This is a story about Mary, who has never been to a professional hypnotist before. Mary is 56 years old. She lives in Ferndale, Washington and is married, with a cat and two dogs. She loves her husband and works in the IT Department at a large furniture manufacturer.
Mary is happy on the outside. Her colleagues would say she’s thoughtful and generous with her time.
Yet Mary struggles daily with her own self-worth and happiness. Every day she is determined to eat healthier and even brings healthy food with her for lunch. However, something always comes up at work that seems to sabotage her goals. A new project, a missed deadline. And by the end of the day, Mary is back at the Dairy Queen drive-through ordering her favorite Blizzard and burger with fries meal.
And every day, she’s frustrated that she didn’t follow through on her plans.
She cries often, even though no one knows. Not even her husband. Only her sweet dog Cherokee knows the true depth of her sadness and suffering.
Mary is desperate for change. She’s tried so many diets, and some work for a while, but in the end, they always fail.
“I am a failure,“ she often thinks. The diets work for everyone else, so “there must be something wrong with me” is one of her strongest beliefs.
Mary is my ideal hypnosis client. I wrote this story about Mary before I even met her. And knowing these details about Mary helped me attract hundreds of weight loss clients who were tired of struggling with their weight, and more specifically emotional eating.
If you’re a professional hypnotist, then identifying an ideal client for your practice is an essential element that brings clarity and effective communication to attract the right clients to your practice. The ones you can get massive results for.
The more you understand your ideal hypnosis clients’ pain points and dreams, the more your messaging, language, and everything you do and say will resonate with your ideal clients.
You may be wondering how identifying one ideal client with a specific job and a specific issue can help grow your hypnotherapy practice? Taking Mary as an example, how many women aged 55 with jobs in IT at the furniture manufacturer really have this issue?
The answer is that there are thousands. Thousands who identify with Mary’s story. Thousands who, when they read or hear your story about Mary will identify with her situation. Our brains are good at making generalizations, and so even though Mary works in IT, a man working at a bank will identify with Mary’s loneliness and frustration. A woman working as a hairstylist will resonate with Mary’s inability to eat healthy at the end of the day.
Specificity is the key because in making the story specific, Mary becomes a real person with real issues. Potential clients will think you’re talking directly to them.
While specificity is the key when building your practice as a professional hypnotist, it’s not just about attracting clients to you. It also helps you – the hypnotist, LOVE your client before you even meet them.
First, download your free copy of our persona worksheet below.
Set the timer for 30 minutes and do your best to fill out the worksheet. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Plan on refining it over time. Begin with your favorite self-hypnosis technique to bring clarity to your work.
Describe your ideal hypnosis client. Give him or her a name. You want your ideal client to be a REAL person in your heart and mind.
Demographics include: Name, Age, Location (city), Job, and Relationships (children, spouse, close relatives, and friends).
What is your ideal client most worried about?
What keeps them up at night?
What is not solving this costing them?
If your ideal client doesn’t work with you, what’s likely to happen? Will they solve their problem? How?
What is your ideal client searching for on Google to solve this problem?
If your ideal client could snap their fingers and change one thing in their life instantly, what would it be?
If they solve this problem, how does your ideal client THINK their life will be different?
Find a picture of your ideal client you can look at when you are writing blog posts, designing your website and advertising, and creating video.
I have an ideal client profile for many issues that I love helping clients with, and the more specific I can make the ideal client’s story, the easier it is for me to attract clients to my business.
Start now by creating one ideal client profile. Over time, you can add more. You may be surprised at how the clarity and specificity of this technique easily attracts new clients to your practice.