Marketing and sales are the first two of the five pillars of business. Optimizing these pillars is essential to success. Say Yes! Enterprises (SYE) is a strong proponent of the Dream 100 Sales Strategy because it clarifies marketing and forces systemization into the sales process.

Dream clients, or ideal clients, are the 20% of clients responsible for 80% of income. This concept allows a business to focus on the most worthwhile and servable clients, rather than trying to fill the varied needs of many types of clients. Specificity is powerful.

“XYZ Fitness Brand is the best online fitness library for men.” vs. “XYZ Fitness Brand is the best online fitness library for busy men interested in gaining muscle mass without wasting hours in the gym.”

Neither hook is terrible, but the second one is likely to resonate with ideal clients because it is specific. Focus marketing efforts on raising awareness among a specific group of dream clients.

Always remember the principle of WIFIM (What’s In It For Me.) This is the question that your ideal clients subconsciously ask. When there is no clear answer, information fades out of memory. A memorable business must address the needs of ideal clients.

Targeted awareness campaigns make ideal clients understand why they want and need to work with a certain business. Then, these dream clients ask to work with the business instead of the other way around. The Dream 100 Strategy gets ideal clients, the people you want to work with, to want to work with you. Imagine getting 80% of your business from high-paying, low maintenance, easy to work with, ideal clients. That’s the dream!

Consider these questions:

The Dream 100 Strategy works best if working with these dream clients becomes effortless. These are the people your business feels built to serve. These are the people your team members can work with on autopilot. Serving dream clients involves processes the most inexperienced members of your team could write SOPs for.

Money is not the only determining factor for finding dream clients, but these clients will account for the majority of revenue. There are two ways of approaching the financial aspect of dream clients. Ideal clients may be the highest paying clients or the lowest paying clients.

It is easier to convince people to spend less money than it is to convince them to spend more money. For example, many business coaches generate considerable revenue selling $5-10 eBooks. A portion of the customers who buy books would never fathom buying high ticket $5,000-$10,000 coaching programs. If more people are willing to buy the cheaper option, the low ticket offering can end up generating more revenue than high ticket services.

Still, there are many businesses that have found success working with one or two big-ticket clients per year. Consider what makes the most sense for your business. In most circumstances, business owners choose dream clients who are mid-to-high-ticket spenders.

Be practical. If you strategize your business to attract a certain group of clients, you must be able to serve those clients. Some clients require more time and expertise. When deciding upon a Dream 100 Sales Strategy, consider if your business could handle an influx of dream clients.

For example, a car detailing business could identify clients who want ceramic coating as being their Dream 100. What if ceramic coating takes twice as long to apply as the average full detail? One of the three employees knows how to apply ceramic coating, and the facility only has enough space to service three cars at once. This is a logistical issue that a business owner would have to give serious consideration to before making a final decision.

The key to reaching dream clients is to be attractive to them. Clients are not working with businesses for the fun of it. While there is an argument for social proof and other FOMO factors of working with one business over another, clients are most concerned about having their needs met. Your business must meet the needs of your dream clients.

When you think that you have found your ideal client, get super specific about what their needs are and how your business serves those specific needs.

Here is a sample of the kinds of questions you need answers to:

The answers to this line of questioning form the foundation for targeted marketing campaigns aimed at dream clients. In all of the messaging that goes along with this marketing, avoid speaking to a wide group of people. Speak to the decision-makers for dream clients and make direct mention of both the problems they face and the solutions you offer.

After identifying dream clients in abstract terms, bring the vision to fruition by making a tangible list of 100 ideal clients. These should be specific businesses with contact information. Rather than getting generalized contact information, identify the names of specific decision-makers within each organization.

Next, personalize the marketing approach with a two-pronged strategy. First, you will raise awareness through a super targeted ongoing digital marketing campaign. Many businesses have found success with this strategy using a combination of LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Ad Roll.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator helps to identify people who work in decision-making roles with ideal clients. Sales Navigator can also help to build targeted marketing campaigns, and Ad Roll helps to save those audiences and target them outside of LinkedIn.

Tailored, hyperfocused advertisements reach the specific decision-makers who work for your 100 (or less) dream clients. This is much cheaper than wide targeted digital marketing campaigns, and it will yield specific results.

At the same time, build even more awareness by developing a personal rapport with your dream clients. Make direct contact with the individuals through more traditional and personal means. Some examples are comments on LinkedIn, postcards, emails, lunch and learns, and phone calls.

This is a long-term strategy. The goal is to build awareness and trust with ideal clients. This process will put a face to a name, keep the lines of communication open, and help to open a door.

This communication should not involve traditional sales pitches. Be a resource and a professional peer first. A hasty attempt at a hard sale, in this strategy, is like picking unripened fruit.

The Dream 100 Strategy is a long game. Results will not come next week or next month. Some of the results may not even come next year. The goal is to get the decision-makers within ideal client organizations to come to three conclusions.

These individuals already have their inboxes flooded with half-baked sales pitches. Stand out by focusing on building a rapport and addressing the client's needs first. In ideal circumstances, the dream client initiates the conversation that leads to them becoming a client.

Patience pays off. A well-planned Dream 100 list deserves special, undivided attention and investment for as long as necessary. The time spent getting to know the dream clients and their unique needs allows the business to fine-tune messaging and product offerings to be even more useful.