Comments on: Day 4: Get Inside Your Clients’ Head

By: Abu Wilson

Abu Wilson — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:53:32 +0000

AWESOME, AWESOME ADVICE! Thank you very much. It can be tough to find convince a potential client sometimes. I wish I had an invisible hand to put inside a potential client’s mind and massage it to be my client. This post gives great info!

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:54:21 +0000

Thanks for this tip. I have been doing this sort of thing for a while, but hadn’t really taken it seriously as an important step. You have shed some much needed light in this area. I will now take it a step further, follow your advise, and do it more effectively. Thanks again Lexi for another great post.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:29:45 +0000

This one is really hard for me because of the diversity of my target client/audience. They range from family people to small businesses to people looking for work, even up to big corporations – so how would I incorporate that into my market/target client?

By: Chris Vanasdalan

Chris Vanasdalan — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 15:54:59 +0000

Thanks for this post. I’ve been freelancing for about 6 months now and I’ve been working to identify the needs of my potential clients, but I never made the connection about developing a true profile of my ideal client.

I left the broadcast news and reporting world to go freelance and I’ve been trying to focus more on business writing. This exercise made me realize I should get back to what I do best (reporting), and now I can start identifying specific editors and publishers to pitch to. That way I’m not spinning my wheels trying to force a path as a copywriter when I don’t really enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

By: Jarod Billingslea

Jarod Billingslea — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 21:01:11 +0000

One thing I do is just go to google and type in “top 10 INDUSTRY/NICHE blogs” and it pulls up a list of the best blogs about that industry or niche. Then I simply read articles based on what the client needs.

From right there and on, everything is awesome.

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 05:01:40 +0000

Karine,

(Newbie graphic designer here. Totally lovin’ this, Alexis + theSavvyFreelancer followers!)

Can you give an example of how you went about finding these forums and blogs of your “potential clients”?

After having that “Hey, I could solve that problem. I would make that person happy!” moment, how did you proceed? Did you actually contact that PC?

By: Karine Delvare

Karine Delvare — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:35:14 +0000

A very hard task for me too… I procrastinated a lot before diving into this lesson!

That being said, once the target is roughly indentified, it’s pretty exciting to find forums or blogs where these potential clients are, and read what they need… all at once you go from the feeling “am I really useful, does anyone wants me?” to “hey, I could solve that problem, I would make that person happy!”

By: ShelleyD

ShelleyD — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:57:20 +0000

Hi Lexi,
Like Emma, I’m having difficulty figuring out who my clients would be. I’ve written blog posts for real estate, feature articles and editorials, ezines, and have kept brokerage sites in business.

Ahh, I just read Elvis’ comment. THAT helped me tremendously! (*sigh of relief)

By: Alexis

Alexis — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:22:01 +0000

Hi Elvis, You’re making good progress! Here’s how you use this: anytime you communicate with your prospective clients — whether you’re putting together your business card, or on your website, or anything else — you imagine this Ideal Client in your head. You essentially write or talk to him. Also, knowing what problems they go to you for will help you further refine the types of services you offer, because your services are the solutions to their problems.

Of course having a specific Ideal Client doesn’t mean you’ll be turning down anyone who doesn’t fit this profile. It only means you’ll be focusing on your Ideal Client when you market your services.

Hope this helps!

By: Elvis

Elvis — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:54:56 +0000

Hello Lexi, thank you for your reply!
I understand my target client is the client who wants my services. To figure this out, I wrote down in further details what my previous clients asked me to do. This helped me improve my skill list from Day 1 and 7. (I’ve been going back and forth the days). So far, I realized my clients are an individual or a very small company. They use my service once and come back after a long period. I service diverse industries. Most my clients are males, they own or preside their companies/institution and they demand web services from me (I also offer illustration and training). Still, I’m not sure how can I use this information to land new clients… Thoughts anyone?