228: Struggling To Draw In Your Ideal Client?

Melissa [: 00:00:00

Hey, hey, hey, I hope you guys enjoy these what I'm calling podcast shorts for my burnout to all out community. This is just a little peek behind the curtain of the coaching that goes on inside of my programs. We're bringing to you some of the best nuggets and coaching I'm giving, within hot seats of all of our different programs, whether it's our LinkedIn Method Academy, our Mini Mastermind, Business Basics, all the way up to our higher level Mastermind. If you're hearing some of these questions, and you're like, man, I wish I could get my burning question answered by Melissa. Hey, guess what? You could be featured on my podcast. If you've got a question that you want answered and you submit it to my team and we pick it, we will bring you here to the podcast for our podcast shorts and, do a hot seat with you. Where can you submit your questions? Send them to team burnout to all out.co. We'll make sure we drop that in the show notes for our podcast shorts.

Melissa [: 00:01:02

And I hope that you guys find as much value in the shorts as our clients do inside the program. Need some effective tactical advice that actually helps you get results and makes a real difference in your life and business? You've come to the right place. If you're finding yourself here today, it means you're getting ready to gain serious traction in your business, rapidly multiply your income and impact, and you're ready to make it happen while living all out. Guys, I'm Melissa Henault, your trustworthy corporate dropout turned 6 figure business burnout turned happy and healthy CEO of a multimillion dollar online business, and you're listening to the Burnout to All Out podcast. On this show, we're serving up innovative growth strategies, simple implementation methods to put them into practice, and action stimulating inspiration tailored specifically for the modern entrepreneur. Let's dive in. Tisha.

Tisha [: 00:02:15

Hello. How are you?

Melissa [: 00:02:16

Good. How are you?

Tisha [: 00:02:17

I'm doing good. Okay. So start off with my win. So I would say I kinda had a a long stream win for August. So signing up for the academy in August was the start, but I knew that I was just gonna be slammed. Right? I had a a week off for convention. I was moving my son to college. Like, there was everything happening in August.

Tisha [: 00:02:34

Right? So I kinda gave myself permission to just enroll, go at your pace, but try to shoot for September 1st to be your 1st day to start posting content.

Melissa [: 00:02:43

Yeah.

Tisha [: 00:02:43

So I got to my profile. I did my profile audit with Sarah on August 30th. She was phenomenal and very straight shooter, which I really needed, which was great. So but I got her changes put in place, and I started posting on September 1st, which I felt great about. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I, like, met my goal. Right? So that's my way. Hey. You're just sitting there.

Tisha [: 00:03:03

So exactly. So now I'm here and this kinda leads me to all my other questions. So I've gone through the daily checklist. I've listened to most of the modules that are in the academy itself, and I feel like I keep like, I'm missing what the next step is. Right? So, obviously, my content pillars that I still need to work on, I get that's 1 piece, making the connections, but then engaging. So as I kinda walk through all these different pieces, my first question is, who in the world am I supposed to be engaging with? Right? So I was told to go to the brain expansion group, I think. So I joined that group a couple weeks ago, and it seems like the only thing on my wall are people that are posting from this group. So I'm commenting, and I'm trying to like, I'm like, because is this what I'm supposed to be doing? Because I feel like I shouldn't be posting a lot of content yet until I'm priming the pump as we're taught before we can put that information out there.

Tisha [: 00:03:53

But then when I'm kinda like, who am I supposed to be engaging with? I mean, all my connections, I have over 700, I think, connections, but they're I joined link LinkedIn in 2009. I have no idea who these people are. I just know that once a year, somebody would say, how's your profile? And I go look and I hit a whole bunch of yeses for connections, and then I'd be done for another year. Right? So, like, I don't have an idea who these people are. So I don't know who's seeing anything. I don't know if I need to focus more on who I'm supposed to be engaging with. So who am I supposed to be talking to? Who am I engaging with?

Melissa [: 00:04:20

Well, let me ask you this first of all. Do you have your network growth strategy set? Do you know who you're growing your network with? Do you know who your ideal client is? I know who

Tisha [: 00:04:28

my ideal client is. I'm just not sure how to find them, I guess. Okay. And are

Melissa [: 00:04:36

we focused on folks with chronic health issues? I'm trying to remember.

