Do you have a lot on your plate? Who doesn’t, right? When you have a huge list of things to get done, it can sometimes feel like you’re not making any progress. This might cause you to feel like a failure which results in beating yourself up. That’s not very productive is it?
As an active entrepreneur, you may in fact be getting a heck of a lot more done than most other business owners. However, some goals take time to complete and while in the middle, it seems like nothing is happening. I totally understand how you could feel this way and I have felt this way myself. That’s why I know these feelings are often inaccurate.
Here’s what I have done to stay positive as I’ve been building my own practice. I keep a composition notebook open on my desk all the time. At the beginning of every business day, I write the date, and then I make five numbered bullet points with space in between them for writing.
As the day progresses, I ask myself, “What did I get done today?” If I can’t think of something by the end of the day to fill out all five, I’ll even put “I flossed my teeth.” “I drank lots of water today.” “I got a new client today.” Or, “I wrote a blog post today.”
Keeping track of all the things that you did during the day will give you lots of confidence. (Click here to tweet this.) And it will help you see that you are in fact making progress on your goals. This concrete evidence will make such a difference in how you feel.
By focusing on what you are doing as opposed to focusing on what you didn’t do, you’ll be able to maintain a more upbeat and positive attitude. You know what I say – mindset is 90% of your success!
Your Client Attraction Assignment
If you find yourself wondering what you did all day or feeling like you aren’t making any progress towards achieving your goals, start a notebook and keep track of your daily accomplishments. Then you can look back and see all the great things you really have done to feel good about yourself.
Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to fill your practice in the FIRST place, then follow a step-by-step system that feels easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction Home Study System™ gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.
Whenever you are making a presentation to a group, your top priority is to determine what you want the attendees to do. I call this the “Most Wanted Response” or the “Most Wanted Action”. Either way, you’ve got to know what you want people to do before you start planning what you’ll say. (Click here to tweet this.)
Why is this so important? Ultimately, the point of the presentation is to encourage people to do something, right? You want them to sign up for your newsletter or ask for your free irresistible offer, or decide to hire you. Whatever response you desire influences what you will say in the talk.
How do you actually make this request for what you want? Just tell them what you want them to do. Of course you’ll say it in a manner that makes it advantageous for them. In other words, it’s not a direct request even though you actually are telling them exactly what to do.
You can be explicit in a casual way. Sometimes I’m being interviewed and I will causally mention that there’s a free CD on my website on how to attract all the clients you need. I talk about the CD as part of the marketing plan, but I’m also planting a seed that listeners can get the free CD at ClientAttraction.com
Whatever your most wanted response is, make sure you do something so they remember you rather than just seeing you as a nice resource. You don’t want that ,right?
For example, if your most wanted response is for people to subscribe to your newsletter, you can say, “If you want some additional tips sent to your inbox each week, just write your name, the name of your company, your address, phone and email address on the signup sheet going around the room.”
Once you know the outcome you desire, you can go ahead and create your speech. Focus on the problem you solve and why it can be so difficult. Then tell them what they can do about it, but not the specifics of how to do it. Be sure to include some client case studies.
When you present to a group, you give people a taste of what it’s like to work with you and help them get to know you at the same time. Keeping the response or action you want people to take in mind and asking them to take this step builds your business as your share your expertise and knowledge.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Think about your signature talk. Do you know what your most wanted response or action is for this presentation? If you haven’t worked this into your speech, it’s time to do so. In fact, think of a couple different responses and plan for each of them. This way you are prepared for more than one scenario when the opportunity pops up to speak in front of a group.
Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to fill your practice in the FIRST place, then follow a step-by-step system that feels easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction Home Study System™ gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.
[youtube width=”600″ height=”352″]http://youtu.be/dLCtwXItvSg?hd=1[/youtube]
Whether you like it or not, one thing that happens once you start multiplying your business is that you become a target for criticism. I’m not talking about criticism from your family or friends, because you may get that too, but I’m referring to criticism in your industry.
