does wellness mean to you?
Now, let your QC be your guide
Once you’ve met and gotten to know your QC, it’s time to start tailoring everything you do to her likes, wants, and needs. Your blog post images should appeal to her aesthetic preferences and your logo and site colors should catch her eye. (Think about the design aesthetics that would appeal to a 20-year-old college girl QC versus a 55-year-old businessman QC.)
Revamp your current offerings, or create new classes, services, products, and content that will resonate with your QC. Give her choices that make sense, options that connect. For instance, if your QC is a stay-at-home mom with three kids, creating multi-hour video courses will just frustrate her. Instead, stick to 10- or 20-minute chunks that she can actually use.
And, of course, tailor your writing voice and marketing efforts toward her. Get granular and consider your word choices. Would she be more drawn to “easy stretches” or “increased flexibility”? Does she like soft, inviting adjectives or more direct communication? Consider her preferences as you build your promotional arsenal.
Finally, ask for her input. We know that sounds a little bonkers, but hang with us. If you are considering taking your business in a new direction—offering evening classes at the studio, launching email consultations, creating travel-inclusive retreats—ask your QC what she thinks. Will she be excited by your new direction, or turned off? Can she afford what you’re considering? Does it suit her lifestyle? When you’re pondering high-level strategic decisions, it can be absolutely invaluable to check in with your QC to make sure those changes align with her needs.
Creating a solid QC profile is one of the most important steps in building a business with impact and purpose. And once you’ve done that, your QC will always be available to you as a guiding resource, a trusted advisor you can consult as you build and scale your business.
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