Tisha [: 00:04:40

Yes. Yes. So high achievers in helping to stop the chronic health hurdles that they have and kinda get them off of the pill and supplement cycle.

Melissa [: 00:04:48

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So there's a couple of strategies here, and this is good for everybody to hear. What are first things that all of you can do if you're like, how do I start behaving here? What do I do? What are the best things you can do is go find like 10 of your ideal audience. And these may be people you already know. Like, for you, like, think of, like, 10 people in your network who suffer from chronic illness, who are high achievers in your social network, like, anywhere.

Tisha [: 00:05:17

Go find

Melissa [: 00:05:18

them on LinkedIn and follow their activity. So what content are they engaging with? What companies are they following? What influencers and what industry are they following? How are they behaving? What type of content are they engaging with? This can really help all of you out, like, literally get a little Excel spreadsheet, write their names down, and, like, daily just, like, be nosy for a couple days, like, just seeing how they behave.

Tisha [: 00:05:50

Okay.

Melissa [: 00:05:51

And you may find it interesting what they find value in, what they're engaging in. Right? So that's the first things you can do. And that's gonna inform you about maybe where you could potentially be hanging out. Right? And so then it comes to what I like to say is you can find, engage in folks that are influencers in the space that you're really looking to market to. Right? So this is where I would go to, like, for instance, Mark Hyman. Have you heard us talk about Mark Hyman? Yes. Okay. So he's probably one of the most highly followed functional medicine practitioners on LinkedIn.

Melissa [: 00:06:36

Right?

Tisha [: 00:06:36

Mhmm.

Melissa [: 00:06:37

So if you have a LinkedIn user who's really honed in and focused on health, they may be following Mark. Right? They're gonna be engaging with Mark. So for you to go into his feed and comment and engage in his content gives you the marketing opportunity for people to see your headline and what you do. And this is what we call, like, this is true attraction marketing. Some of you may have remembered me talking about this during the masterclass. I gave you guys examples of it where I strategically go and engage with kind of I wouldn't say competitors. These guys are, like, above and beyond me. They're all, like, like, top 10, like, professional personal development, business entrepreneur mentor coaches, all the way up to, like, the sharks of Shark Tank.

Melissa [: 00:07:31

Like, I engage with these guys. Right? And what's really cool is that literally on a weekly basis, I get requests to connect from people, and I always ask the question when people request to connect. And you guys should all be doing this too. Thanks for the request to connect. I'm curious what was it about my profile that piqued your curiosity to connect with me. Never fails at least 2 to 3 times a week. People say, oh, I saw your comment on Dean Graziosi's blah blah blah blah, or I saw your comment on Kelly Roche business coach blah blah blah blah. Well, that was strategic.

Melissa [: 00:08:05

Like, 5 comments a day, I am strategically going to people in my arena who are that my ideal audience, like you guys, would be watching and following and learning from on LinkedIn. Because then if I go engage there, then I'm gonna be marketing to you if you specifically need LinkedIn support as well, right, or any other thing in my headline. So thinking about who are these high achievers following, when I think of high achievers also, like, can we get more defined than that? And I think you and I have talked about this before. But can we go to, like, mid level and above titles? Right. Can you get really focused on even different, like, industries or companies? Because then you can kind of even engage in content of those industries or companies. Like, there are certain companies and industries that are much more supportive of this kind proactive health care that they even have. I don't know if you take insurance or what your pay structure is.

Tisha [: 00:09:14

Mhmm. But

Melissa [: 00:09:15

you can get strategic in who these people follow on LinkedIn and how you get seen by engaging where they're hanging out. Right? So I think that's what we mean by engaging with who your audience would engage with. Because it's gonna give you more visibility with active users on the platform whose mindset is in that space. Right? Okay.

Tisha [: 00:09:42

So questions. K. So what I think I love the idea, actually, of trying to figure out where my ICA's are and following their activity. I think that's brilliant because I think I was more focused on, okay, I'm supposed to look for influencers. So does that mean I'm looking for influencers in metabolic health? I'm looking for influencers in health care? And I know you talk a lot about Mark, and I follow him from time to time, but there's a lot of things he says I really disagree with. Right. But then that makes me think, am I following people where I disagree with them? I agree with them. Like, they're not in my space, but maybe they're because a lot of my clients, I need a lot of education for them upfront that they need to understand that things may be able going a certain way.