Every time that I have stepped out of my comfort zone, taken a risk and have done something much bigger in my business, inevitably there are going to be some haters—people who will criticize just to take pot shots. (Click here to tweet this.)
Today I want to talk to you about how to deal with this type of criticism. First and foremost, you have to realize that the bigger you play, the more you will invite criticism. I’ve experienced this just recently in my own business. You can give good value and you can give above and beyond and you can just be so loving and yummy, there will always be somebody who gets a greater sense of self-esteem by tearing other people down. Do you ever experience that?
It can be really shocking at first. Sometimes it could be a disgruntled client who just decides to rip into you. There are a couple of ways that you can deal with that. The first, if you feel like it, go ahead and have a good cry. That’s what I did recently. Just have a big ol’ cry and let it out.
Then realize that it’s usually not your issue; it’s usually theirs. Usually it’s the person who is criticizing who gets this greater sense of self-value when they tear other people down. So, know that is the case most of the time, and tell yourself, “That’s not my problem. That’s theirs. They’re projecting something false onto me.” You could say that they’re jealous or they resent you or they’re angry at you because you’ve made it, you’re playing a bigger game and they’re not.
After a few days of thinking about it, you can look at the criticism and say, “Which part of this can I own?” Even if their criticism is inflammatory, is there one percent of it that you can own and say, “If I’m going to be in integrity with how I do things, is a tiny bit of it true?” Usually there is a tiny bit of it that’s true.
So you can look at it after the dust has settled and say, “What can I learn from this experience? What can I change about how I do things?” It may be just a little bit of change in the energy of how you do something. Sometimes you can make very tiny changes that will have a big effect in reducing the criticism.
With that said, the thing that I want you to get is that I do not want you to dilute who you are. You must stay in integrity. Oftentimes these people who are criticizing are angels. They’re serving us a lesson—yes, in a bitter pill—but sometimes those lessons are the things that help you multiply your business even more. So, own up to what you can.
Now it’s ok to listen and learn from criticism, but you don’t have to immerse yourself in negative comments either. It’s ok to shield yourself. Many years ago I was watching the ‘unsubscribes’ to my email. Every time somebody would unsubscribe to my ezine on a Friday, I allow it to get to me. Then one day I decided I’m not going to read those emails anymore and instead I redirected them into a folder and after a while they went to my assistant. I found that every time I saw one of those ‘unsubscribes’ or some of the nasty grams that people sometimes feel entitled to write, it would affect my self-esteem and my mojo would take a hit. I would allow it to stop me from playing big. So it’s ok to shield yourself.
A good example is an actress who gives interviews to magazines all the time but doesn’t actually read the articles. So you could just decide, “I’m no longer going to read that. I’m no longer going to make myself available. They can do what they want to do. If I’m here doing my work with authenticity, integrity and love, and giving the most value I can give, then I can be comfortable with who I am and I don’t need to hear what they have to say.”
Finally, understand that you are being prepared. You are being prepared for the next big level. You’re being roughened up and toughened up a bit so your skin gets a little thicker. If you want to look at this as a spiritual journey, because I believe that entrepreneurship is a spiritual journey, you are simply being prepared for the next level because the higher you get, the more criticism there will be by people who really don’t know you and don’t know the good that you are doing in this world.
Entrepreneurship is a full contact sport. It’s the best place for personal growth and development. Understand that there is a reason for all of this and do what you can to fix the things that are out of integrity and then stay in the knowledge that if you’re doing a good thing and you’re changing people’s lives, then you don’t need to listen to the naysayers.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Take this advice the next time you encounter criticism. Realize it’s likely their issue, not yours. Learn what you can from the comments. Shield yourself when necessary. Remember you’re being prepared for bigger and better things. And above all, stay in integrity.
Listen to this Master Class today!
Subscribe to “Play a Bigger Game Master Class” podcast on iTunes or download the mp3 here.
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Transcript
[youtube width=”600″ height=”352″]http://youtu.be/WJw_b6jpFB4?hd=1[/youtube]
Christine Gallagher of ShesGotClients.com shares her experience as a Platinum Mastermind client in the Client Attraction Winners Academy.
