 Hotel friends, do you ever feel like you're prospecting like a madman but seeing very little return on your time? Prospecting for new meeting and event planner clients need not look like shooting fish in a barrel and hoping you hit something. Instead, it can be quite a targeted approach to the type of business that's a good fit for your organization as well as the type of client that's a good fit for your working style. Want to take a peek behind the curtain and learn how to define your ideal client? Stick around. Hey friends, it's Leanne and prospecting for new clients in business has really changed as of late but it was changing even before COVID-19 hit as well. We all need to be more creative in finding new clients and nurturing strong prospects to turn them into leads for our business. I was reminded of a time when I first started in site selection and I was prospecting like a fiend and I was prospecting all different kinds of business, small, large, no matter the market and while my business was growing, it was a heck of a lot of time with very little return because of the chaotic approach I had to prospecting. But then I finally sat down, took a look at the clients I had, find some synergies between a few of those clients and really defined the type of planner that I wanted to work with in my business and then everything changed. I'm sharing my sales tips with you today in hopes that you can define your ideal client and in this video at the end I have one bonus tip that you won't find on the blog so make sure you stick around for that one as well. I've also updated my popular defining your ideal client worksheet and you can now find the updated version at pages.lianculderwood.com forward slash ideal client. Before we dive into the tips, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and click on that little bell to be notified of new content. There's going to be a plethora of content about prospecting business and redefining how we solicit leads for our organization in the weeks and months ahead. I don't want you to miss a thing. So let's take a look at what it means to define our ideal client. First tip, I would like you to consider the demographics of your ideal client. And this really comes down to the working style of a demographic as well as your own personal working style. For example, your working style may be a better fit for gentlemen who have a no nonsense approach to business, or perhaps you like more relational style of working, which tends to be more for female clients. In some cases, gender may not matter and you work well equally with each gender, as do myself. You may also want to consider the age as how the millennials make decisions is very different from us Gen Xers and even from the baby boomers before us. So you may decide you have a better working style with a different generation. You may also want to consider the job title or the job descriptions of different ideal client groups. And finally, maybe you can find some synergies in some shared interests or hobbies. For example, I have a site selection colleague whose daughter is in dance, and so she finds a lot of alignment with helping other dance groups find hotels for their meetings. Now, if you're stuck on how to define the demographics of your ideal client, I encourage you to look at your favorite five to 10 clients and look at the synergies between those people. Those will help you define the demographics of your ideal client. Tip number two, we're going to look at the personality traits or characteristics of your ideal client. When it comes to personality type, you may find that you work better with introverts or extroverts. As an introvert myself, I find I do work better with other introverts. It doesn't mean I can't work with extroverts. It's just that's my preference and my comfort level. Your working style, for example, if you have an aggressive working style, maybe a little bit too much for clients that have a more passive and relaxed working style. You may also want to look at the ethics or beliefs and value systems of different individuals. And this is the one for me that really stands out. I love working with clients that also see myself and the hotel sales professionals as part and parcel of the process. We are all partners in it together. Planners who love collaborating, those are the types of people I want to work with and it's a real deal breaker for those clients that may not see others as equal partners in the process. And again, if you are stuck here, take a look at the personality types, the values, the beliefs, the working style of your favorite clients, and look for those synergies. Tip number three, taking a look at the value system and the belief system of your ideal clients. And this comes to professional matters at hand. And I'll give you the example from my own business. I love working with planners that collaborate with other partners in the process, be it the hotel sales professional, the destination management company, even their site selection partner. We're all working together to create a successful event. That's a deal breaker for me if I do find that I'm working with a client who doesn't respect the other roles that are essential for making that meeting a success. Tip number four, what does the ideal meeting or program look for your facility? This is where you're looking at the logistics of your facility itself. Looking at what the ideal group size is. Looking at the cost to stay at your facility and the ratings. That may also drive what your ideal client profile may look like. It's looking at your property's location and the amenities nearby and the types of people that those amenities in that location may attract. And now most importantly, it's your ability to host physically distanced meetings, safe meetings, and having health and safety protocols strongly in place to protect all of your participants. Once again, you may need to go to some of your top programs and find the alignments in those to determine what is the ideal group for your facility. But please keep the post COVID considerations in mind as you go through this exercise. And tip number five, what are the strengths of your ideal client? You may love working with savvy, smart meeting planners who know it all and they can get down to brass tacks very quickly. There's no learning curve here. They've done this before and they know how to get it done. But you may also thrive from working with a junior planner and helping them through the process and kind of teaching them the ropes of what it looks like to contract a space and then start to plan their program in the space. So take a look at the strengths that you really resonate with and that will also help you find your ideal client. Once again, if you're struggling to figure out the strengths of your clients, look at your five favorite clients. What are the strengths that they have in common? And here's the bonus tip that I promised you at the beginning of the video. Define your service from your client's point of view. By brainstorming things such as why would they use us over our competitor? Why would they buy from me? Those are important tells in determining what other types of clients that you can attract. And again, if you don't know, go to your five favorite clients and ask them what do they enjoy most about working with you and with your organization. Have you been able to think about your ideal client through this exercise? Well, rest assured, I've got a tool to help you do just that today. It's this worksheet right here. You can download it for free at pages.leagueholderwood.com forward slash ideal client. And if you're looking for more tips on how to connect better with your meeting planner clients, I've also updated my connect better resource found right here. Friends, as you redefine your prospecting strategy in a post COVID environment, take a step back and redefine the types of people that you're going to reach out to. I guarantee you'll not only attract more targeted and more ideal business to your organization, but you'll be much happier doing it as well. Best of luck to you. Stay in touch. Bye for now.