HOW TO ATTRACT IDEAL CLIENTS
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Tips on how to attract ideal clients by Cynthia Trevino
- To attract ideal clients learn to use common language
- A perfect client is the one who wants to take your advice, wants to follow your training, follow your direction
- Once you know who your perfect client is you are going to make better decisions about everything in your business.
- Dig deeper and find out what motivates your clients
- Marketing is about telling little stories, relaying little anecdotes, or sharing tips and best practices that will help your clients, the things you know work
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SHARE THIS EPISODE: – HOW TO ATTRACT IDEAL CLIENTS
HOW TO ATTRACT IDEAL CLIENTS
Once you know who your ideal client is you are going to make better decisions about everything in your business
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Doug: Well, welcome back listeners, to another episode of Real Marketing Real Fast. Today I’ve got a special treat for you. I’ve got joining in the studio, Cynthia Trevino. I met Cynthia at the New Media Summit in San Diego, and we’ve just had a great conversation several times while we were there, and I’m super excited to have her on the show. The title of her business is she’s a client conversion coach, so if you’re looking to increase conversions for your advertising and marketing, I would suggest that you sit down, grab a pen and paper, and listen in. She’s a speaker, an author, and a marketing mentor. She works with women entrepreneurs and women turn to Cynthia to learn how to attract more clients, make more money and have more impact. She coaches women to create a marketing structure that consistently connects them to more perfect clients. Cynthia’s helped companies big and small reach clients, fulfill visions, and achieve income goals for the last 30 years, to empower purpose-driven entrepreneurs who would rather have a root canal than market themselves, that will be an interesting side conversation I’m sure. She’s created a five-step Client Clarity to Cash Flow signature program. Based on her signature program, Cynthia wrote a book that made her a number one Amazon best selling author and the title of the book is “She Markets, A Guide for Women Entrepreneurs: Five Simple Steps to Attract More Clients, Make More Money, and Have More Impact.” Her upbeat, energetic approach and a great sense of humor take her audiences well beyond the superficial marketing strategies. She shows participants how to delve into the heart, soul, and mind of their ideal clients, and I’d like to welcome Cynthia to the Real Marketing Real Fast podcast today. How are you doing today?
Cynthia Trevino: Oh, I’m good. Thank you so much, Doug. You read that so well. I love it, I love it. That’s fun.
Doug: I really do enjoy looking and digging into people’s background, because I know we’re going to have a conversation, so I’ve had a chance to go through your website, and I just went onto Amazon and I purchased your book and will be happily reading that.
Cynthia Trevino: Thank you. Thank you so much for that. Yeah, it’s such a journey to write a book. I mean, you’re a recent author as well. It’s a whole new thing to write a book. I mean, you think becoming an entrepreneur after corporate is a journey, writing a book is a whole different journey, but it’s a good one. It certainly has its ups and downs.
Doug: Well I mean, I look at the statistics of the number of people in America who want to write a book, and I had heard the statistics were over 80% and the percentage that actually writes a book just never reach a bestselling status like you have, or even sell more than 100 books. So, congratulations on that, and-
Cynthia Trevino: Oh thank you.
Doug: Let’s dive into marketing. We’ll come back to the root canal in a minute. I’m sure people can relate to that.
Cynthia Trevino: I know.
Doug: We talked a little bit before we got going and talked about what your superpower was and some of the issues that people have in marketing, and you said that you think we need to figure out how to target our audience or how to find the right people.
Cynthia Trevino: I do.
Doug: Do you want to expand a little bit upon that?
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly. You know, I do, because I believe that before we can be successful at going to networking events, and introducing ourselves and capturing the attention of the kinds of clients that are going to work best with us, so my definition is a perfect client, it’s a client who you have a lot in common with. You share worldviews. It doesn’t mean you agree on everything, it just means your general values are the same. They’re the kind of client who is ready to roll up their sleeves, a perfect client is the one who wants to take your advice, wants to follow your training, follow your direction, whether you’re a health coach or a life coach or an executive coach, coaching leaders and employees inside of companies.
Whatever kind of work you do and you’re serving people, a perfect client is the one who’s ready, they’re easy, they’re coachable, “coachable.” That means they’re ready for an expert. They’re the kind of person who says, “I’ve tried everything,” right? “I’ve done ABC, it’s not working. I need an expert. I need someone to hold my hand and lead me through this so I can solve this problem, so I can get on with the rest of my life and grow my company or start a charity, or have more time to spend with my kids or grandkids.”