“Before I worked with Fabienne I was not delegating enough, tied to my laptop and doing everything myself. Because I was trying to do it all – I was controlling so much in my business and it was limiting my growth. For example, when my husband got home, I would shut down my laptop so we could eat dinner. Afterwards, I’d go back to the laptop again all night working away. Lastly, I would take my iPhone and bring it to bed and continue working. My husband was supportive of my business, but he was like, “Come on. You have to draw the line. This is crazy.”
I attended the Client Attraction Workshop and before I knew it I was in the hot seat with Fabienne learning her strategy to close the sale 97% of the time. Based on that experience, I was literally selling myself on the fact that I need help and knew Fabienne was the one. Essentially, I agreed to the Platinum Mastermind program right there on stage!
In the first 43 days since joining, I made my whole investment back, plus $4,000. That’s huge! People have said when you invest in yourself, you step it up and really rock it – it is so true. So many amazing things have been happening and I know it’s because the energy is high. Over the last five months, I’ve made $10,000 a month of additional income.
Fabienne stretches you and I’ve already exceeded the goal I wanted. It’s so obvious when you delegate to other people, you have more free time to get more done in the business that makes you money. She and Derek showed us exactly what they do, step-by-step. Finally I see it and I can do this – that’s huge!“
Are you thinking about putting together a group coaching program? Conducting a group is a great way to boost income as you can serve many clients within the same time frame. And often the cost for clients is reduced since multiple people are on the phone line versus the price of private coaching.
You’ll need to decide what topics to cover and how long the program will be. This is where your proprietary system can be the anchor for your group coaching program. You’ll need to run enough calls to cover the material in detail so participants feel they got plenty of the “how-to’s” they’re seeking. On the other hand, you don’t want it to go on too long so that clients won’t want to make that kind of commitment.
“Using your proprietary system is a perfect starting point for launching your own group coaching program.” Click here to tweet this.
So how do you make this decision?
Again, I recommend following your proprietary system. There are a couple of ways to go. You could:
1. Have one call to cover each step in your system. This would give you a way to spend time focused on every part of the system, but not get into too much detail.
2. Develop an entire program for each step in your system. This would create a series and provide people with in-depth material and experience with your proprietary system. And clients could pick the program that offers the topic that they need the most help with.
One word of caution. Don’t try to cram everything from a three day workshop into one of these weekly teleclass programs. Why? Because this is not possible. The result could be that people only get a top-line summary of what you cover and will feel disappointed. In reality, you can only deliver a small portion of what’s in your system.
I have found that courses can work as a series of 6, 7 or even 10 sessions. So that gives you plenty of options for program length. More than anything, make sure you are providing plenty of value so people feel they got a lot out of the program and want to work with you again.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
When planning a group coaching program, take out your proprietary system and look it over. How many steps do you have in the system? If there are more than 10, can you combine any of them? Would it be better to split up the topics into two or more programs? Then map out what you will talk about in each session and see how that feels.
Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to fill your practice in the FIRST place, then follow a step-by-step system that feels easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction Home Study System™ gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the women business coaching system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.
When you are a coach, you want to see your clients succeed. Their success is your reason for sharing your knowledge, wisdom and support.
However, I have seen people get very upset about whether or not their clients were getting good results. And to be honest, in the beginning I was like this too.
“It’s important to remember that you should be responsible to your clients, but not for them.” (Click here to tweet this.)
Are you responsible for your clients’ success?
It would be ideal if you could be responsible for your clients and even do some things for them. But, you can’t do that right?
You can give your clients the keys to the kingdom, however, for most of them, there’s no way to guarantee that they will actually succeed. This is not because your materials aren’t any good or your system has holes in it. Absolutely not.
You can’t force your clients to take action.
The truth is, you simply cannot guarantee to yourself that your clients will be successful for one gigantic reason – you can’t make them actually do the work. That is unless you decide to take personal responsibility for each one which is really not possible.
What can you guarantee?
You can guarantee that if people do the work, the system, the methods and the coaching can and will help them succeed. You just can’t guarantee that any of your clients will actually DO the work. You have no control over this. Do you see the important distinction here?
