 Hotel friends, have you wasted hours on prospecting and feel like you're getting no return? Well, have you ever considered defining who it is you really wanna work with and tailoring your messages for them? We're gonna look at that today. When I first started in site selection, I prospected this way and that and did everything I could to find any kind of meeting or conference. Some would even call it shooting fish in a barrel and it didn't really take a step back and define who it is I really wanted to work with. I just knew if they had some guest rooms, I wanted to work with them. Well, fast forward now 12 years, I may not have all the answers, but I sure have a solid understanding of the types of people that I want to work with. And as a result, I've been able to customize a marketing and a prospecting campaign that speaks to those individuals and the return on my time investment of trying to find new clients and service clients is tenfold. And I really enjoy working with the clientele that I've created around me and I know which clients that aren't a great fit for some of the skills that I bring to the table. Remember, the goal of this exercise isn't just to define who that person is, but now to design a prospecting and selling and a marketing message campaign that's focused on that niche individual and that niche market. So here are the characteristics of defining your ideal client. The first thing you want to consider are the demographics of your ideal client. And demographics can include anything from income level to gender. Now this has more to deal with what gender do you work better with? Some people work better with women. Some people work better with men. It's just as simple as that. It also has to deal with age. Perhaps you work better with baby boomers or millennials. So this isn't an ageism thing. It's more about the generational differences of how those people behave in the workplace and how you interact with them. You'll also want to consider perhaps their job title and of course the biggest one, their job responsibilities. What are they responsible for and are they the decision maker when it comes to selling your product or service? And finally, what are some common characteristics or hobbies that you have with your ideal client? This helps you create a connection with your ideal client so that you can get past that cold call and into something a bit warmer. The second thing you'll want to look at when defining your ideal client is looking at the personality traits or characteristics of that individual. And a good example is if that person is an introvert or an extrovert. Because once again, perhaps you work better with introverts or better with extroverts. You'll also want to look at their working style. Are they quite aggressive in your approach with you or perhaps they're a little bit standoffish? What are some of the working styles that you work best with? And in turn, how will people respond to your working style? And finally, ethics. You want to make sure that you and your ideal client are on the same ethical ground and have the same beliefs and principles when it comes to business. The third thing you'll want to look at when defining your ideal client is the no list. What are values that you will not compromise on when working with another individual? I can share one of my nos if it helps. I won't be able to work with people who blatantly disrespect our suppliers in the meetings industry. Now they may disrespect me and I'll get over it and move on, but if they start disrespecting our partners continually and in a blatant manner, I unfortunately won't be able to work with them. I feel our industry is very much a three prong and sometimes even four prong approach where everyone plays a role in bringing the meeting together and it's not a hierarchy of a meeting planner and a meeting partner working on the program. The fourth thing you'll want to look at is what the meetings look like that come from that ideal client or customer. What is the typical size of their meetings? Potentially even the typical location of their meetings. The fifth thing you'll want to consider are what are some of the strengths that your client has and how do they complement your own strengths? We all want our strengths and weaknesses to balance one another, so let's put it on paper about some of the strengths and weaknesses that we might have and what are some of the strengths and weaknesses that potentially we're looking for in that ideal client? The sixth thing to consider and the most important piece of this puzzle is now to define your service through the point of view of that client. Why does that person that you've created now, why would they want to buy from you? And I want you to write it down. That will help you create those marketing messages so you can answer some of those questions you feel that ideal client may have of you. There are a lot of things to consider here when defining your ideal client. So I've made it a little bit easier and I've created a worksheet that you can use and start taking notes and creating your own ideal client. You can find a link to that worksheet through the blog post that accompanies this video. Some of you have maybe already gone through the exercise of defining your ideal client and I would love to know what you learned about yourself as you went through this exercise. Will you please comment below this video and share it with the community? I hope these tips will help you hone your focus and attract people that you want to work with. For more sales inspiration and tips, check out all my sales and service videos on YouTube or hop on over to liankulderwood.com for more blog post inspiration. I hope you enjoyed this week's video and we will see you next time. Bye for now.