A perfect client is the kind of client who’s just motivated to get it done. The reason as entrepreneurs we want more perfect clients is because they follow our advice, they follow our recommendations, they get fabulous results, and then what do they do after that, Doug? Once they get fabulous results, what do they do?
Doug: They’re going to tell their peers.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly. They’re going to send other people just like them to us. I believe a perfect client is that person and that it’s really, really important for an entrepreneur to invest her time or his time in really understanding who that person is. Because-
Doug: I totally agree. That totally makes sense, but that hasn’t always so … I mean, I love what you’re saying, that hasn’t always been my experience. Listen, people hire you and then they do the total opposite. It’s like, “You paid for the advice and got what you got because you went your own direction.”
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly, you’re right. It happens, it happens. My clients say to me a lot, “Well Cynthia, I don’t want to shut down business if I’m just going for my perfect client.” I say, “Well, for all the hard work you’re doing, when you’re marketing, when you’re creating your blogs or videos, or writing articles for publications inside your industry, whatever you’re doing to get noticed by clients so you can attract them to your business and grow your business, you want to put all of that effort with this one person in mind.” You hear that a lot in the marketing industry. Speak to the one. It seems counterintuitive because they say, “Well, I’ll lose business” and I remind them, number one, you’re the boss, right?
Doug: Yep, that’s right.
Cynthia Trevino: If somebody comes to you and they really need you and they don’t completely fit your perfect profile, but they have the budget and otherwise they’re a fit, it’s your decision. But it’s just putting out all of the right sorts of effort so that you as much as you can, pull to you and attract to you those wonderful clients that not only do they get great results, but you’re more fulfilled, and you enjoy doing your work because they’re so receptive and responsive, right?
Doug: Absolutely. Yep, and sometimes you have to fire a client. I worked with a law firm and they insisted on not paying a consulting fee. They insisted on paying by the billable hour, and after six weeks of working with them, [inaudible 00:07:25] they weren’t going to do the work and the partners didn’t agree, and I said, “We’re going to disengage.” “Well, what do you mean? We’re paying your bills?” “Yes, but you’re not doing the work. You guys can’t make a decision and it’s not fulfilling for me, so thank you for paying me, but this isn’t going to last. When you guys figure it out then call me back.”
Cynthia Trevino: Oh, good for you Doug. No, it’s not easy and I’m not saying because if they’re out with your listeners in the audience, that they’re entrepreneurs that are just starting out, or sometimes you do have to suck it up. We’ve all done that, right?
Doug: Yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: You just continue on with a really tough client because you need to pay the bills and pay the mortgage and the rent. That’s perfectly fine, but it’s still this aspirational to invest the time, to really get to know your perfect client as a complete person, because I believe once you do that as an entrepreneur, it’s your business, you started your business because you’re passionate about something, you started your business maybe because you saw the way things were being done in your industry. It’s not working for enough people, right? There are too many people that aren’t getting the kinds of service, they’re not getting the kinds of solutions, you had a better idea. You poured your heart and soul into starting this business because it’s what you love doing, right?
Doug: Absolutely. If you think of guys like Michael Gerber who wrote about working on your business, not in your business. I think if you’re taking clients that aren’t a good fit, or that are super … Well, I call high maintenance. High maintenance, then you’re really becoming, you’re back to working 9:00 to 5:00 like you’re a slave to somebody else. This grump person-
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly.
Doug: … who doesn’t want to take your advice and complains and phones you all the time? I don’t want people like that.
Cynthia Trevino: Oh, I know. I know. It’s so true, and like what I tell people is the idea of a perfect client is once you’ve done the work and it’s really getting to know them on a lot of different dimensions, and it’s something that I teach in my program, the Client Clarity to Cash Flow system, and I also document it in my book that you mentioned earlier, “She Markets,” it’s not a one and done. ‘Cause some people will say to me, “Oh Cynthia, I know my perfect client. They’re men between the ages of 40 and 60 who are getting ready to retire.” Okay, if you think about that, men between the ages of 40 and 60 are getting ready to retire. That covers a lot of men, right?
Doug: Sure, yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: So by digging deeper, we want to ask a few questions like how do you know that everybody between the ages of 40 and 60, even though they “should” be planning for retirement, just because they’re thinking about doesn’t mean they’re planning. Doesn’t mean they’re committed to following a plan, doesn’t mean there committed to sitting down with a financial advisor and being candid and honest about where they are and where they want to be when it’s time to retire, right?
