What if you could connect with your ideal client emotionally, by understanding what drives them? Through this emotional connection, we could then attract customers from competitors - while transforming satisfied customers into fully connected ones.
Emotion motivates people, so we need to understand what motivates your ideal clients to create the motive for them to take action.
For any Partner organisation, winning new business can feel like a never-ending challenge.
Partners tell us daily that they’re wasting time on unqualified leads, that they’re relying on current customers for new opportunities, and as a result are getting distracted by the need to find new lead sources. What they’d rather is to spend time converting more qualified leads (not qualifying them from the first touch), and they want their sales generated from a mix of existing customers and new business.
Salespeople need the ability to spend time with their highest probability prospects, and this means there is an expectation that the marketing team hands over leads that are already qualified and ready to buy.
We know that this is much easier said than done. Creating a funnel that drives a competitive offer is no easy feat – and requires a specific approach to how you structure and deliver content through each stage of your funnel.
So, what comes after you have designed your competitive offer by leading with insights, communicating value and creating action?
Traditionally, “knowing” your ideal client would mean identifying their industry, role, title, organisation size, demographics, geographics and perhaps delving into psychographics a little, too.
Understanding and unpacking these characteristics is very important when segmenting the industry and building a target account list. But, to really attract the people you need to with the messages you put in market, you must understand what emotionally drives them.
By knowing what drives them, we can uncover the messages that will motivate them to take action.
If you feel as though the messages you have in market, (whether it’s on the website, socials, or even in sales emails or conversations), aren’t creating the activity you want to see, it might be for one or more of the below reasons.
1. You don’t really know who they are
We are not talking about organisations here – we are talking about the people in those organisations that are going to make decisions. Stating they are a ‘decision maker’ is not enough, we must understand their fears and frustrations in the role they’re currently in to better understand the things that will really drive them. If we can tug at their heart strings and connect their fear or frustration with your product or solution, you are already on the front-foot.
2. Not clear on what they need
When we don’t know what our ideal client needs, it’s difficult to tailor an offer message that appeals to them specifically. As a result, in their eyes they see a generic product or marketing message in front of them that doesn’t connect what they want or need with what you’re offering.
3. Not clear on what they value
We have considered fears and frustrations, and now it’s time to think about wants and aspirations. Understanding what your ideal client wants to happen most right now gives you a connection point with them. There is no use selling your solution to them if it’s not what they actually want right now, or where they aspire to be or have in the future.
When we know our ideal client, we can create a connection or understanding with an emotion they have. Once this connection is made, we create motivation.
To unpack our ideal client and reach them on an emotional level, we must unpack the four below characteristics.
Frustrations
What frustrations is your ideal client facing that they want to move away from?
What are the things they deal with day to day, that aren’t really moving them forward but are necessary in the running of the business? They likely know that there is a solution to this problem, but they don’t know where to find it, or what it looks like. Are they wasting time, money, resources? Frustrated because they can’t finish projects, or get approvals, or have too much manual processing?
Wants
What do they want to happen most right now?
This is the result that we are trying to give them, but it’s pointless if you solution doesn’t satisfy their want. So, look outside you solution and think about your ideal client in their workplace, in their world and consider what your ideal client wants most - what is most appealing to them right now?
Tip: If you’re struggling, start by making your points the opposite of your frustrations, and finesse from there.
Fears
If nothing changes, what do they fear will happen in the future?
If they can’t or don’t find a solution for the problem, what will happen? Will they be punished? Lose or waste money? Reduce productivity? Damage reputation? Increase staff turnover or not see any business growth? Not meet KPIs?
Aspirations
What are their aspirations – hopes and dreams – for the future?
What are they looking to achieve now, that will result in an outcome for the future? What is the big hairy audacious goal? Do they want to climb the ladder, increase staff satisfaction, grow the business or something else?
Emotionally understanding our customer and delivering the messages that target those emotional characteristics generates emotion from them, which creates motivation for them to take action.
You must have presales, sales, marketing, and anyone else talking to your market on the same page, delivering the same message for it to resonate in market and start attracting interest.