250. Who Do You Serve? (Attract the Best Clients)

Today, we are talking all about defining who you serve and before you tune out and you're like Brandee, I've heard this a billion times from a million other educators listen closely. The reason that I chose to share this teaching on the podcast today is because I am so often told that this is such a different exercise than any other "defining your ideal client" program that our CEO's have done.

And the reason for that is because we are getting way past, like, what do they drink at Starbucks and how old they are. We're going way, way deeper than that. I want you to understand at the core of who your ideal clients are, because when you understand that it is going to make it so much easier for you.

To market to them through your social media, through your networking partners that you are aligning with through your website, through your copy and everything that you do, you're going to know exactly who you're talking to and what their pain points are. This is actually the opening module of the marketing section of our program. And it has to be done before anything else in marketing can be done.

And honestly, before anything else and our sales and our team building can be done, because understanding who this ideal client is, will really make so many of the decisions in your business. Even beyond marketing, you're going to hear a little bit about that inside this teaching. So you guys sit down, and let's define your ideal client.

We're not just going to be talking about social media. We're also going to be talking about Networking in a group setting, Networking 101. We're gonna be talking about Instagram, your website, all of these different things that make up promoting and selling your services, including market research and advertising. So let's get started. The first thing is I want you to know why do you need to know who you serve, okay? Do not skip this step. Do not skip this step.

Even if you have done it before, even if you've done what's my ideal client, what's my avatar, even if you've done it before, stay with me. Do not drop off of this lesson. Okay? The more broad and vague your targeting is, the harder it's going to be to grow your brand. This is counterintuitive, right? It seems like, you know, if I'm a wedding planner, I can plan anybody's wedding. Or if I'm a DJ, I'm playing music. So yes, I can do that for anybody, but that's actually not true.

It's completely the opposite. It's so much harder to appeal to anyone getting married, like just anyone getting married because it doesn't achieve resonance with the individual that you have to water everything down to appeal to the masses. What does that mean? Let me give you some examples. Okay. So my company, for instance, okay, we do provide event management service. Partial planning and full planning. We provide all three. And so some might say, well, you kind of do all the things.

You appeal to any kind of bride because you're doing event management or day of coordination. So maybe you should only do full plan if you're not going to speak to anybody. But actually what the truth is, is that we provide a luxury planning service, whether you're event management or partial planning or full planning. Now, the things that we do inside of those packages change depending on the level of.

But our client is a client, is a engaged couple, typically a fairly traditional couple who understands the value of their own time. They may only have the budget to do event management or partial planning, and that's totally fine, but they still value someone who has an incredible reputation in the industry that is going to take all of their details, Execute them right and they value their time. So they're not looking for the least expensive planner.

They're not looking for somebody who's just going to show up the week of and like put their DIY stuff out. Very, very few of our clients DIY their weddings. Because again, they value their time. So they're, they have busy careers. They are a little bit more advanced in age. Our typical client is somewhere between 28 and 35. And so we know all of this. So we would never post a blog that was like, you know, How to plan your wedding on 30, 000.

Or we would never post a blog that was like, five ways to DIY your flowers. Like, we would just never do that because that's not our client. There's nothing wrong with that content if that's your client, right? But you have to know who your client is. So everything we post is directed towards Saving people time, saving people sanity, helping them to understand that we are going to take all of their details and they're not going to have to worry about anything.

Everything we talk about is legacy, bringing people together, making memories, like. That's what we want to talk about. If we were ever to talk about how to save money on your wedding, we would be so careful about the way that we say it because we don't want even clients that are going to DIY all their stuff. Or going to hire based on price. That's not who we're looking for. So you really have to understand who your client is so that your messaging is the same.

Now, for us, again, we do provide that lower level of service, that event management service for clients who want us to just come in 90 days before their wedding and kind of take it over. But we're still looking for that luxury client, that client who values time, who values service. Who understands what we are going to be able to come in and do for them. And again, we're taking over their wedding 90 days before their wedding, not a week before. Right.

So we're still catering to that high end bride. Okay. And it's so interesting because actually just recently my team had a team meeting and we were talking about the word luxury and how it's overused. And we wanted to come up with a different term for our clients. But I was like, you know, But luxury to me is an experience. It's not the most expensive. It's the way that you're treated, right? Like I like to shop at Publix, even though I'm going to pay a little bit more.