Doug: Yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: That’s where we get into the motivations and if that same financial advisor would sit down and really understand, “Okay, when you look at this giant group of men between ages of 40 and 60 who are getting ready to retire, what are the attitudes? What are the behaviors? What are the motivations? What are the emotional drivers that separate all of those millions of men down to who your perfect client could be?” In order to do that, what the financial advisor should do is she can think about all of the clients she’s had who have been wildly successful with her work. What traits do they have in common, right?
Doug: Yep, that’s a great idea. Absolutely.
Cynthia Trevino: And then you back into it, and I always give people a series of questions to ask themselves, and it’s a matter of … Because once you know who your perfect client is, I believe that you’re going to make better decisions about everything in your business. Your marketing’s going to be better, because it’s going to be focused on the one person, your products and services and packages, you’re going to tweak those so that they better support the kind of client that you want to serve, and so it just, everything you do, you make better decisions once you know who this perfect client is.
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SHARE THIS EPISODE: – HOW TO ATTRACT IDEAL CLIENTS
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Once you know who your ideal client is you are going to make better decisions about everything in your business
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Doug: Once you know, too, I mean think about how each of us likes to, as entrepreneurs, we like to support each other. A question that I’m sure you’ve been asked before is, “Hey Cynthia, who’s your perfect customer?” If I could refer you somebody, and if you don’t know that answer, basically you’re turning away potential referrals of people who would send you that ideal customer.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly. Oh, you’re so right, Doug. I love that you brought that point up because that’s where I got this example, when I heard years ago, when I was a consultant, when I first started my entrepreneurial journey I was a consultant, and we were sitting around with a group, building a referral partner group, and that’s what this woman says. She’s a financial advisor. “Men between the ages of 40 and 60 are getting ready to retire.” I just thought, “Oh, my God, that’s so vast,” I mean, ’cause that’s so many people. I think it’s really good to practice describing your ideal client in a couple of sentences, and when a referral partner says, “Oh I get it, I know who I can refer to you.” I have a short example of that, okay?
Doug: Sure, yep.
Cynthia Trevino: Let’s just say you’re a web designer and the web designer says, when somebody says, “Gosh Jill, who’s your perfect client?” The web designer says, “I serve growth-minded business owners who are looking to provide a customized experience for their web visitors on their website.” That’s very short, but what she said, growth-minded entrepreneurs who want to provide a customized, she used the term customized experience, for visitors to the website. What this web designer is saying in a very subtle way, is that she’s not the designer for someone, a business owner who wants a $500 website. Right? So, the advantage of knowing your perfect client and then summarizing it so you can tell your partner, your referral partners, your fellow entrepreneurs, who to refer to you, it’s short enough that they’re going to remember and the other thing, the other advantage to that by being specific about using terms like growth-minded and customized, she’s very gently repelling bargain basement business owners who just need an ordinary site, right?
Doug: Sure. Again, making your business more fun because you have less of those inquiries, and what’s coming in for referrals is more in line with your values and where you want to take your business.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly yes. Because there’s nothing wrong with a $500 website, I’m not saying that. That’s fine for people, that’s what you need, it’s a beginner website, but this is just an example of how all of us can really distill down and explain and by putting thought into, “This is who my perfect client is, and this is the kind of person you should be on the lookout for me.”
Doug: I would often ask people, say, “Look in your database and tell me who are the clients you had the most fun with? Who are the clients who pay you quickly? Who are the clients that are the most profitable clients?” Let’s not be lazy about lists, let’s go find more people that look like that.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly. I love that, yeah. Who do you have fun with? Right, they pay you on time. Other traits are they’re respectful of you and your team, right?
Doug: Sure, yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: And if you’re working on a project, and lots of times, with whatever kind of work entrepreneurs do, a lot of times the client’s got to produce, they’ve got to give you content for their website. If you’re a health coach, they’ve got to do their exercises when you’re not with them. They have to hold up their end of the bargain too, the client, right?
Doug: Absolutely yep, they do, yep.
Cynthia Trevino: You want the kind of people that are collaborative and they’re excited to do the work, and they respectful of you and your team, and right, this is all that I call shared values. You share values of mutual respect, because if you’ve got a team of people, say you’re a web developer and you have a team, if the client doesn’t provide the digital pictures or the content or whatever’s needed to create the website, then your team can’t get their job done on time, right? Or if they give it to you late and they still want you to make your deadlines, so that’s where the shared values come in. Do you want to work with people who are respectful of everybody involved in the process, right? Because then it’s a win/win for everyone.
