How to attract and serve your ideal functional medicine patients

One of the most important elements of building your perfect practice is knowing exactly who you serve. Attracting your ideal client means getting into their world and understanding them and letting them know that you understand them and understand the challenge that they have. So when you build your practice, the goal is to attract the right people, transform their lives, and create freedom for both of you, freedom for them from the problem that was shackling them down in life, and freedom for you in many, many, and if not all areas in your life. So first, let's get to know who this person is. And there's really five things that you want to pay attention to when you're considering who your character is. Who's the hero that you're going to help on the journey that you're going to take them on to help them get as healthy as possible. So the first thing we need to know is who are they demographically and psychographically? So the demographics is going to be male, female, age. You know, how they would describe themselves? A mom, a spouse, or, you know, are they a daughter? How do they describe themselves? You want to really get to understand that person and describe them as best as you can demographically and psychographically. Psychographics is not who we are necessarily, but it's the type of decisions that we make and the products that we choose and the way we make decisions. That's our psychographics. So you have, you know, people who may have the same level of income, but what they invest in and where they spend their money may be radically different. Some people like really nice shoes. Some people like really nice cars. Some people like the latest gadgets, right? So how they spend that money is. Is shaped by their psychographics. The next thing that you want to take into consideration is what problem does this person have that you can help them solve? And not how you would diagnose their problem, but how they would describe their problem. So you might diagnose them as having a thyroid issue, or you might evaluate them and say, hey, this is related to your thyroid, but to them. They feel no energy. They feel their hair is changing texture. They're constipated. They're not motivated like they used to be. They're gaining weight everywhere for no explained reason, right? So that's how they're describing it in their head. How would they describe it to you? If they're coming in to complain about their problem? That's the level at which you have to communicate back to them in your marketing and in your messaging and in your branding as well. So they don't know they have a thyroid issue. That's why they're coming to you and to help them solve it. So you have to make sure that you're really showing them through your languaging that you're understanding the challenge that they're facing. The next thing we want to know is why does this person want to solve this problem? So it's one thing that you have low energy, but how's that affecting your life? Right? Do you want more energy so you can play with your kids? Do you want to lose weight so that you could have more confidence? Do you want to get rid of the brain fog because you don't want to embarrass yourself in team meetings or you're tired of walking into a room and forgetting why, or you feel like there's another level that you can unlock in your career if you didn't have this embarrassing brain fog, Right? So what's the reason why they want to fix this problem? We have to understand that as well so that we can speak to that and get them to speak to that as well so they see why this is so much more important than the work that you're doing together. The expansive effect, the collateral effect and benefit that they're going to get from working with you. They have to be able to understand that because those are things that are hard to put a price on. However, those are the things that make the biggest difference for people. The next thing we want to know is once we know why they want to solve this problem, we want to know how they want to solve this problem. Are they looking for a short term solution? Are they looking for a long term fix? Are they looking for a pill? Are they looking for a skill? Are they willing to do the work? Are they looking for somebody who's going to hold them accountable and coach them through the process? You know, I just had a client today who started working with another functional medicine practice. But what they were really looking for is coaching. They didn't want supplements, they wanted someone to hold their hand through the process. So now we're going to evaluate if working together is right for us. And that started because we shared that we coach our clients, we don't prescribe to them, we coach them towards better health and we reduce their supplement intake and things like that. And that's what my avatar wants. That might not be what your avatar wants, but that's what my ideal customer wants and is there's somebody who's looking for a long term solution willing to do the work, understands that supplements are awesome but we've got to lay down the foundation first and then add those things on top if they're necessary. That's the type of person I want to work with. So I also have to describe how we solve this problem so they can see, hey, that's exactly who I'm looking to work with. So how they want to fix this is also really important in getting to know them. And then, of course, the last thing, and probably the thing that's most overlooked is who do they want to work with to solve this problem? Okay, so do they want to work with somebody who's had this problem before and come out on the other side of it, somebody who has a lot of experience that has helped many people come out on the other side of this problem, or are they looking for somebody who's just read about it in a textbook? Your mess is your message. Your test is your testimonial, as many have probably heard. So are you making it clear to people in your messaging that you understand the challenge that they're facing? And are you expressing that you've been there and you've come out on the other side of it? Or do you feel like you have to be absolutely perfect in order to be able to help people? And the answer is, no, you don't. You. You have to be empathetic, and you have to have a solution that you can offer people in order for them to really deeply resonate with you. So those are the five things you need to take into consideration when you're thinking about your ideal customer and how you're going to communicate what you so beautifully do for them. And they deserve that. And you deserve that. Because when you come together and there's an engagement that takes place, both lives transform, right? Your life is fulfilled because you get to help people in a meaningful way and you create, get to create, you know, more experience for yourself and more freedom for yourself as the scales. And they also win and are set free from having a chronic health challenge. So your business does really create a win win solution. And in order for you to get on the other side of that mountain with your client, you have to know how to first communicate to them. So that's the first thing I want to share with you, is the importance of understanding who your ideal customer is, not your current customer. You may have a few ideal customers, and if you're just starting out, this is even more important. Who is that ideal person that you know you can knock it out of the park for? And through your communication, they know you can knock it out of the park, and they have full confidence in you, and they're seeking. They've been looking for you their entire life. They didn't know you existed until you put yourself out there in a way that deeply connected with them. All right, so there you have it. There is a very important lesson for you and your business. I hope this helps. Please let me know. Send me some feedback. I'd love to hear what you think. Talk to you soon. Bye for now.