5 Steps to Find Your Ideal Client for More Profit
- Volodymyr Shalayko
- Jun 3
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 24
Most business owners think they need more leads to grow—but what they actually need are better-fit clients. Clients who value your expertise, pay on time, and refer others like them. The path to those clients starts with identifying exactly who they are. Without that clarity, your marketing efforts waste money, and your team ends up over-delivering to the wrong people.
But when you know your ideal client, everything shifts. Your marketing resonates. Your lead quality improves. Your team delivers with confidence. And your margins? They grow.
Creating your ideal client isn’t about dreaming up a fictional buyer—it’s about using data, conversations, and real patterns to define a profile that actually drives results.
34% of builders cite unrealistic client expectations as their biggest sales challenge*
Just think about it. You’ve probably taken on projects and clients that you knew had unrealistic expectations or the right type of project, and regretted it later.
Those types of clients cost you valuable time and money. There is a way to avoid working with these types of clients in the future if you get intentional about who you do want to attract as clients—and put a clear system in place to do it.
Here are the five steps we guide growth-minded contractors through to do exactly that.
Step 1: Clarify What "Ideal Client" Really Means
Picture a client you’d take on again without hesitation — the kind you’d clone if you could. Now imagine a trusted colleague comes to you and says, “I know a few people who need a contractor like you. How do I know if they’re a good fit for you so I don't waste your time?”
If you’re not able to answer with a clear, specific description, it’s time to get a laser-focused on who they are:
Ask yourself:
What type of project scope, budget, and timeline are ideal for us?
What personality traits or communication styles make the work easier?
What values must this client hold—respect for process, design-conscious, collaborative mindset?
Where do they live, what do they read, and how do they make decisions?
Be as descriptive as you can. When you can clearly describe who your business is built to serve, others can refer you with confidence—and your marketing will naturally attract the right fit client.
Step 2: Audit Your Existing Client Base
If you've been in business for a while, you have clues about who your ideal client might be — hiding in plain sight inside your job history.
Here’s your task:
Make a list of all active and recent clients.
Rate them in two categories: profitability and personal fit.
Identify who referred you the most high-quality leads.
Patterns will emerge. You’ll likely find that the clients who paid on time, respected your boundaries, and trusted your expertise also referred you more often and more enthusiastically.
Why? Because your process worked for them. And because they trust you to deliver the same experience to others.
That group — your top 20% — is the foundation of your ideal client profile.
Step 3: Create a Three-Tier Filter
This step gives structure to what your gut already knows, and gives you a checklist to qualify leads.
54% of builders who struggle to generate quality leads don't create content to guide or educate prospects*
Must-Haves
Must-Haves are your non-negotiables. These might include:
They’re a homeowner or property owner—not a flipper or investor
Their budget aligns with your minimum project size
They live in your service area
They’re the final decision-maker
If a lead doesn’t check these boxes, you can respectfully pass.
Nice-to-Haves
Nice-to-Haves are qualities that suggest a better experience is likely. Examples are:
They’ve remodeled before and understand the process
They came through a referral—someone’s already validated you
They have a clear design inspiration that matches your strengths
These aren’t essential, but they’re strong signals of a smoother path ahead.
Ideal-to-Haves
Ideal-to-Haves go deeper — they tell you this is YOUR kind of person. These clients:
Read your project blog and mention something specific they loved about your portfolio
See you as the expert, and not just labor
Care about increasing the value of their home, not just the price of the renovation
Believe in quality work, done right the first time
When you find someone who checks all three boxes, you’ve found your ideal client—the kind of client who boosts your business and your team’s morale.
Step 4: Focus Your Messaging on Their Pain Points—Not Your Process
Most builders market by listing services: “kitchen remodels, custom homes, outdoor living spaces.” That’s fine, but it’s also forgettable.
Your ideal client isn’t shopping for a line-item. They're looking for someone who understands their specific problem and how to fix it.
This is where messaging matters.
Instead of saying, “We do whole-home remodels,” say:
“We help families stay in the neighborhoods they love by making their homes work better for how they live now.”
That’s a problem—aka pain point—and a promise—or solution—in one sentence, and the kind of message that resonates. It shows empathy, clarity, and value in one line.
When your messaging speaks directly to the concerns your ideal client is already feeling, you become the obvious choice.
Step 5: Build a System to Attract and Repel
Finding your ideal client isn’t just about saying the right things—it’s about designing your entire marketing system to consistently attract them and gently weed out everyone else.
That means:
Writing content that answers your ideal client’s questions along the customer journey
Using your website to pre-qualify leads with clear signals about project size, location, and style
Creating a lead capture form that asks strategic questions to filter for fit
Following up with a simple, consistent process that reflects your professionalism and clarity
When everything in your marketing system is built to help the right people say “yes” and the wrong ones self-select out, your sales calls become faster, easier, and more effective.
Over time, you can build out multiple ideal client profiles — one for each core service line or buyer type. But start with one. Go deep. Then scale.
Final Thought: Don’t Just Fill the Pipeline—Fill It With the Right People
You didn’t start your business to say yes to every job. You started to build something meaningful—with clients who respect your work, trust your expertise, and refer others like them.
Finding your ideal client isn’t a one-time effort. It’s a strategic decision you reaffirm with every marketing choice you make. And once you do, everything else—your sales process, your schedule, your sanity—gets a alot easier and more profitable.
This doesn’t just work for design-build remodelers or custom home builders. This process is perfect for any small business owner tired of working with clients that stress them out.
If you want help building a system to find your ideal client consistently, contact us for a personalized marketing assessment.