What’s your greatest revenue challenge? For many, it’s attracting a consistent flow of great clients. To do this, you may have to differentiate your firm in a competitive market. Your firm may also be dependent on you to generate business.
Client. Quality. Matters.
You know that the top 20% of your clients generate 80% of your profit. These clients are more than merely more profitable. They bring you better projects, recognize your value, and appreciate how you work. These are your Best Clients – the ones you want to clone. If only you could. . .
Little thought is given to the bottom 20% of your clients who cause 80% of your headaches. Regardless of what these bottom clients pay you, they simply aren’t worth it.
Replace the bottom 20% with more of the top 20% and you have a firm that earns dramatically higher profits, reduces stress, and lets you work easier rather than harder.
Getting there is easier said than done because clients don’t care about what YOU want.
More Best Clients, not More Leads
When your marketing and business development focuses on generating leads – even if it nets you ordinary new clients – you’re not generating the level of sustainable, profitable growth you desire. You want to attract more of your Best Clients. The benefits you see extend beyond having great clients. Your Best Clients also:
Buy faster
Pay you more
Generate more referrals
40-40-20 Rule
Most firms don’t see great results from their marketing because they don’t understand the 40-40-20 Rule. Your success comes from:
1. 40% - The right Offer
2. 40% - The right Audience
3. 20% - The right Content.
Your Offer is not What You Do or even How You Do It. Your Offer is your Impact on your client’s business. What they accomplish by working with you.
Your Audience is not everyone you could sell to. Your Audience is the potential clients who want to work with you. Instead of thinking about your “ideal client,” think about for whom you are the ideal provider. The ideal client is someone you want; the ideal provider is who they want. When a potential client says, “You get me,” you are their ideal provide.
Be clear about your Offer and Audience and communicating your value to potential clients and referral partners is easy. Many professionals struggle because they spend 80-90% of their time and energy creating clever Content rather than clearly communicating the right Offer to the right Audience.
Another reason law firms struggle to attract more Best Clients is treating Sales, Marketing, and their Offer as silos. Sales consultants want to talk about sales. Marketing agencies want to talk about websites and social media. Branding agencies think the right brand is your vision rather than the client’s. The resulting efforts underperform because they lack cohesiveness, and focus on selling rather than helping the client buy. You exhaust yourself trying to balance three stools each with one leg. Thinking Like Your Best Clients and using the 40-40-20 Rule creates a solid platform for generating more of your Best Clients. Remember, your Best Clients are the ones who buy faster, pay you more, and refer you to others.