Defining Your Ideal Client (and Mine!)

One of the most important criteria for an effective business development effort is to define a firm’s ideal client. This impacts prospecting, messaging and media strategy.

Firms often define the ideal client in terms of industry, company size (revenue or employees), geography and decision-maker title.

I don’t think that goes deep enough into defining the ideal client. You can have two firms in the same industry, of the same size, located in the same market and with the same management structure — and one is a serious prospect while the other is not. So, it comes down to more than demographics.

How to Define an Ideal Client

Since I launched my firm, Level Four Consulting, I’ve had a number of people ask me what my ideal client is. I prefer to work with the managing partner or chief growth officer at a locally owned accounting or law firm with 25-50 partners. (When I say locally owned, these firms are not part of regional or national organizations.)

What’s equally important to me is to identify those that are growth-oriented. Accounting or law firms that simply want to maintain the status quo and keep the lights on will seldom invest in professional development for their staffers. I’m looking for firms with a history of strong growth or those who embraced growth as a goal to take the firm into the future. To say you’re a growth firm is easy. It’s something else to show you have the mindset and strategy to achieve it.

Leadership often believes people have the skills to be effective business developers … a dangerous assumption.

The Problem With Billable Hours

The billable hour, predominant in legal and accounting, is one of the biggest challenges to effective business development growth. If a firm doesn’t encourage partners to set aside business development hours, that effort likely won’t get done.

So, let’s assume leadership truly makes business development (BD) a priority. They have quantifiable growth goals and recommend a certain number of BD hours. Growth and progress towards it must take center stage in all internal communication and town halls. Leadership must evaluate partner performance in part based on BD results, and results should impact compensation.

Even if the firm’s DNA shows growth, leadership often believes its people have the skills to be effective business developers or will master the skills on their own. This is a dangerous assumption.

Many accounting and law firms have done minimal training with outside vendors … and their training often is a one-off and/or resulted in less than desirable results.

To Improve Within, Sometimes You Need to Look Outside

One of the most significant benefits of using an outside business development consultant, like me, is to bring a fresh set of eyes to your talent and needs, create new accountability expectations and challenge any assumptions that get in the way of success. 

I believe a firm can still be a prospect even if they haven’t used a training organization previously. Because this can be due to many reasons, such as the firm not having a need at that time or vendors not seeking their business.

Many accounting and law firms have done minimal training with outside vendors due to costs, buy-in and potential ROI. Their training often is a one-off and/or resulted in less than desirable results. If a firm is seeking a longer-term solution, that requires a business consultant with deep experience and a broad training agenda.

It’s my job as the consultant, trainer and mentor to explain what’s necessary to have success with a training engagement, both from what I do and what the firm and its partners must do. If we don’t use the same playbook, we can’t achieve success for either one of us.

Need Help Defining Your Ideal Client?

I hope this article helps you look beyond demographics when defining your ideal client. I also hope what I’ve shared about my ideal client helps you to know who I’d love to work with. So, if your firm (or a firm you know of) would benefit from my sales training, coaching or mentoring expertise, I’d appreciate an introduction! Here’s how to contact me. And if you’re interested in a one-on-one consultation where we could brainstorm your ideal client, I’d love to hear from you.