Doug: And I’ve done something, I don’t know that it’s different, but something that I’ve had a lot of success with is I try to make myself the ideal client for my suppliers. As a result of that, I’ve got a lot of referrals from my suppliers, because they like working with me because we pay them quickly, we pay them fairly, so everybody’s still making money. I think how can I serve my suppliers? I remember once I got some advertising work from a referral out of New York for a tobacco company. I’m thinking, “So Manhattan is the mecca for advertising. I’m a home based business in Vancouver. Is there nobody between New York and Vancouver you can contact, or Toronto?” But it came as a referral from a supplier by just taking what you’ve done, and flipping it upside down, and dealing with everybody that way.
Cynthia Trevino: I love it. I love that story. That’s fabulous. You know, the other thing that people, the one that people have so many reservations about spending time or creating a perfect client description, and I say to them, ’cause they say, they’re worried about screening out too many people. Have you given this advice and heard this advice, Doug, in marketing? Speak to the one?
Doug: Yeah, I have. It’s a bit of a tough pill for some people to swallow because exactly what you said, everybody, I had a client that was in retail and she had very high-end stuff that she was manufacturing. I said, “Who’s your perfect client?” She said, “Well, everybody’s my client.” I said, “Well okay, I came into your shop last week before I came down to meet you, and I noticed that your scarves started at about $1500. I’m suggesting that not everybody that lives close to your store is a client because your trench coats are in the $4-$5000 price range. We may want to narrow down the everybody to at least people who have a significant amount of money to spend on their wardrobe.”
Cynthia Trevino: I agree. It’s the differentiator between everybody needs what I do, and that could be true, especially in the service industry, right? Those of us who are helping business owners or health coaches or any kind of coaches or trainers. You’re right, everybody may need what you do, but who among those are your perfect clients? Which are all the things we’ve been talking about. They’re good to work with, they’re going to do the work, they value your services, they’re not going to argue with you over your pricing or your fees, right? Because they value the work you do.
Doug: Sure, yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: But I do have, I heard this story and I have to give credit to my friend Helen Chang. She’s an entrepreneur that runs a great publishing company and she told this story, and I use it now. This is whenever you think that talking to the one in your marketing, your videos, whatever you’re doing, to attract clients to your business, whenever you think that talking to the one could possibly cost you business or screen out too many people, remember this story. J. K. Rowling is a worldwide phenomenon, right? In the publishing.
Doug: Yep.
Cynthia Trevino: Author of all the Harry Potter books and the woman is a gifted writer, and her imagination and movies and I guess Broadway plays and everything. Worldwide, J. K. Rowling is loved and her books are read by people in every single country, I would imagine on the planet, right?
Doug: Yep.
Cynthia Trevino: And all age groups, right?
Doug: Sure, yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: Everybody. All walks of life, everyone loves Harry Potter books. There’s one thing to remember, she has broad appeal, wildly successful. When J. K. Rowling wrote her first book, she wrote the book for one person. She wrote the book for a 13-year-old boy. If you think about writing a story for a 13-year-old boy, speaking to the one, that’s who she had in mind when she wrote the first Harry Potter story, and yet, it morphed into this phenomenal success. The idea is when you speak to the one, you bring up so many things from your heart, your imagination, your expertise because if you imagine the one person, and you know that person so well, you can speak to the one, it doesn’t mean you cannot have broad appeal.
Doug: That’s true. It’s funny because you think of all the reasons why people become entrepreneurs by choice, and we do this for, whether it’s for money or for time, or for enjoyment, or for freedom, and all those things come from working with the right clients.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly. When you think about your highest moments, when you think about the best you’ve felt, you feel great when you get a client. You make a sale, you have a new program, people like it, you’re over the moon. But what really makes you feel good and I tell my clients to go back and read these, is the messages, the voicemails, the texts, the emails that you get a couple of months or even a couple of years after you work together, right?
Doug: Sure, absolutely.
