Sasha is 41 years old.  She’s married, has two young children, a dog, a lovely house in the suburbs and a relationship that’s comfortable.  She runs her own business, formally exercises once a week (but kids herself she’s burning serious calories picking up after the children all day), drinks wine and coffee and then green juices. She usually shops at  Target but has no problem buying $300 shoes. She has heaps to say and can talk underwater but struggles with a pen. She is passionate about her passion and is desperate for it to consume more of her life…if only she could carve out a few extra hours each day.  She’s happy, driven, but not ecstatic – yet.

You know quite a lot about our ideal client don’t you? Because you’ve been told ad infinitum that this is the cornerstone of business marketing.  Every program, every course, every webinar has banged on about it for years. You got the message.

Or did you?

The truth is, we don’t know why Sasha washes her hands twice after going to the bathroom, or why she can’t walk past the scales without hopping on and simultaneously grimacing.

We haven’t worked out why she always reads just 5 pages of her book before bed each night then gets great pleasure from jamming the bookmark tightly into the spine of the book before closing it for another day.

We don’t really know why she always gives her husband the ‘big half’ of the cookie whilst secretly wishing she could have it for herself, or why she tests the weight of a pen in her hand absent-mindedly before deciding to buy it or not.

We haven’t yet figured out why she can’t justify her magazine subscription anymore, but happily wastes hours of precious work time on Facebook and Pinterest.

We also really don’t know who she trusts – and doesn’t – nor why this is the case.

We know a lot, but still really know little.

And whilst there’s data and algorithms and lists and gurus out there who can narrow the field a little, they are still just surmising and generalising and hoping.  Without really knowing, we may be missing opportunities to serve Sasha by telling a story that resonates with her.

So, can you go deeper?

What other nugget of gold could you find out this week about your ideal client that could be the difference between a Yes Please and a No Thanks.