Ideal, not imaginary — Kelford Labs Daily

Are you identifying your real ideal clients, or fantasizing about fictional ones?

It’s tempting to look at the broader market, at its size and opportunities, and imagine what it would be like to serve a different, better customer base.

But the problem is, success is path dependent.

Where we are now in large part determines where we go next.

When we’re on a journey—a real one or a marketing one—any map that doesn’t tell us where we are today can’t help us.

And any itinerary that doesn’t account for our starting position won’t get us where we want to go.

Because, unless we have the resources to pause our business completely for a few months or a year and slowly build a reputation in a different area, we’ve got to seamlessly shift from the clients we have to the clients we want.

So, instead of asking, “How big is the market opportunity?” or “Who are my dream clients?”, we ask: 

“Of the clients I have now, who among them is closest to my ideal?”

Then, instead of inventing a new customer target and working to reach them, you focus on the most ideal clients you currently have.

You get endlessly curious about how they experience and speak about your value.

And you slowly and steadily shrink the focus of your efforts and your marketing on attracting more clients like them.

Then, once you've made that transition, you do it again. You identify who among your new set of ideal clients is even more ideal.

And you focus on them. Again and again.

Instead of trying to jump, in one long bound, from where you are to where you want to be, you carve a path through the field of opportunity.

Slowly, steadily—but surely—you focus your efforts on the clients closest to the ones you want, starting with the ones you already have.

That’s how you end up where you want to be eventually.

Instead of getting nowhere at all by focusing on a fiction.

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