Cynthia Trevino: Somebody writes you and says, “Doug, thank you so much. You helped me” … Tell me one of those. What was that like for you? I mean, doesn’t-
Doug: Yeah. It’s humbling to get something like that and I tend to dismiss those sort of comments. I’m not very good at accepting a compliment like that, but yeah, it is. You sit there, you think, “Well, it was really no big deal. It was an easy thing to do.” I’m blessed to have a wife who goes like, “Well, it was easy for you but obviously it wasn’t easy for them.” I said, “Well, it just made sense.” She says, “Yes, okay, it makes sense to you.” It’s like, “Okay, I’m getting your point.” I’m a bit slow but I’m not completely stupid on this, okay. It makes you feel good and lots of times I think that as an entrepreneur, it’s important, like you said, to go back, you said, “Hey, I go back and I reflect and look on those” because as we all know, we don’t always … Not every day’s a great day. We have some bad days and sometimes we have some bad weeks, and hopefully, they’re not bad years, but to go back and to look and reflect on those things and say, “Hey, I made a difference in this person’s life. Not only was it nice to receive that at the time, but it’s a good reinforcement,” especially I go back to your root canal comment so we can move over there.
When you’re thinking of marketing, going out and talking to a client, then you’re thinking, “Man, I’m afraid to do that.” You can think of, “Wow, remember that great experience, I helped this person achieve X,” fill in the blank.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly. Because what I tell, ’cause so many women that I work with are fabulous at what they do, they’re experts, they’re really great at their work, but they would really rather do anything than market themselves. They avoid it, they procrastinate, they feel salesy, so I teach that the one way to not feel salesy is to remember. Whether you’re doing a self-introduction or you’re writing a blog, it’s all about education. I know you and I both believe in educational marketing. That means that every time you create a piece of content, you write on your website, you’re sharing a small tip, a small step that your perfect client can take, to help them solve their problem, or help them achieve the goal they have in front of them.
That’s why marketing isn’t about you. Marketing is about telling little stories, relaying little anecdotes, or sharing tips and best practices that will help your clients, the things you know work. That takes the focus off of you as a person, because you’re not … I have to tell you, whenever I hear at networking events and somebody asks, “Oh, what do you do?” And I hear an entrepreneur say, “Oh, I do a lot of things. I’m a CPA, I’m a speaker, I’m on the board of da, da, da.” I cringe. Do you hear that?
Doug: I do. I often do, yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: Because I think the world has evolved and we’re all about authenticity and we’re all about really tell me who you are, and none of us are our titles, right?
Doug: No, that’s for sure. So who are you and what do you do?
Cynthia Trevino: I work with women entrepreneurs who urgently want to learn to speak their client’s language. They want to grow their businesses, they want to impact more people, they want to achieve their goals and dreams, so they want more of the kinds of clients who get great results so they can enjoy their work. And they’re women who have decided that nothing they try with marketing is working, taking the tips, trying social media, blogging a couple of times a year, it’s not working. Because they haven’t laid the foundation, the groundwork. Because the only way you can speak your perfect client’s language is to really know who they are as a complete person.
Doug: Yep. I think that’s great. ‘Cause I mean, especially when you’re at a networking event like you said, people ask what you do, and I always think that your introduction of what you do should set them up to ask a question. If they’re not intrigued by specifically what you do, then move along.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly. Exactly right.
Doug: I tell people, people say, “What do you do?” I say, “I help my clients make buckets of money and I get to keep some.” If that doesn’t intrigue them then we’re not going to have a conversation, ’cause people are going to go, “That’s awfully forward.” It’s like, “Yeah, that’s my approach to life, so if that offended them, good. Let’s move along ’cause we’re … Let’s not waste each other’s time.”
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SHARE THIS EPISODE: – HOW TO ATTRACT IDEAL CLIENTS
HOW TO ATTRACT IDEAL CLIENTS
Once you know who your ideal client is you are going to make better decisions about everything in your business
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Cynthia Trevino: Right. Exactly, right, because it’s the worldview that you share. You’re going to get down to business and you’re going to help people who are serious about wanting to grow their business, right?
Doug: Yeah. I’m not interested in the 10% growth a year. If you want 10%, phone the other guy. I’m like, “Hey, can we get like 100% this month?”
Cynthia Trevino: I love it. No, it’s true. I believe that the world needs all of the purpose driven, smart ethical entrepreneurs it can get its hands on right now, Doug, because our country, our economy, both our countries need all of the help they can get. Institutions and giant corporations are just, they’re going to meander along, they’re so big and bloated and entrepreneurs are the future. We need as many entrepreneurs out there doing their work, because so many people need help right now, right?