I don't want to pay the most expensive. Like I don't go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, right? But I don't want to shop at Aldi. Like, I don't want to shop at Aldi. I don't want to shop at Walmart because I want the experience that comes along with great customer service, a bright and airy store, everything clearly labeled, very, very clean. So that's important to me. So what I was trying to explain to my team is that luxury to me is an experience.

And that's what we want to evoke to our, our clients. And so our social media manager actually said, Oh, well, um, luxury is actually the absence of worry. And I was like, that is brilliant. Like we should use that on everything because that is exactly who we're looking for. We want our clients to understand that they don't have to worry about anything. Like we will handle every detail.

Even if it's our event management service from 90 days in, we handle everything for them and they don't have to worry about it. And that's what we are evoking and who we are speaking to through all of our marketing and all of our advertising. Okay. So this is what I really, really want you to think about. Okay. Because as a planner, you can hear how I did that, right? You can hear that Yes. Could I provide planning services for anyone? Yes, we could. We absolutely could.

But we need to speak to our ideal client all the time so that we're drawing in those kind of clients that we really value and that value what we do. Now, let's say that you're a DJ, right? can you DJ for anyone? Yes. But what are you amazing at? Like what makes you the absolute best at what you do? Are you a DJ who loves to play games? Like you have all these games in your back pocket and you're looking for that couple who wants to have games at their reception.

Like they want to play the shoe game. They want to do the dollar dance, like all these things, right? Are you that fun, funky DJ? That's like, You know, on the dance floor, dancing with the couples, hanging out with all of the guests. Are you the DJ who is like the most amazing MC? Like you are known for your MC skills because you engage the crowd. Like you are in it with them. You make them feel like they are there. For this couple's wedding, like you're so in it with them.

Or are you that DJ that's bringing the house down? Like your dance floors are packed every single time you're at a wedding. It's so important that you know who you are and who you serve because all of your marketing should be serving that client. Now, does that mean that you can never take a client that's outside of your ideal client? No, it doesn't mean that, but it does mean that you're not speaking to that client. You're not just saying we can DJ your wedding and we're great at mixing.

You're showing pictures of the dance floor packed every single week. You're showing pictures of your guys behind the board, mixing. You're showing videos. Of that packed dance floor and people just raging out, you're having testimonials of like, our dance floor is packed the entire time because that you're gonna then start drawing in clients who that's important to. They're like, we wanna get through dinner so we can start dancing and we wanna dance until we literally fall down. Right.

And that's exciting, but you have to know who it is that you're catering to because there's every kind of client out there. You just have to know who you're speaking to so that you're speaking directly to the people that you want to draw in. Okay. Since you achieve such a low resonance with the individual, you make way less money. So what does this mean? It means that when you just kind of say, we are wedding DJs and we, Play music for your wedding, right?

Like we are great wedding DJs or we provide six hours of music for your wedding. Like that doesn't resonate with anyone except a price shopper. Who's like, listen, I have 400 for eight hours of DJ service. Can you do it? And you're like, sure. I mean, that doesn't work, right? You want to make sure that you can resonate with the people who are like. I must have you like you are the person.

The coolest thing is when somebody has gone through your social media and they've gone through your website and they've gone through all your marketing materials and they're like, I have to have you because you, I feel like you're speaking right to me because then by the time you get them on a consult or you don't even have to do a consult, that's the ideal, is they're so warm.

They're like, I mean, just tell me where to sign because I've already watched all your stuff and you are the right DJ for me. You are the right planner for me. That happens so often with my team because not only are we referred by vendors who we love working with and who draw in a similar client, but we speak Exactly to our ideal client through every single interaction that we have in all of our marketing. We talk about legacy. We talk about tradition. We talk about time. We talk about memories.

We talk about confident planners. And so by the time they get to speak with our sales manager, they're like, I have to have you because you've been speaking to me for months and now I'm engaged and you have to be at my wedding. And it's just the coolest, coolest feeling. I want you to take some time and listen to episode 165 of the Wedding Pro CEO podcast.

I'll link it here If you haven't ever listened to that episode, Bethel does such a phenomenal job of speaking directly to her ideal client and she charges like four or five times. She's an efficient in San Diego.

