How to define your ideal client

When I coach lawyers, I’ve been surprised by how few can easily answer the classic marketing question: who is your ideal client? Most are too busy to think about what they want. But if you don’t know what you want, you’ll never get it. So after you’ve defined your niche (see last week’s post), it will be helpful to get even more specific and define the characteristics of your ideal clients. You may even want to define an ideal portfolio, with several different types of clients.

The description of your ideal client should be specific enough that it is easy to tell who qualifies, and who does not. Consider these examples:

• The principal of a Las Vegas real estate development company with a track record of successful projects.
• A small business government contractor headquartered near Washington DC with annual revenues between $5 million and $50 million.
• The General Counsel of a Fortune 1000 insurance company.
• The manager of the R&D division of an established technology firm, with a strong belief in the value of intellectual property, and a record of filing at least 10 patents in the last two years. A Silicon Valley location is ideal, and the company should either be profitable, or have completed several rounds of financing.
• A diverse portfolio of small business owners, including several industries and several geographical areas.

To define your ideal client, answer questions such as:
• What industry or industries should you focus on?
• What job categories?
• What geographic location?
• What annual revenue?
• What other characteristics?
• Should you look for several different types of clients to form a perfect portfolio?

Of course, it is also important to be realistic. Since the dawn of time humans have been forced to compromise. Single people should not expect to find the perfect mate, and lawyers should not expect to develop a perfect practice with 100% of your clients meeting your definition in every way, including paying their bills on time and being a pleasure to work with. But if you know what you are looking for, you are much more likely to come close.

As in the case of defining your niche, it is also important to avoid over-analysis, and return to the fundamental question: What should I do today to increase new business?

This post was adapted from The LegalBizDev Desk Reference.  For more information, Download legalbizdevsuccess_kit_summaryl.pdf.

Comments

[New York CLE]

With the huge increase in competition among lawyers and law firms, targeted the right clients seems to be more and more important. Good post.

[sfberglund]

Generally, in any business opportunity there are 5 options from which a prospective client can choose:

your firm;
one of 2 other law firms;
do nothing; or
do something else other than engage you.

All business is a numbers game... 1 in 5... even "bet the firm" litigation engagements.

So, establishing, defending and developing a niche is critical to success.