Your Ideal Client Avatar: the 3 Things You Absolutely Must Know

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Picture this, you’re having a conversation with your favorite client—the one who gets what you do, respects you as a business person, and appreciates all you have to offer. This isn’t just a fantasy but a reachable reality when you focus on understanding your ideal client avatar (ICA). 

When you understand your ICA at its core, you’re able to reach the right people, with the right message, at the right time and work with people you’re perfectly aligned with. In this post, I’ll be sharing how you can do that—and it all starts with the three things you absolutely must know about your ICA. Let’s get started. 

Who is your ideal client?

First things first, an ideal client avatar is also referred to as a buyer persona, marketing persona, or ideal customer profile. Quite simply, it’s a concept that represents your ideal customer, the type of person you want to purchase your products or services. 

When you visualize them, what comes to mind? When I ask my students this question, I often receive demographic-focused information. Like: they’re female, between 25 and 40, work in the wellness industry, and have children. 

That’s a good start, but you have to dig deeper. 

Consider the details that breathe life into the outline your demographic data draws.

Try picturing the nuances of their daily routine, the little joys that light up their day, and the hurdles that weigh them down. This mindset is a pathway to not just offering a service but crafting a solution that resonates with who they are. By creating something that feels tailor-made for your audience, you’re not just filling a gap in the market, you’re solving a genuine problem.

When you fail to infuse your business strategy with a deeper empathic understanding of your clients, you leave money on the table. So, immerse yourself in the lives of your clients, and understand them not just as a market but as unique individuals with unique stories. 

Naturally, you might be asking, how? That’s where the PON formula comes in.

Using the PON Formula to Understand Your Ideal Client Avatar

To close your knowledge gaps, I want you to use the PON formula. These letters stand for pain, objections, and needs, and they are the three things you need to know about your clients. 

Let’s start with P.

P for Pain

What problems does your ideal client have? 

Identifying the pain points of your clients can be a transformative experience. It requires going deeper than surface-level problems. For example, a client seeking a web designer might be chasing a dream of financial independence. Maybe your ICA wants to forge a balance between a budding business and a hectic family life. Both of these ideal clients want so much more than to simply “build a website.” 

Grasping these nuanced needs enables you to propose solutions that resonate with your audience, offering them value that goes beyond the obvious pain points. As a bonus, your appeal to their deeper needs can help clients see the value in your offering, which can help them come to terms with your rates more easily. (Who doesn’t want that?)

O for Objections

What might stop your client from buying from and working with you?

Before we go any further, let me be clear: objections are not rejections. Rather than a flat out “no,” objections are golden opportunities that indicate where your strategy may be falling short and what your clients need more of before they can move forward with your offering. 

Objections can come from different places. 

• Internal Objections: Stemming from personal experiences or preconceived notions, these objections require reassuring the client and showcasing your genuine intent to assist them. For example, a potential client may be cautious about working with freelancers based on some bad stories they’ve heard from coworkers. In this case, it’s not about you, it’s about a misconception they have. This client likely needs to see that you’re on their side and can deliver on your promises.
  
• External Objections: These arise from logistical or environmental hurdles. Here, your creative problem-solving abilities can shine. Create solutions that overcome these barriers and make it easier for your client to say yes. For example, your client may need to clear things with their partner. How can you help them make the case appealing for their partner?
  
• Contextual Objections: Sometimes, clients lack a comprehensive picture, giving rise to objections. Ensuring clarity in communication and preemptively addressing potential questions can be a game-changer here. Often, contextual objections can be resolved elsewhere in your marketing strategy. For example, say you answer the same question in almost every sales call. Consider adding that information to your FAQ page, sales pitch, or a blog post. This way, potential clients get the answers they need before they hop on a sales call. Consider enhancing your FAQ section or creating detailed blog posts to address recurring questions, facilitating a smoother decision-making process for your clients.
  

N for Needs

Understanding the end goals of your clients — their ‘Point B’ — is integral to serving them well. It’s all too easy for our own experience to outshine the true needs of the client. Refrain from making assumptions. 

So how can you understand their needs completely? The answer is simple. Ask them. 

Engage with both current clients and those who’ve rejected your offerings. These groups have valuable insights. When you gather their insights, you can use them to inform your communications, sales, and marketing efforts so that you’re speaking the language of your target market. This ensures that your solution is a perfect fit for your ideal client avatar’s needs. 

To help you define your ideal client avatar, I’ve created a free workbook. This workbook will help you establish the demographic data of your ICA and beyond, looking at what makes them tick, what their home life looks like, and more. 

To get you started, here are four questions you can ask clients in client interviews. These questions will help you identify their pain points, objections, and needs. 

1. What’s not working in your current situation?
   This question isn’t just about their business, it also encourages them to share about their personal lives. The two are often intertwined, and if you can help with both their business and personal lives, your offering is that much more valuable.
   
2. At what point did you start thinking about __________ [insert your solution] ?
   For example, at what point did you start thinking about working with a website designer? This will help you understand when and why they realized they needed someone’s help.
   
3. What are your main three worries about working with a __________ [insert your role]?
   For example, what are your main three worries about working with a web designer? Their answers are their objections. This will help you understand common objections so you can address those in FAQ sections, blog posts, Instagram stories and highlights, or sales pitches.
   
4. What does a successful project look like for you?
   This will help you understand their point B, their goals, and what role this project will play in their business. It will also help you ensure you deliver value in a way they care about most.
   

Final Thoughts

Deeply understanding your ideal client avatar isn’t just a strategic move; it’s about building relationships rooted in understanding and empathy. It’s about not just addressing a need but answering a call that deeply resonates with your ideal clients. Once you start to see through their lens, identifying their pains, objections, and needs, you’re no longer selling just a service but extending a hand that says, “I understand, and I’m here to help.”

As you begin to discover (and rediscover) your ideal client avatar, use our free workbook as a supporting guide and resource. The Define Your ideal Client Avatar workbook helps ask questions that will enable you to build connections, understand your ICA, and craft solutions that are more than just a market-need. 

So, go. Take the time to get to know your ICA and turn those objections into standing ovations (cheesy, I know)!