She charges four or five times what her competition charges and her calendar is completely booked out because she is so specific in the type of couple that she is speaking to that they're like, You must do my wedding like they stalk her and follow her and she doesn't even have to let go actively sell because people are just drawn to her. The ideal clients and the people who are not her ideal clients are kind of turned off by her marketing. And that's exactly what you want it to do.

You want to turn off the wrong kind of couple from your marketing. Okay. So there's so much that I love about this Standing out from your competition. And we talk all about that on episode 165 with Bethel. You have to stand out from your competition. Do not be vanilla because if you're vanilla, your leads will not be warmed up by the time that you get them. Okay. So let's keep going. So instead of being broad and vague, we need to be as painfully specific as we possibly can be.

I say painfully because it will cause you multiple types of discomfort. And Bethel and I actually talked about this on the podcast as well, because I know when you're in the beginning stages of your business, you're like, I will take your money. All money is good money. Like you're, you're going to pay me money to do my service. I'll take it. And so you have this feeling of like, all money is good money, but it is not. Y'all, I promise you it is not. I promise you it is not.

You will see others that offer services to anyone and everyone, and you'll think they're so much more successful than me. They're not. Okay. Does the person that's giving you advice have a business that you want to have? Have they already achieved what you want to achieve? If they have not, Skip their advice.

Okay. I, this is so important to me when I'm looking for a business coach, when I'm looking for a mentor, I want to find somebody that has already built what I want, because if they haven't, why am I taking their advice? Like they're going to help me build something I don't want. And so it's so easy on social media to see another company and you're like, Oh my gosh, they're so successful. Yeah. It is so easy to make it look like you're successful on social media.

Okay. All you have to do is show up and talk about the same client every single day. No one knows you're talking about the same client. You could be doing the same thing over and over and just keep talking about it. And they're like, Oh my gosh, she has so many weddings. No. Social media is Wonderful. I love it. You will hear me talk about how much I love social media, but it is so easy to present something that you're not on social media.

Okay. So I really want you to think about who do you serve? What do you want? What type of business are you trying to build? You are going to need to exclude people from your targeting. We talked about that a little bit when I was talking about Bethel's episode. You will have the urge to bring in everybody who has a pulse, but this won't help you. It will hurt you in the long run.

Yes, it's easy money right now, but it's not that easy because then you get a client in the door who's difficult to work with. Not because they're necessarily difficult. Though some of them are, um, we all know, right? But because they might be difficult for you. They're not your ideal client. Like for me, a DIY bride isn't necessarily a bad thing at all.

But for my company, who's not used to having DIY and we don't have necessarily the staff in place on wedding day to put out hundreds of tiny little things. They're, they're, they become a problem client for us, right? Versus a planner who's specifically reaching out to DIY clients. And that's what they do. They don't necessarily have all the hours of planning ahead of time, but they show up with a team on the day of, and they like kill it on setting everything out. Right.

So that's what you really want to be thinking about. Okay, so why do we have to endure this initial discomfort? Because the riches are in the niches. Now, okay, you have heard this a million times and you're like, Brandee, I don't believe you. And to be honest, I'll give you a super vulnerable little story about me. When I started my coaching business, I was like, riches aren't in the niches. Like I want to be able to coach Anyone, right?

And so when I very first started coaching back in 2020, I literally was like, I can teach any small business owner because the, steps of building a successful service based business are the same. And, and that's technically true, right? But my very first mastermind that ever hosted, it was 12 weeks long. It was back in 2020. Um, I, I was talking to everybody and I actually had quite a few people that joined it. I think we had 15 people that joined it. It was a 12 week course.

Um, but one, I had to really like scrape to find those people, right? I was a new coach, so I get it. But also what I found was that while the same principles applied to everyone in the group, I had a YouTube content creator, I had a social media manager, I had a blogger. I had a good number of wedding industry people, um, oh, and a Dubsado flow person, like somebody who created Dubsado workflows. And it didn't work because I couldn't use the right language.

Like yes, the, the, the things that I was teaching worked for every single person in the group. But I couldn't say things like. You know, Monday should be your CEO day because you've worked all weekend. Because not everybody in the group had worked all weekend, right? They were like, some of the people were like, we're not the wedding industry. We didn't work all weekend. So the, the processes didn't necessarily translate.