Tisha [: 00:10:23

Now all of a sudden, they've got an extra £10 they don't know what to do with. Now, all of a sudden, they're diagnosed with high blood pressure or they're prediabetic. Or and a lot of people don't realize that that's not a forever chronic progressive condition. Right? You could do things now to be able to reverse it and take control of your health. So it's not like I can look at somebody's profile picture and say, I think you're diabetic. So, like, it's hard to figure out who those people are. Yep. But then a lot of people too struggle with not just following standard of care, which is what you get when you go to a standard medical doctor.

Tisha [: 00:10:52

Right? So I'm trying to figure out where without being combative. Right? Like, I've got a podcast that's a sickening truth. So I'm kind a little bit on the combative side about stop doing what you keep doing because it's not getting you where you wanna go kinda thing. So I'm just I don't wanna be negative. I wanna be supportive, but sometimes it's really hard to find people are following what they think works, but it's not working, but they keep following it anyway. So that if I pop in and be like, well, maybe you should stop doing that same thing over and over again, I'm kind of a little snotty. Right? So Right. I don't know.

Melissa [: 00:11:24

Instead of saying it in the comment section, you can send a personal request to connect with a little message. Right? Like, hey. I saw that you commented on x y z. I'd love to continue this conversation. It looks like we're both focused on health and wellness in the x y z space. And then once they accept, you can kinda go down that rabbit hole. Right? I had another thought. I want you to think about this.

Melissa [: 00:11:45

So I think you may have been only talked about this earlier today, but it's about broadening the net instead of trying to find the needle in a haystack. Right? Because let's be honest, the large majority of America struggles with chronic disease, right? So, instead of trying to nail down on LinkedIn high performers with chronic diseases, I would actually encourage you to niche down on just growing a network of high performers.

Tisha [: 00:12:12

Mhmm.

Melissa [: 00:12:14

And then feeding your feed with content that really speaks to what you do, and the high performers who are suffering from this are gonna self select to engage with your content and get into conversations with you.

Tisha [: 00:12:26

I like that.

Melissa [: 00:12:26

We had a conversation with somebody earlier today who was looking for couples that were entrepreneurs in business together. And I'm like, have fun trying to figure that out on LinkedIn. That's gonna be impossible. Right. Right? But what you can do is grow your network with founders and entrepreneurs, and then put in your feed a lot of stuff that's faith based with relationships with people who are in business together. And then the entrepreneurs who are in business, who are faith based, like, in relationships together, they're gonna self select into engaging in that content that you're putting out, and it's gonna make it a whole lot easier in the long game. Because the other thing is, when you grow your network of high performers and not try to also prequalify them with all with chronic diseases, because it's gonna be impossible, then you have an aggregate of high performers. Some of them are not suffering from chronic diseases and maybe following a lot of what you preach and are going to validate and engage in it and thank you for sharing it.

Melissa [: 00:13:28

And by doing that, they're sharing their network with yours because they're engaging in your content. But had we only grown our network with working professionals who have chronic illness, you never would have gotten the engagement in the 1st place. So this is where I talk about from top of funnel. Let's broaden the net a little bit. Right? When we're really niched down to something that literally anyone on the platform could have as far as the qualifier of some type of chronic disease.

Tisha [: 00:13:53

Yeah. No. And I actually I like that a lot. Now Jackie has me scared to death to use the search field and to apply to anybody on LinkedIn. So, like, how am I finding I mean, I could go through, I guess, all the connections and see if people have certain titles. I guess that would be something, right, that I could look for.

Melissa [: 00:14:10

Well, that's what I was gonna say is, like, I would just to get started, I would niche down to high performers, meaning, like, mid level to above titles, and I would find a couple of niche industries. Because, otherwise, you're gonna be like, where do I even start on LinkedIn? There's so many high performers in every single industry. But maybe you start with high performers in certain areas that have a bigger focus and are a little bit more cognizant on their health or not. Like Right. Maybe go for the people who are trim racks. You know, the industry is just like, these people aren't taking care of themselves. Right? But I would commit to something just to give yourself some guidance on how you're growing your network. Right? Like, if you think that, I mean, you have to do your own buyer persona work on who your ideal audience is.

