It’s important to educate the people you consider personal advocates (those who know you, like you, trust you, love you and want the best for you), and let them know what you’re up to and who your best clients are. If you’re just starting out, it’s a letter of introduction; if you’ve been in practice several months or years, write an “update letter” of how your practice has grown or new services that you provide.
Now, before you resist this and think it might be too forward, read on. The fact is; most people who are your personal advocates will be happy to help (people LOVE to give referrals and to help out a friend in business, especially when the person is a trusted friend). It makes them feel good, yet most of us somehow feel we’re being a burden on our network when we do this. The good news is; it all depends on how tastefully it’s done.
In both of my private practices, I sent “warm” letters of introduction letting my friends and family know what I was doing and asking them to think of me when they saw or overheard a particular situation relating to my coaching. Both times, I received clients right away, and both times, friends also referred people as long after the fact as 6 months to a year after receiving the letter. It sure feels good to get those phone calls from people you don’t know saying they’d like to work with you.
This will be one of your most effective client attraction tools, and best of all, it’s relatively no-cost to you! Here’s what you do: write a letter to contacts that you already know, as an announcement or introduction to your services. Be sure to keep it friendly, warm, as well as educational, remember, this is NOT a sales letter. You’re just educating your environment at this point. Describe your ideal client and ask the recipient if they know someone who might fit that profile.
I sent it to everyone I knew, about 10 to 20 a week. I hand-wrote a couple of words at the top to make it more personal. (“Hi Mary! It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. Would love to catch up over a cup of tea. I’ll call you this week. Best, Fabienne.”)
That following week, I would call the people I wrote to, set up a meeting for breakfast, lunch or tea, get caught up on their life and talk to them about my new business, asking them if anyone they knew fit my ideal client profile.
The result? Word spread and I received a number of clients and referrals this way.
Client example:
A former client of mine (a professional organizer) dragged her feet with this idea at first, thinking that it was too sales-y for her personal style and she wasn’t going to get any leads or new clients that way. After some coaxing and coaching, she started the process of sending out letters of introduction and was absolutely shocked at the results: new clients started coming in and her friends, former colleagues, school friends and family were the ones referring them. She was thrilled and years later, continues to update her personal advocates on what she’s up to, using her update letter.
New clients weren’t the only things she received. Soon after, this client was flown from New York to Washington D.C. to give a seminar on organizing one’s office and do a series of organizing projects within a corporation. This referral, as you may have guessed, came directly from a “non-sales-y” introduction letter she sent to a remote friend in Washington—only 3 weeks after sending it out.
Your Assignment:
If you’re ready to take a no-excuses approach to getting lots of clients, you’ll definitely want to check out The Client Attraction Home Study System™. Step by step, I take you through everything you need to do to stand out in the marketplace, pull clients in easily and consistently, and exactly what to say to turn them into paying clients. Get it today by going to http://www.theclientattractionsystem.com/. You’ll also get hundreds of other ideas and resources to help YOU become a Client Attraction machine like thousands of my previous clients.
© 2010 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Want to use this article on your website or your own ezine?
No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:
Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System , the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your in.come, visit www.ClientAttraction.com .
It’s been a fantastic week of Masterminding with our new high-level Platinum members, entrepreneurs with a big vision, who are already successful in their businesses and want to get even more leverage, expand their reach and multiply their income, by impacting so many more people. Many of them came in with “respectable” plans for growth and got their visions totally stretched to the next BIG level, along with a marketing strategy and implementation plan to make it happen quickly. It was AWESOME… (we’ll accept applications for the next one in September at the Mindset Retreat, in Miami.)
There are some solo-entrepreneurs that market ’til they’re blue in the face, and STILL don’t attract ideal, high-paying clients. They’re seemingly doing all the “right things”: they’ve got marketing materials, marketing plans, they’re speaking, networking, etc. and yet producing no real results. Yes, they have some clients. Yes, they’re making their bills. But they’re not seeing the kind of success they so desperately want. (Are you one of those?) (more…)
I’m really proud of this content you’re going to get in the video. I put my heart and soul in the information I shared in it and I am really looking forward to seeing what you think.
Can you post a comment about how this resonates with you?
We have a busy June coming up, with three different Mastermind Groups coming to visit us in Stamford (two new Platinum groups and our new Gold program members) and are gearing up for some amazing Mastermind retreats. So, at the same time, it is really important to spend quality and quantity time with our yummy kids. And that balance is something a lot of people talk to us about, asking, “How do you do it?” Well, for one, we have lots of support at home, and we also make it a point to be FOCUSED: when we are with the kids, we are FULLY with the kids, and when we are working with our high-level clients, we are totally and completely focused on them, not trying to juggle both. (Try it. It is simple but it changes the way you live your whole life.)
One of the best things to do to quickly establish credibility, get massive exposure, and attract new clients, is speaking. Hands down. Whether you organize your own seminars on a regular basis to continually fill the pipeline (the way I did for years), or get booked for talks to “pre-formed” groups like associations, it works like a charm?provided you give very good info.
If you deliver the talk properly, there is always a group of people at the end of your talk who rush up to the podium to chat with you. Some will tell you how much they enjoyed the talk, some will be e-zine readers who have wanted to meet you for years, some will want free advice or to “pick your brain.” But, there is one question you will almost always get and it comes in two parts. The first part is the good part; “I am interested in working with you.” The second one is the tricky part; “What do you charge?” (more…)
[Another “all content” video. Let me know how you like it, OK?]