And so I had to keep watering down my language, which made it not really resonate. Just so you guys know, what I ended up doing was I ended up doing one on ones with everybody in the group at the end of it to really help them with their business. And I had a 100 percent success rate from that mastermind. So it was amazing, but I had to work so much harder at it. And that's what I'm telling you.

Like if you end up booking a client, that's not an ideal client, you're going to have to like go through hoops and spend so much time working with them because your business isn't set up to do it their way. Right. Does that make sense? Like your business is not, it's not going to thrive with those certain clients. So what I started to realize is like, I really want to teach wedding pros. Yes, I can teach others, but I want to be able to speak the wedding language.

Like I want to be able to speak like. Engage couples, crazy grooms, bridezilla's, nutty mother of the bride, right? Like I want to be able to use that language that we all resonate with and teach wedding business owners how to build a profitable business and talk about seasonality and things like that. And so it's made it so much easier once I realized that I really did need to niche down and just teach wedding pros because now I can use that vocabulary that makes sense and it resonates.

And my company has grown since I started doing that. You have an easier time appealing to new engaged couples. So when your dream client finds your website, your social media, they're going to think that you're talking directly to them. They'll say, are you listening to my phone calls? Like I was just telling my best friend last night how overwhelmed I am. And I've got so much work to do. And I'm trying to plan this wedding. And you're like, We just know, we just know, right?

And you're going to have so much more profit. And this one is hard to believe, but it is just as true. You will be the go to for one thing before you're the go to for everything. Isn't this so cool? I love it. I want to be the. Go to coach to teach you how to build a profitable wedding business that you love. Like I, when somebody says, I need to build a profitable business that doesn't overwhelm me, I want every person to be like, Oh, Brandee Gaar, that's who you need to go to.

Like she's the one. I don't want to necessarily be known for teaching team building I don't want to be known for teaching, I don't know, marketing, right? I want to be known as helping you teach, as a whole, a profitable wedding business that you don't get overwhelmed by and that you can step away from the day to day operations. Like, that's who I am. And so I talk about it constantly. I talk about it constantly. All the time, I have the same messaging in all of my content.

And when I see another coach teaching something that I know I could teach, but I'm like But that's not what I want to be known for. I don't want to be known for that. So go you, go you coach and killing it, but I don't want to be known for that. So that's what I want you to think about in your wedding business. It's the exact same thing. And to give you one more story, like with our wedding business, early on in my business, we've always really appealed to a luxury client.

That's kind of just my style. Not because I'm luxury. I don't have a ton of money. Like I told you guys. Luxury is not necessarily expensive. It's an experience. And so I am that kind of a shopper. Like I will pay more money for something to have great customer service. Um, I could go to a restaurant and. And have bad food, but have amazing service. And I literally won't care. Like, I'll be like, that was amazing. I loved it because I'm very much into customer service.

So we've always drawn in that type of a client because that's the kind of client that we've, we attract. But early on in my career, I did say to my team. What if we could create a service that was like, you know, 800 or 1, 000. And we literally show up the day of the wedding and we coordinate the wedding. Like that's, that's it. It's just like we should. And, you know, I started thinking like, I wouldn't buy that service. So like, yes, I know that there are people that would, and that's awesome.

And then there's planners that can provide that. And that's amazing. But like, it feels, I wouldn't buy it. It doesn't feel good to me. And so why would I sell it? Why would I create it? It's not in alignment with who we are. And to be able to speak to a couple that would pay. Or a thousand dollars for you to show up on their wedding date and like put all their stuff out. And then also speak to a client who is wanting to buy a luxury planning experience. Like that's not even the same.

You can't even have the same marketing. So I, I know I've told you like 18 stories during this module and this lesson, but hopefully you're getting my heart in this and you're starting to hear me say that like. If you're in that hustle stage of your business still, if you're still in that, you know, two to three years, you're like clawing your way to your first hundred thousand, please hear this module. Like you must. Define who you are and you must know who you serve.

When we did a rebrand for blush last year, um, we had to fill out like an avatar form, right? Like this huge was so long. I, it took me hours, but I was able to answer every question like this because I know. I know, I know, I know, I know at this point who our client is. Like, I could tell you everything about our client.