Doug: I agree. One of the things I think we often forget, and so I’ll just speak for myself. I think that in my opinion, we’re living in a global economy, and a lot of people say, “Oh no, keep jobs in America, keep jobs in Canada, keep jobs.” While I want to do that and want to support where I live, the reality is competition is everywhere, so I think now more than ever, it’s important to have your vision and your focus on who your right customer is, and your marketing message, because you’re not just competing with the guy down the street anymore. Now you’re competing with every other country around the world.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly. You’re right. People have so many options now, right? They can go to YouTube, they can read any book, so there are just so many options for how people can train themselves but there are so many people who need to be held by the hand, right?
Doug: Yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: There’s nothing wrong with that, we all learn in a different way.
Doug: Absolutely. What do you think it is that holds people back from their marketing? You’re saying, “Hey, you’d rather go to the dentist.” I’m not a big fan of the dentist, then do marketing, so what reasons have you seen working with entrepreneurs, that prevent them from taking those steps?
Cynthia Trevino: For me, I believe that marketing is a giant industry and I think there are a lot of misconceptions out there. People will be taught, “Oh, just figure out your target market, describe your target market, and then you’re good to go.” I believe that’s a misconception, because there’s target market, if you think of a beach ball, that’s a target market. Then if you think about, “Oh, well, there’s a niche market so I’ll narrow it down and there’ll be a niche market.” And I still believe that’s not enough, ’cause a niche market’s going to be a circle inside the beach ball, right? I believe your perfect client is that diamond inside the circle, inside the beach ball, and I’ll give you a quick example. So, a target, let’s say there’s a woman who’s a health coach based in Chicago, and she serves professional women, and so she says her target market is women who are 45-55, who are professional women. Okay, based in Chicago. That’s still a big beach ball, right?
Doug: It is yeah. Absolutely.
Cynthia Trevino: It’s out there. Okay so then she says, “Okay, my niche market is women who are 45-55, professional women based in Chicago, who are overweight and overworked.” Okay, well now she’s describing a subset, however, that’s still overweight, overworked women, in a big metro area like Chicago, is still going to be a pretty big number.
Doug: Big number, yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: I believe the diamond in the middle of the circle, the perfect client for this health coach is overweight, overworked women, 55-45, living in Chicago, who have tried every diet plan, they’ve tried every exercise program, they have tried working out with their friends, they have tried eating every different sort of green smoothie, and they’re still, they’re not losing weight, they’re not making any progress, and they’ve made a decision. The decision they’ve made is that they cannot do it alone. They need an expert, they need a program, they need someone to hold their hands, because they want to make this change, they want to lose weight, they’re really great at other things they do in their life, but this is their big rock standing between them and the rest of their life. It comes down to the motivation of the perfect client is the one who’s motivated to make a change or inspired, if it’s not to solve a big problem, or inspired to achieve a gigantic goal. They need expert help.
Doug: Right. I think like you said, you’re bringing down from a very large audience to smaller, smaller, smaller. What I’ve often told people is I said, “If you want to be really specific, if I gave you a copy of the WhitePages, could you just open it up and show me who I should phone? Who’s your perfect client?” Like, let’s get really super specific.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly.
Doug: That’s really cool. How do you go about that? I mean, how do you drill down that deep where you’re going to learn people’s motivation?
Cynthia Trevino: Well, I have a series of questions which I also put in my book, and I take people through a series of questions to ask themselves. I’ve probably got, I don’t know, 15 or 20 different questions, and I say, “This is not a one and done” because when you’re through, your perfect client profile, description, you can call it a story, you can call it whatever you want, it’s going to be something that you’re going to add to over days or weeks or months. You want to get everything down that you know about that person, and it doesn’t mean you’re going to use all of it every time, but by the time you’ve answered the … I have them answer a series of questions, and I have them really reflect on all of the people they’ve helped and even if you’re a brand new entrepreneur, and you’re brand new at starting your business and providing a service, you’ve probably helped friends and family along the way.
I ask them to think about the people you’ve helped and write it down, journal it, or put it in your computer, however, you get things down and remember the things they said to you. Because that’s going to add to the values, it’s going to tell you who they are as a person, and it’s also going to remind you how in your customer’s own words, you helped them. It’s a process, Doug, where I have them reflect over a couple of weeks or three weeks and get everything down in writing, in some format that you can refer back to it. Then this person, I also ask them to do two very specific things. I say, “Pull a picture down from anywhere,” it can be a real picture or it can be just a picture you pull down from the internet, ’cause you’re not going to use it anywhere, but just keep a picture and give your perfect client a name. They become real for you and keep these handy, and a summary of who they are when you’re getting ready to write or record for them, remember you’re talking to the one.
