A Guide
Know the people you serve so well that they read your words and feel you are talking about them.
Serve them better. Truly understand their problems, pains, goals and needs.
Attract the people you want. Get specific about who you want and do not want to work with.
Why this matters
The words you use to describe your ideal client decide who turns up.
Marc's story
When Marc started, he aimed at everybody. He used words like burnout, overwhelm, misaligned and stuck. He attracted extremely burnt-out people.
Then he focused on the people he wanted to work with: people at a later stage who already had some momentum. He found clients he enjoyed working with more and could help more.
The belief to drop
This is not about learning something brand new. The moment you write it down, you already care more about the people you serve than you did five minutes ago.
You are training the muscle of getting it out of your head and onto paper. It will not be perfect, so let your thoughts flow anyway.
The map
Build a clear picture of the people you serve, one part at a time.
Who they are.
What they face, and how it feels.
What they want, and why.
What they already tried.
Before you start
Name up to five favourite paying clients. Go with your gut. Fewer than five is fine.
Think of the people who were the most fun to work with, got the best results, paid you properly, and loved working with you.
Then look at them side by side. Find the 2 or 3 things they share, such as their work, age, stage of life, or how they behave.
Marc's story
With his first 10 to 20 coaching clients, Marc thought people needed more productivity. The more he talked to them, the more he saw that many did not even know what they wanted.
That pattern only showed up because he looked at real people.
There is a third way: picking the people you feel you could help most. Marc does not recommend starting there for most people. Use it only if real clients and your own past self do not fit.
Part 1 of 4
Start with the outside facts. Then look at their day, what matters to them, and who they listen to.
Let us start with the plain outside facts. What work do these people do, roughly how old are they, and what stage of life are they in?
Walk me through one normal day for one of these people. Start when they wake up and go all the way to when they sleep. Not a holiday and not a great day, just a normal Tuesday. The more small details you give me, the better this gets.
In that day, what is one thing that is true for these people but not for most other people? It can be small. It is usually the bit that surprises you a little when you say it out loud.
What matters most to them in life? Some people care most about being free, some about making a difference, and some about feeling safe and sure. Which is it for your group, and what makes you say that?
Where do these people hang out, online and in real life?
Who do they follow and listen to?
Part 2 of 4
What gets in the way of what they want? Marc asks for five to ten returning problems, said the way those people would say them.
Marc's example: someone does not know what business to start.
How do they feel about those situations? Use the words they would really use.
Inside Part 2
We are still talking about the people you help, not about you. Use what they have said. It is fine if you do not know.
If nothing changes for them, where do they end up in one to three years?
What is the quiet worry under that? I mean the one they would never put in a post, the one still there at two in the morning.
Who, if anyone, do they look at and feel behind?
What, if anything, would make them feel they had wasted their best years?
Part 3 of 4
Start with the practical thing they want. Then ask why it matters to them.
So they can retire their parents.
So they can help more people.
Stop when the answer becomes a person, a feeling, or the life they want.
Why do they want that?
Why does that matter to them?
And why does that matter?
Keep what they have told you about what is wrong.
Ask what they want all this effort to be for. Picture their normal Tuesday morning two or three years from now.
Marc's reason for this part: your content should not only be about what is going wrong for them. It should also be about what they are trying to build.
Part 4 of 4
What have they already tried to fix this, before they found you? It could be a programme, a coach, a course, or something they tried by themselves.
Which of those helped a little, and which did not stick? Tell me why, in their words if you can.
Marc calls asking about the solutions they tried and why they did not work a very valuable question.
Marc's own observation: many of the people he works with had already attended courses, programmes and workshops. He noticed that pattern across his best clients.
Across all 4 parts
Copy the client's words exactly. Do not tidy, shorten or explain them.
Use the lines from their first message or the words that come up on almost every call. Keep the words they use over dinner. Drop the trade words a child would need explained when you write to them.
If you only remember the wording and cannot point to a real message or call, leave off the quote marks and tag it (guess).
What you will build
This is the shape of the finished profile. The lines show what goes where. Your own people and their words fill it.
My Ideal Client Profile
(heard) means a real person said it or wrote it.
(guess) means it is your best thinking so far, and nobody has said it to you yet.
Every line in your profile ends with (heard) or (guess).
Part 1 of 4
Who they are: [Three to five plain sentences about their work, rough age and stage of life.] (heard/guess)
Their normal day: [Six to ten short lines, from waking up to going to sleep.] (heard/guess)
The one unusual thing: [One thing in their day that is not true for most people.] (heard/guess)
What matters most: [Two to three lines about what they care about.] (heard/guess)
Where they hang out, and who they listen to: [Two to four lines about where they spend time and who they listen to.] (heard/guess)
Part 2 of 4
The situations: [Five to ten lines, said the way they would say them.] (heard/guess)
How it feels: [Five to eight lines, in their words.] (heard/guess)
How often: [One honest line about how often it shows up.] (heard/guess)
Their fears: [One to two lines each: where they end up if nothing changes, their quiet worry, who they feel behind, and what would feel like wasted years.] (heard/guess)
Part 3 of 4
The practical goal: [Three to six lines about what they want.] (heard/guess)
Why it matters: [Two to four lines about why they want it.] (heard/guess)
What they are moving towards: [One to two lines about the life they want.] (heard/guess)
The bigger reason: [One to two lines about what makes it all worth it.] (heard/guess)
Their future Tuesday: [Three to five lines about a normal morning two or three years from now.] (heard/guess)
Why they said yes: [Two to three lines about why they chose to work with you.] (heard/guess)
Part 4 of 4
What they tried: [Four to six lines about what they tried before finding you.] (heard/guess)
What helped: [One to three lines about what helped a little, or that nothing has yet.] (heard/guess)
What did not stick: [Two to four lines about why, or a note that you do not know why yet.] (heard/guess)
[Up to fifteen lines copied from real calls or messages. Keep each line exactly as it was said or written.] (heard)
[Remembered wording without a real source, with no quote marks.] (guess)
Words from inside their world: [Three to six words an outsider would need explained.] (heard/guess)
[One sentence that makes a real person in this group feel you are talking about them.] (heard/guess)
[One line for each guess, with the exact question to ask a real person. Put the three that matter most at the top.]
This card is about the whole group. Before you talk to one real person, treat it as a starting guess and listen for what is true for them.
Before you write or speak: think about what would make them want to read your message and say yes.
6 checks
A real person from this group could read it and feel you are describing them, not a type of person.
Their problems and their words are things you have really heard someone say, and anything you are still guessing is marked as a guess.
Their normal day has enough small detail that you could picture their Tuesday from six in the morning to ten at night.
It says what they want and why they want it, not only what is going wrong for them.
The fear goes past money and business, and lands on the kind of person they are scared of becoming.
There is one line in it that would make them say "this person gets me" within thirty seconds.
What this opens up
The more you think from the other person's point of view, the easier selling, writing and influencing get.
You do not have to be the expert in their industry when you truly understand their world.
Second Positioning trains this, and your profile's last card is built for it.
Do this now
In the next 48 hours, block 30 minutes, open your AI Implementation Toolkit, and come out with your Ideal Client Profile.
Put it in your calendar now, before you close this page. Keep the finished profile where you will see it, and bring its last card to the Second Positioning lesson.
Recap
Start with real people, not a made-up person.
Keep their exact words and mark your guesses.
Go past the first answer to what they are really afraid of and what they really want.
Your toolkit
It asks for what you already have, and lets you talk instead of type. It asks one question at a time and hands you a card after each part. It ends with your finished profile, plus a card made for the Second Positioning lesson.
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