Ideal Customer Profile Exercise One of the best exercises you can do in your business is to get real clarity on who you want to help. I resisted this type of specificity early in my business because I wanted to help everyone. However, the power of this exercise is getting into their shoes. Until you have walked a mile in your ideal customers shoes, you won t know how to speak their language. We often forget that most business is done on an emotional level. The better you can communicate to your audience s fears, struggles, challenges, desires, dreams, and passions the more your business will grow. This is not about just selling pie in the sky dreams, but really understanding and helping people. Get as specific as you can. You might even consider picking a name and picture for your ideal customer. Go for it! Word of Caution: Many people just skip through these questions and don t actually do it. That was what I did when I first came across this exercise. Just do it. Once you get clarity on your ideal audience, you can begin to: Increase your email subscribe rate Improve your website/blog content Attract the actual customers you want to work with Eliminate the people you do not want to work with Improve your landing pages for your products or services And much more I had two mentors that greatly helped me in this area. The questions below are a combination from what I have learned from Jonathan Mead and Marie Forleo, along with some of my own questions.
Two Choices You can complete this exercise in two separate ways. First, you can answer the questions yourself based on what you know, think, feel, or have experienced. Second, you can choose to interview someone who you think is close to your ideal customer. They can give you insights and knowledge you may not have previously thought about. Ideal Customer Profile Exercise Tip: You can print this document out and write on it or consider using http://workflowy.com. It is a free online outlining software. This is the tool I used when first completing this exercise. I refer back to it often and can find it easily no matter what computer I might be working on. Basic Questions What s your name? What s your age? What s your family background? How many children do you have? Married? What is your personal and household income? What is your occupation?
What is your educational background? What is your work history like? Life Preferences Questions When you walk into a bookstore, what sections/areas are you most attracted to? What do you google (personal interest or business related)? What do you like to do in your free time? What conferences or events do you like to go to? What experts, gurus, or teachers/bloggers do you already follow? Which social media sites do you most frequent (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.)? Personal Belief Questions What are some life beliefs/values that you hold to? What do you want your legacy to be when you die?
What are your strongest beliefs about [your topic]? What s the greatest indicator of success to you? Desires and needs What are your daily concerns and frustrations? What keeps you up at night? What solutions in the [your topic] market are you actively looking to buy? When it comes to [your topic] what are your biggest fears and frustrations? What do you secretly fear may be true about your situation? What s the worst case scenario? What do you fear might fail in your life if your situation continues or if it gets worse? Where will you lose power, influence and control in your life if things don t change or if they get worse?
Market Specific Questions What are your biggest goals when it comes to [your topic here]? What guide would you love to buy if someone could make something just for you? What is the ultimate outcome you want to reach when it comes to [insert your topic]? Final Thoughts Now, you have some awesome insights that can fuel your business for a long time to come! You can also do this exercise for different product or service offerings that you might want to create in the future. The answers you recorded above will now influence your sales copy, landing pages, advertising materials, newsletters, blog posts, and communication in general. Again, it is all about attracting your ideal customers to want to work with you.