Remember J. K. Rowling and the 13-year-old boy that she kept in her head as she wrote the iconic series of Harry Potter.
Doug: Yeah, just imagine if she sat down, she said, “I’m going to write a book and I’m going to write it more the masses because I want to be popular.”
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly.
Doug: I think that’s how often businesses set up. It’s like, “Okay, I’m going to create my marketing, but I want it to be for everybody in the world.” That’s a pretty big beach ball.
Cynthia Trevino: It’s a pretty big beach ball. Now, you can do that if you’re Nike, the shoe company, or if you’re Coca-Cola.
Doug: Yeah but even Nike, I’m sure when they’re making shoes, yesterday Reebok had a sale, so I know that my wife is ordering shoes for everyone from Reebok, but they have a specific market, right? They’re very big in CrossFit.
Cynthia Trevino: They do.
Doug: So they’re not, I know they have golf stuff, they have everything else, but they’ve said, “Hey, I’m going to go after this market.” They’ve niched down. I have to pick up on one point that you made there which I think is interesting, because I haven’t heard it before, and I’ve heard it now twice in a week.
Doug: I interviewed Jeffery Shaw for my podcast and Jeffrey was talking about niches, and why he doesn’t totally agree with the niches, and here’s what he said which is pretty much the same as what you said. He said to write down a list of all the compliments that you get from people, and then put a mark beside the ones that you dismiss most quickly. He says to focus on that, ’cause that’s your strength.
Cynthia Trevino: I love that.
Doug: Which is very similar I think paraphrasing what you had said, in terms of looking at where you get your feedback and your joy in working with people. That’s really cool.
Cynthia Trevino: Yeah, I agree with that for strengths, and I also tell my clients … Pardon me, my students, and I remind people in the book, and I know Jeffrey, he’s wonderful. He’s brilliant, he’s great. Of course, I met him at the same time I met you in San Diego a couple of months ago, but he and I really agree on the part that one way to really tap into who your perfect client is, is to really get used to their words, and it’s like you sit down with a glass of tea, or in my case, it would be a glass of pinot noir, ’cause I’m a wine lover, or coffee, whatever is beverage of choice is.
Doug: Sure, yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: And you think back, you pull up messages, you just think back, “What were their words? What did they say to you?” When they said, “Thank you, Doug, for helping me. Thank you, Doug, because of working with you, I was able to” fill in the blank. Or, “Thank you, Doug, after working with you I felt” fill in the blank. It’s going to be just slightly different for all of us, right?
Doug: Absolutely, yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: But it’s a great way to get yourself just in the mindset of your perfect clients, your past, wonderful clients, so that you can use that same language, and that same worldview, and that same attitude to attract more people like them.
Doug: Yeah. Makes sense. Let’s shift gears a little bit. What’s some of the bad advice you hear in the industry, the marketing industry, and doing what you’re doing?
Cynthia Trevino: Oh, bad advice? This is not to knock, social media’s wonderful, I use it, social media’s ever-changing, but I hear so many people, experts, tell, “Oh, reserve all your profiles on all of the social platforms. LinkedIn and Twitter and Snapchat and Instagram, all of that.” I think the bad advice is, don’t invest your time until your business is growing and you have assistance or you have a staff. Only invest your time on the social platform, one at a time, and the second thing is, don’t go on a platform unless your perfect clients are active on that platform, and using it.
Doug: There you go. That’s the advice, yeah. Go where your clients are. If your clients aren’t on Pinterest, don’t go on Pinterest.
Cynthia Trevino: Don’t waste your time, exactly. Exactly, exactly.
Doug: Looking forward then, so that’s the bad advice like you’re saying, don’t do that. What are you most excited about in the next, I don’t know, 6, 8, 12 months?
Cynthia Trevino: I’m most excited about teaching my course. I’ve been teaching my course one on one with my clients and now I’m going to begin to do groups, because I did a half-day workshop a couple of months ago and I love the energy of a group of women entrepreneurs supporting each other and learning together, and I love the group setting. So, I’m going to being to teach my program in groups. I’m excited about that.
Doug: Cool, and that’s going to be where?