Sometimes, it’s not so cool to just come out and say “work with me.” People get turned off by it, and that means you don’t sign on as many new paying clients.
There IS a way to plant the seed with people you’re talking to, especially in a seminar, and even in an ‘everyday’ conversation, that has them think it’s THEIR idea to work with you. And it’s so subtle and so simple, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it before. I describe this “suggestology” technique in this 3-minute video.
Let me know what you think of the concept and how you think you could start using it to sign on new clients in your own business right away. Oh, and I’m open to answering any questions you ask. I’m reviewing all your comments personally, so just ask and I’ll respond here.
OK, let me know what you think. Big hugs.
Do you dream of picking up the phone and hearing the person on the other end of the line say, “Hi, you don’t know me but I’d like to work with you. Here’s my credit card number. When can we start?”
You might laugh, but isn’t that what we all really want, deep down?
Well, the good news is, it’s totally POSSIBLE. I’ve found a way to make this happen and can honestly say that a third of the private coaching clients I sign on, I’ve never met before and don’t know who they are until I get that phone call that says they’re ready to get started. Here’s how I do it and how you can too.
You need to stop pushing and start PULLING your clients in with your materials. To educate your environment and turn interest into a prospect and a prospect into a client, you’ll need some marketing materials that REALLY SPEAK to them.
You’re looking for something that PULLS them in and gets them to, at all costs, want to talk to you:
Here’s how you get ready for the next assignment:
A good example of something that will PULL ideal clients in is a set of compelling questions to which your ideal client would answer YES for each and every question.
Examples of this are on the back of my business card and on my website www.ClientAttraction.com:
The questions above were formulated based on what brand new clients were coming to me for. Many of them used the above topics as things they wanted to work on and resolve immediately with my help. So, seeing that this was what was drawing clients to me without much effort on my part (and they were very good clients), I decided to put together a set of standard questions that would begin to develop trust and credibility among other prospects and suspects. What would yours be?
The key here is to focus on your Ideal Client’s struggles and hot buttons first. To get them into the pain just slightly, so they realize their situation isn’t as great as they’d like it to be.
But mostly, the questions above will get your prospective clients to feel like you REALLY understand their situation and you’ve been helping people like them for a long, long time.
Once they feel that trust and see you can provide them with the results they need, they’ll be closer to picking up the phone to call YOU.
Your Assignment:
What questions can you use to PULL prospects in, based on the struggles, challenges and hot buttons they have?
Be sure the people reading the questions will answer “yes” to all of them (instead of yes, no, yes, no) and you keep it to no more than 6 or 7 of them, so you don’t overwhelm them in the process. Once you’ve written them all out, put them on the back of your business card, on your home page, etc.
You’ll get their attention with the questions, and they’ll be much more likely to read the rest of what you’ve got to say, and if you continue to talk to them in terms of the results they can expect from working with you, you’re golden! Just be ready for new clients…
That’s just ONE of the many tools you can easily implement to PULL clients in (and stop pushing so hard to fill your practice). Wanna know all the tools I use myself and thousands of my clients have used for the same purpose? Then you’ll probably want to either call me to investigate private coaching, or look into the Client Attraction Home Study System™ for attracting all the clients you need with proven, systematic processes that will help you fill your practice quickly and consistently, guaranteed. Here’s where you can get a copy: www.TheClientAttractionSystem.com.
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Want to use this article on your website or your own ezine?
No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:
Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System , the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your in.come, visit www.ClientAttraction.com .
[This is a no pitch, all content video.]
Everyone’s always asking me how to get clients to come out of the woodwork and finally want to work with you (high paying clients, that is, not ‘sinking ship client’) no matter what’s going on in the economy.
Well, I have a technique for this that I use almost every day, that’s no-cost, and super easy for you to do too (I teach my high-level private clients to do this).
It’s all based on an interesting phenomenon that I’ve seen happening and that I now call “The After Glow” added to a subtle “perception technique” that I found totally by accident.
Both will help you get prospects to come out of the woodwork and work with you. I describe it all in the video.
Let me know what you think of the video and how you think you’ll use it in your own business. Oh, and feel free to ask any questions. I’ll be answering your questions and reviewing comments personally. You can submit your comment or question below.
I’m here in beautiful San Francisco, at a seminar on marketing yourself as an expert. And someone said to me, “Why are YOU here? You’re already an expert, Fabienne!” Well, here’s one important thing you must know about people who continually succeed in business: They’re always “sharpening the saw”, meaning they keep getting better and better at their skill. And I’m one of those people. I’m always learning, signing up for new programs, going to seminars, working with the highest level mentors available and adding more learning, not just for myself and my own success, but also because it makes me infinitely more valuable to my private clients. And I believe you should too.
You see, clients want a different perspective than their own, they’re searching for big-time guidance and answers to their biggest problems. And the more value you provide in the marketplace, the more you become a client magnet, and most importantly, the more you produce results for them (which means they’ll tell more people about you). Because that’s what people want, results and solutions to their problems. And if you can provide that consistently, you too will become the pied piper in your industry and multiply your business-income over and over again.
Find out how to use my step-by-step Client Attraction methods so you can be a success.