Who they are, what they do, um, what kind of a childhood they had, how much money they make, what kind of career they have, like, what's important to them, um, how long they've been dating. Literally, I know this because we are so, so close. And I'm going to be talking about how to be more specific about the type of client that we attract. And that took us a long time, don't get me wrong, but I wish I would have known it earlier. I wish I would have listened to it earlier.

I wish I would have listened to it earlier in my coaching business. So hopefully these stories have helped you to understand that like, I've made the mistakes too. But if I could go back and tell my initial business startup self, these things I'm teaching you now, The years of heartache, or the moments of like crappy clients that I took on because I was like, ah, any money's good money. And I wish I would have said, you know what? I don't think we're the right planner for you.

it's so, so important. Okay. So you'll make more profit because you're going to be the go to person. You're going to be the first name off of somebody's tongue when they're like, this is what I want. They're going to be like, you got to go to such and such a DJ. You got to go to such and such a photographer. Like she's the one for you, right? You can always expand or alter this niche, but commit to it for at least two years and go all in.

Like who you are today is not necessarily who you'll be in five years. Right? Like you might evolve in, in what you do and who you serve, but go all in and then let it evolve from there, but go as narrow as you possibly can. And then. Expand from there. Okay. but what about such and such planner, DJ, florist, photographer? Like what about that person you see on social media? They do it all. Don't compare yourself. We kind of touched on this earlier.

Do not compare yourself unless you know their whole story. The number of times y'all, the number of times I have had, somebody Get into my community, get into my atmosphere. And their social media looks like they are killing it, like killing it. And then they either hire me as a coach or we just get to know each other, you know, as business owners and I'm like, a much different vision of your business. And that's okay.

Like there's nothing wrong with that because the whole point of social media is to portray your best self, right? Like, listen, It's not always what you see on social media and there's nothing wrong with that. You should not be going on social media on your business account or anywhere that clients can see and say things like, I'm really struggling as a business owner right now.

Or, you know, gosh, I just wish the bookings would come in or man, this has been such a hard season because we aren't getting enough bookings or you know, being an entrepreneur is so hard. Let me tell you something right now. If I saw that on a service provider's page that I was considering hiring, I would not hire them because I would be like, Hmm, they have a lot on their plate right now. Like they seem not in their best mindset.

And I really want to hire somebody that's like, In their best mindset, right? Like if I'm having a down month, there are about a thousand people. I would talk to you before I went to social media with it. Okay. Because there are potential clients that are watching you that are like, I want to work with her. Now, once you're in my atmosphere, in my mastermind group, in my community, I'm very open, like.

Um, I had a rough time last fall with our team and we were working through some different team challenges and things like that. I shared that with my mastermind. I was like, here's the real life of being an entrepreneur.

You guys, like you think I have it all together and for a lot of things I do, I'm steps ahead and I can teach you these things, but it's important for you to know that no matter how far you go, So no matter how far along you are in your career or your business, there's going to be hard times. So I want to share those with you, but I share those within the confines of my group. I don't go on social media and blast that out like to each his own, but I would never ever do that. Okay, you guys.

So I got way crazy in this module, but I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you can hear my heart. I hope you can hear my passion. There is no homework necessarily from this lesson. But I would love for you to really marinate on the things that I've said in this lesson before moving on to the next one.

I'd also love it if you would go listen to episode 165 with Bethel Nathan, because really genuinely, I think you can just hear how she presents really speaking to that ideal client and turning away those other clients. And I think it's such a great episode. So I've linked it below this video so that you've got it. Um, but I'm really, really excited for you guys to dig into this module and to really start to understand the importance of knowing who you are and who you speak to.

So, all right, guys, I'll see you in the next module. Bye.

And now I want you to go and check your website, check your copy on your Instagram, start working through your social media and think, am I speaking directly to that ideal client that I just defined here during this podcast episode? And if you want to know more about how to really dig deep. Deep into defining that ideal client and what to do with that information now that you have it, how we're going to use it and infuse it to.

Increase your sales generate more leads, increase your profit and take back your time. Then head over to Brandee guard.com/accelerator and apply to join us inside of our program so that we can work this last half of the year on getting you so ready to slay engagement season. You guys, thank you so much for being here every single week. And I will see you, next time.