Cynthia Trevino: I’m going to do a live one in San Diego on July 27th, here where I live. Then, I’m going to do a couple of those, and in the fall, I’m going to do one via Zoom, so that I can reach women entrepreneurs wherever they are.
Doug: Yeah, love San Diego. Familiar with where you live. I think there’s a restaurant up on the coast there, The Red Tractor, The Green Tractor, something across the racetrack, yeah.
Cynthia Trevino: Oh yes, delicious. Yes.
Doug: [crosstalk 00:39:46]. That’s really cool. There you go. What’s the best place for people to find you online? You’ve published a book, you’re a bestselling author, so we’ll make sure we get all your links and stuff set up. Aside from that, what platform, social media platform are you on and tell us your website and how people can find you?
Cynthia Trevino: Oh, absolutely. Thanks, Doug. Yes, I’d love for people to connect and tell me what they agree or disagree with that we talked about today, right? I love disagreements, too. Tell me I’m wrong and we’ll have a great conversation about it. My website is SheMarketsMentor.com and on Facebook, I’m Cynthia Trevino Mentor, and LinkedIn, I’m just LinkedIn, Cynthia Trevino.
Doug: Okay, perfect. What have you found has been … A side question, but what have you found has been the best platform for you social media-wise, doing what you’re doing, working with women entrepreneurs and helping them be more successful?
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Cynthia Trevino: For me, it’s really oddly been Facebook, even though I don’t have … I’m still working on growing my following, but I’m just finding that people go … A couple of years ago everybody went to LinkedIn first, but now I find people connect with me on Facebook first, ’cause it’s so easy to send a private message on Facebook, right? I’ve just had more success on Facebook with connecting individually with people. There you go. Yeah.
Doug: There you go. Go where it works. I tell people I’m tactic agnostic, and when things stop working, you just move along.
Cynthia Trevino: Exactly. Try the next thing, exactly.
Doug: Yep, absolutely. Well, I want to thank you for your time today. It was an absolute pleasure having you as a guest, and having met you in San Diego and looking forward getting back to San Diego. Obviously, I’m not your target audience, but-
Cynthia Trevino: We’re like-minded marketers, we want people to use marketing in a way that’s going to be successful for them and is going to help them make their dreams come true.
Doug: Absolutely, and I like wine, so there we go, and coffee. We’ve got a number of things in common.
Cynthia Trevino: We do. Absolutely. Well, thank you, Doug. I’ve had so much fun talking with you. Thank you.
Doug: So who’s one guest that I absolutely have to have on the show?
Cynthia Trevino: Oh absolutely. Okay, I have two. I have two women. The first one is Felena Hanson, and I’ll send you a note about how to spell her name later, but she, Felena Hanson is a San Diego based entrepreneur who’s been wildly successful. She started coworking spaces for women, and she started about 4-5 years ago, and she has locations in San Diego and in Stockholm, Sweden, and in Washington D.C. She’s building this wonderful business, and the cool thing about Felena is that she’s a marketer. She was a marketer when she started out in her entrepreneurial journey, and she did a podcast and talked about Hera Hub and the kind of person who would be a great founder of a Hera Hub, ’cause she’s franchising these coworking spaces, and a woman in Stockholm, Sweden heard that called there, and now there’s a Hera Hub in Stockholm.
Doug: That’s cool.
Cynthia Trevino: Is that a great story?
Doug: Yeah, that’s a great story.
Cynthia Trevino: And my second recommendation is my good friend who also lives in San Diego, Billie Francis, and Billie Francis 20 years ago founded her business which is Guiding Mindful Change. Billie teaches mindfulness to women and men who are starting businesses or they’re professionals, and she really, she was teaching mindfulness before it became as widespread as it is today. She has fabulous advice and insight for entrepreneurs and professionals alike. I think she’d be a great guest for you also.
Doug: Well, excellent. Thanks again. Thanks, listeners for tuning in. As per usual, the show notes will all be transcribed. You’ll be able to click-through and you’ll be able to track down Cynthia in the many places and I’ll include her link to her Amazon so you can take a look at and buy her new bestselling book, so that’ll be available to you. “She Markets, A Guide for Women Entrepreneurs: Five Simple Steps to Attract More Clients, Make More Money, and Have More Impact.” Thanks for tuning in. I look forward to coming back another episode to serve you, and I hope that you have an awesome week.
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SHARE THIS EPISODE: – HOW TO ATTRACT IDEAL CLIENTS
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Once you know who your ideal client is you are going to make better decisions about everything in your business
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