A Guide
Ideal Client Profile
Know the people you serve so well that they read your words and feel you are talking about them.
By Marc Teo
Pause here
Say out loud who your ideal client is today
Pause the video and say the first thing that comes to mind. Then press play.
Why this matters
Why vague words attract the wrong clients
The words you use to describe your ideal client decide who turns up.
Understand their problems, pains, goals and needs so you can serve them better.
Get specific about who you want to work with so you attract the people you want.
Marc's story
Marc's own story: the words he used brought the wrong people
The words he used
He aimed at everybody with words like burnout, overwhelm, misaligned and stuck.
Who turned up
He attracted extremely burnt-out people.
What changed
He switched to people at a later stage with some momentum. He found clients he enjoyed more and could help more.
The belief to drop
"It is all in my head already": why writing it down still matters
The moment you write it down, you already care more about the people you serve.
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
The 4 parts of an Ideal Client Profile
Prospect
Who they are
Problem and Pain
What they face, and how it feels
Purpose and Promise
What they want, and why
Past
What they already tried
Before you start
Start with 5 real people, not a made-up person
Pick up to five favourite paying clients by gut.
They were the most fun, got the best results, paid you properly, and loved working with you.
Find the 2 or 3 things they share.
Their work, age, stage of life, or how they behave.
No clients yet? Start from your own past self.
Pause here
Write down your 5 favourite clients
Pause and write down up to five people you loved working with. First names are enough. Go with your gut.
Part 1 of 4
Prospect: who they are
Outside facts first.
Their work, age and stage of life.
Picture their normal Tuesday.
From waking up to going to sleep.
Then, one unusual thing.
Something true for them but not for most people.
Then, how they think.
What matters to them? Where do they hang out? Who do they follow and listen to?
Marc's examples
Fathers above 30 who are Christians
Single women above 40 who are working professionals
Employees who are misaligned or burnt out
Part 2 of 4
Problem and Pain: what they face, and how it feels
Problems are the situations
What gets in the way of what they want?
Say it the way they would say it.
Pain is the feelings on top
How do they feel about those situations?
Use the words they would really use.
Write down how often it really shows up. They do not feel this every second of their life.
Inside Part 2
The 4 questions that find what they are really afraid of
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?
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.
Part 3 of 4
Purpose and Promise: what they want, and why
Marc's examples: same goal, different why
More money so they can retire their parents.
More money so they can help more people.
Ask why up to three times. Stop when the answer is a person, a feeling, or the life they want.
Look at what they want to build, not only what is going wrong.
Part 4 of 4
Past: what they already tried
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 what they tried and why it did not work a "very valuable question".
Across all 4 parts
Their exact words: keep them, do not tidy them
Copy their words exactly.
Do not tidy, shorten or explain them.
Keep the words people say over dinner. Drop the trade words a child would need explained.
What you will build
What your finished Ideal Client Profile looks like
Every line ends with (heard) if a real person said it, or (guess) if it is your best thinking so far.
1. Prospect
[Who they are and their normal day]
2. Problem and Pain
[Situations, feelings and fears]
3. Purpose and Promise
[What they want, and why]
4. Past
[What they tried and what helped]
Their exact words
[Their line, copied exactly]
(heard)The line that makes them feel seen
[One sentence that makes them feel you get them]
What I still need to check with real people
[The guess]
[The exact question I will ask]
My Second Positioning card
[Who this is about]
[What may be true for them]
[Their wants, fears and struggles]
[What they care about and have energy for]
[What they really want from me]
[Their own words]
[What I heard and what I guessed]
[What I will ask or listen for]
6 checks
What a good profile looks like: 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
Know them first, then step into their shoes
Think from their point of view before you sell or write.
You can help without being the expert in their industry.
Bring your profile's last card to the next lesson.
Next lesson: Second Positioning
Do this now
Do this in the next 48 hours
In the next 48 hours, block 30 minutes, open your AI Implementation Toolkit, and come out with your Ideal Client Profile.
When [a real moment in my week] happens, I will [one thing I can do in fifteen minutes].
Your next step