How To Identify Your Ideal Client as a Registered Dietitian

As a registered dietitian, it is incredibly important that you spend your time and resources identifying the type of client that will help you to achieve long-lasting and ever-increasing success. That being said, if you spend too much time trying to identify your ideal client, you may narrow your options in an already segmented or niche field. 

Similarly to what we explored in our recent marketing post, if you try to serve everyone, then you will end up serving a far lower percentage of people than what you’d originally envisioned. When you’re building your RD business, you’re trying to attract people that believe in your clear, well-defined mission. For example, if you’re a dietitian who focuses primarily on gut health and peak performance, your efforts in identifying clients may be different from registered dietitians who focus specifically on weight management or chronic disease prevention.

Here are some key questions that you should evaluate as you strive to identify your ideal client:

• Who can you build an authentic, human connection with?
• Who can you trust to invest in the process and, reciprocally, how do you build trust with a client?
• If you’ve had a difficult or challenging client, learn from the experience. Why do you think the relationship might have been unsuccessful?
• Your education, degrees, credentials and experience inform your expertise. Where is the confluence of these elements directing you in your career?

Additionally, you’ll want to further investigate the following scenarios as you embark on the journey of identifying your ideal client:

What audience do you truly want to serve?

Are you focused on working with female athletes? Or is your goal to help parents, or specifically mothers? Maybe new or first-time mothers? You may want to help individuals who are living with a certain health condition; perhaps one that you yourself may also be enduring? Identify a subset of people who you have a problem that you can resonate with; this will not only help to develop trust between you and your client, but it will also provide you with a stronger sense of joy in your career.

What is the main challenge or problem that your client is facing?

Do your clients struggle with gut health? Fueling their bodies properly? Living with low energy? Having an issue with weight management? Suffering from a chronic disease? Once you can identify the challenge that also resonates with you, you can help your clients to get to the root issue of their problem.

Why is a potential client now seeking the expertise of a registered dietitian?

If you can understand what types of diets or programs that a potential client has tried in the past, then you can learn more about why those did not work for them and why you can be the solution. The deeper you can dive into the mind of your ideal client, the more effectively you can serve them. This might be dealing with anxiety and overwhelm, or helping a person know how and where to start on their journey. It might also be reinforcing the notion that Google doesn’t solve problems and that the knowledge you seek or search up on the Internet is not always qualified or legitimate. 

Why is your ideal client looking to invest in a registered dietitian?

As noted above, a potential client has likely tried diets or programs before coming to you. Fears, failures and frustration may have brought them to your world by default or by desire. Either way, you are now their opportunity for a clear-cut, goal-oriented and results-driven solution. 

At the end of the day, if you feel you can help a person succeed once you know their journey and understand what they’re hoping their future holds, then you are likely looking at working with a new client. Take the chance and see where the relationship goes and how it progresses!