Melissa [: 00:14:58

And if it's someone who's consciously incompetent, meaning they know they have health issues, but they don't know what to do Right. Then go that route, but and choose industries where you think people would be more aware of that. Like, I would say people in the health care field, and not I don't mean like health care providers, but I mean, like, broader industries, like big pharma, medical device. Like, these are people who are in corporate high performing roles who serve in the health and wellness space, but really have kind of pressure cooker careers. They know better with their health, but maybe aren't necessarily taking the action. Right?

Tisha [: 00:15:37

Right.

Melissa [: 00:15:38

If that's your buyer persona. If your buyer persona is unconsciously incompetent, meaning they don't even know how bad their health is and that they need to take action, like, what industries are maybe a little bit more guided towards that. Right?

Tisha [: 00:15:54

Yeah.

Melissa [: 00:15:56

Does that make sense?

Tisha [: 00:15:57

Yeah. And I think more of the people that I deal with are every just kind of falls into it's either genetic or it's because I'm getting older. That's just why this happens. Your hormones just go bad at 40. You just start to gain weight to feel like all these things just happen. You don't really have any say in in whether or not that's supposed to happen. Right? And then they go back to what they did when they were in their teens twenties, and it's not working. Right? So it's well, that's just what happens.

Tisha [: 00:16:18

And so it just kinda teaching them that's not the case and that there's things you can do to kinda take back control of it again. But I do like the idea of having kinda the wider net. And I deal a lot with entrepreneurs just because that's what I've been my whole life. So I think I just kind of attract that a little bit too, but I do like that. Yeah. I think that makes more sense to me.

Melissa [: 00:16:36

And I think for the entrepreneurs who get that I mean, I've never been more focused on taking care of when the CEO or the face of the company is down with adrenal crisis in the ER or, you know, sick, the whole company suffers. Right? Back when I worked for somebody else, like, I I was thinking about this the other day. I I took every sick day I could because I just like, even I had a little headache. It was like, I'm gonna call in sick to work today. It wasn't my business. It wasn't my company. Right? And so for those consciously incompetent entrepreneurs, I mean, I can't tell you how much I mean, maybe we've talked about this, like, how much I spend on my health. Like, I've got a nutritionist.

Melissa [: 00:17:19

I've got a trainer. I'm in a plant based nutrition mastermind. I get a bunch of food, like, shipped to my house that's organic and clean. I mean, I could go on and on and on. Right. And it's all because I understand how important it is to take care of my body. Right. So you could really go down that avenue with entrepreneurs.

Melissa [: 00:17:40

And that's why I'm saying it's important to, like, start with a niche. You don't have to stay with that niche. Right. But if you start with a niche like entrepreneurs, then your content will speak to them. Right? Bodies build businesses. Right? Like, the content you put out is gonna speak to them. But if we're trying to market to every high performer on the platform, the content may fall a little bit flat because it's general. Right?

Tisha [: 00:18:02

Right.

Melissa [: 00:18:02

You see something?

Tisha [: 00:18:03

Yeah. Absolutely. So as far as next steps, so finding my people, seeing what their activity is, and when it comes to engaging. So I'm commenting on existing posts. If I see a post that's been reposted, am I commenting on the original post or the reposted post? Or does it matter?

Melissa [: 00:18:22

I think that engaging on the original post is always best because your visibility, because that's where all the, like, main comments and stuff are.

Tisha [: 00:18:28

Okay. And should I be focusing on engaging in my content creation before I'm worrying about making connections, or am I supposed to be doing that too?

Melissa [: 00:18:37

So if you follow the LinkedIn checklist, we give you the order. So what we always coach, get like, is prime the algorithm, so, like, engage before you post your content.

Tisha [: 00:18:49

Right.

Melissa [: 00:18:49

Then go do all the other things.

Tisha [: 00:18:51

Right.

Melissa [: 00:18:52

And then before you sign out, that way you've given a couple minutes for your post to be up. Before you sign out or go to something else, go back to your post and see if anybody's engaged yet. And if they have, go engage back with them because it just helps, like, push it back up top.

Tisha [: 00:19:07

And as far as making connections, like, actually sending out requests through DM and stuff? Daily. Yeah. I'm doing that now too?

Melissa [: 00:19:15

Yes. Yes.

Tisha [: 00:19:17

Okay. Alright.

