Many legal marketers will ask lawyers, “what is your ideal client?” Often, we will hear answers like “Anyone who will pay me.” Or better yet, “I don’t know.” We think it is an important question to answer if you want to have a strategic approach to business development. Without knowing your ideal client, how can you go about landing it? I would equate this approach to simply buying lottery tickets if your plan is to acquire wealth. The chances of success are slim for each approach. The odds of winning the lottery may be better – LOL. Therefore, think about your current clients and ask yourself, “who is my ideal client?” If you have none, try to map out what your ideal client may look like.
Examples of “Ideal” Clients
- Doctors facing disciplinary issues
- Multigenerational businesses
- Companies seeking to expand their footprints
- Minority shareholders seeking a business divorce
- Awesome legal marketing companies
The above are basic examples just to make a point. After all, this is just a blog post. We would work with our clients to dig a little deeper into these examples.
Why is this important?
- Attorneys are busy – save time
- Focus your efforts
- Create effective strategies
- Position yourself as leader
- Meet more prospects
- Get more referrals
- Create client satisfaction and loyalty
- Make more money
Here is another way of looking at the importance of a lawyer knowing his or her ideal client. Say you are a hunter and not a lawyer. What are you hunting for? Let’s assume that you are hunting deer. To actually bag one, you will need the right supplies, the right weapon (gun, bow & arrow), the right location, and so forth. You probably would not stand in the parking lot at the mall with a pocket full of rocks hoping to fill your freezer with fresh deer meat. Or, you would not buy a truck load of deer hunting supplies if you were hunting quail. The point is that you need to right tools to create the right strategies.
Once disclaimer using the hunting example. There are plenty of deer and birds to hunt. Make sure there are enough of your ideal clients out there so you actually have a chance of landing some success. If you are hunting Bigfoot, you will spend lots of time and money and come back empty. Your ideal client must be realistic.
Once you have defined your ideal client, all of your business development and marketing strategies should be focused on same.
The ideal client of ESQuisite Marketing is a lawyer with ambition who wants to grow his or her practice in a strategic way. Is that you? Let us know by contacting us at ed@esquisitemarketing.com or cady@esquisitemarketing.com.