Melissa [: 00:19:19

Yep. And that is the missing link for most people, and this is why how many of you guys remember me asking you to raise your hand and commit to following the checklist on a daily basis once you got to the point in the modules where where you're supposed to download it and print it because it's quite honestly, you could get through about the first two thirds of our modules and download the checklist. And even if you had to decide in the academy, okay, I've gotten through 2 thirds of the modules. I only have so much time before the Academy is over. What do I do? And you said I only have 20 minutes a day until I graduate. I would say go to the list and work the platform and forget the rest of the modules. Like, that's how important it is. Because if you're not working the platform consistently, it doesn't matter how much time we spend on the knowledge piece.

Melissa [: 00:20:11

We're not creating the awareness, the engagement, the visibility on the platform. And our content is only as good as the eyes that it gets in front of. Right? And so you wanna be maximizing the number of people you can add to your network on a daily basis. It can feel a little bit overwhelming at first, but I'm telling you, we have I mean, I've got girls in our program that were like, started when we launched, like, 4 years ago. And, like, Deirdre is one of them. She's a coach in the program. And once you get into a routine, it is literally like a cup of coffee with LinkedIn every morning, and that's it. Like, you get through your list pretty quickly once you're pretty comfortable with your network growth kind of script, and you customize a little bit here or there.

Melissa [: 00:20:58

But, like, when I was really running, I had my spreadsheets out. I had multiple screens open.

Tisha [: 00:21:03

Mhmm. And I

Melissa [: 00:21:04

would have my scripts on one screen and my LinkedIn account on the other, and then I would just copy and paste my network growth question. Right. Right? And then grow my network. That's all I would do for 5 minutes. What takes people a lot of time is they're all over the place on LinkedIn. Right. And then you're like, shit. What was I doing? Right? So it's like the discipline of, okay, for the set the timer for the next 5 minutes, which in the grand scheme of

Tisha [: 00:21:28

things is like It's nothing.

Melissa [: 00:21:30

It's like a mindless scroll on Instagram. We all do it. Right? So for 5 minutes, I'm gonna I'm not gonna leave the network search until I have connected with 5 people. Right? I have my scripts right here. I'm gonna copy and paste for 5 minutes. And every single one of you could grow your network by 10 to 15 during that time.

Tisha [: 00:21:50

So I need to hurry up and get through the network connection modules because I've just finished the content section, and I didn't get to the other section yet. So I thought I had to finish that first. So get through the rest of those, and that should help explain a lot of what you're talking about. Yes? Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Yep. Alright.

Tisha [: 00:22:05

Thank you so much. I really appreciate you.

Melissa [: 00:22:08

And you'll get there. And here's the thing for all of you. When you're first getting started with the checklist, if you feel like, oh my gosh, this is overbearing, consistency is the key. If that means doing a third of the checklist on Monday, a third of the checklist on Tuesday, and a third of the checklist on Wednesday, and then going back to the top and doing it again. Awesome. You're still being consistent on the platform. Right? And then you aspire to get to a place where within 20 to 25 minutes, you crush that checklist a couple times a week. Right? And you get through it.

Melissa [: 00:22:38

And then ultimately, by the time you're at the end of it, you're like, I've got so many leads and so many conversations. I'm gonna take this checklist and the scripts I've created, and I'm gonna hire somebody for 15 to $20 an hour to do this because I've got a booming business to run right now, but I need to keep the leads coming in. Right? Okay. Awesome. Thanks guys so much for listening in on today's podcast episode. And I can't wait for you to see my upcoming guest in the next episode. You are going to love this keynote speaker. Hey, here's the deal.

Melissa [: 00:23:13

If you like this, please subscribe and leave a review. And you want the latest online business growth strategies and exclusive LinkedIn pro tips sent straight to your phone? Text the word update to 704-318-2285. That is text the word update to 704-318-2285. Can't wait to see you guys. Come find me over on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, wherever you like to hang. Cannot wait to hear how you are enjoying and applying what you're learning. You guys reach out to me over on social because I love hearing what's resonating with you. When you reach out to me and you send me those personal DMs, they really do impact the content I continue to bring forward to you.

Melissa [: 00:24:03

So again, come find me, melissa_hanault over on Instagram, melissahanault over on LinkedIn and Facebook. Can't wait to see you guys over there.