So, are you responsible for your clients’ success?
Well you are responsible “to” them for:
- Delivering everything you promise
- Offering what you know works
- Providing all the materials you talk about in your sales messages
- Supporting them on the path and encouraging them to go for it
What is the limit of your responsibility?
But, you are not responsible “for” your clients. They are responsible for themselves to:
- Put your systems and suggestions into place
- Implement the steps in your proprietary system
- Make the calls, write the letters or give the workshops, etc.
Your clients are the only ones who can take on these challenges, complete the steps and reap the rewards by following through. As a coach, learning this crucial difference in responsibility will help you enjoy your work more and feel satisfied with your efforts.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Have you been taking on the responsibility for your clients’ success and as a result feel crummy about your work? If you said “yes”, you may need a short break from your work to get clear and take the pressure off yourself.
Remember where your true responsibilities lie. You need to deliver the materials, systems, classes, support and answers. Only your clients can put these things to work in their lives or businesses.
Hold on to that distinction to prevent yourself from taking on responsibility for what is not realistically under your control.
Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to fill your practice in the FIRST place, then follow a step-by-step system that feels easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction Home Study System™ gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.
[youtube width=”600″ height=”352″]http://youtu.be/VrWALz6JiVg?hd=1[/youtube]
Today’s video strategy is how to hire effectively. I want to be really transparent with you on this topic. We hired our first full time, in-person employee three years ago and she’s still with us, which is so great. However, a lot of the people that we hired afterward are no longer working for our company. That’s because we hired very ineffectively. They were all lovely people, they just weren’t the right people.
If you want to leverage your business and multiply, you have got to get some help. You cannot do it on your own anymore. We all have that ICF, the Inner Control Freak. Yes, you have to have it to be an entrepreneur, otherwise you wouldn’t get stuff done, but there gets to be a point at which you can’t do everything by yourself. Instead, you must delegate so you can make more money and serve more clients and do more good work in the world.
“The key to a fantastic team is hiring people who are naturally good at what you’re not.” (Click here to tweet this.)
At Client Attraction, we’ve become so much better in our hiring effectiveness. Whether you’re thinking about hiring your very first virtual assistant (at one point, I had nine virtual assistants) or your very first in-person employee, I’ve got 4 important tips to share with you in this week’s video.
1. Identify everything you’re still doing yourself that is outside of your genius work—your unique brilliance. Write it all down. Are you still doing your own scheduling or order processing? Are you still doing your own filing and making copies? Identify everything that you’re still doing in your business that really doesn’t generate revenue for your business.
2. Identify what type of person you need to do those things. Let me explain what I mean by that. This has happened to me and then it happened to one of my clients very recently. She was growing her business with our help, pretty rapidly. She decided she needed an administrative assistant. So she wrote an ad—but here’s the mistake. The ad she wrote sounded like she was looking for another one of her. We all make that mistake. You are not looking to hire another you. Instead, you are looking to hire somebody who complements you—someone who is good at what you’re not necessarily good at.
Let’s say you are somebody who’s really into working with clients. You’re enthusiastic and outgoing and you come up with lots of new ideas, some of which you don’t always finish. You’re somebody who likes to start things, but not necessarily finish them. You get pulled in different directions by bright shiny objects. You do NOT want to hire someone like that—someone who’s just like you.
The key to hiring and having a fantastic team is to hire people who are good at the stuff you are not good at. If you look at your list and it’s a lot of stuff that’s routine, follow-through stuff where you have to do research or lots of minutiae you don’t want to hire somebody who’s like you—great at starting things but not finishing things.
I work with lots and lots of people, clients who are leveraging their business and this is where they make a mistake. They hire another one of themselves. The key is to figure out what kind of person you need and it’s usually not another you.
3. Create an ad. You’re growing to create an ad that you’ll post on Craigslist or other favorite job posting site but you’re going to use words that that type of person would respond to. You might respond to, “This is an exciting opportunity. We’re looking for enthusiastic, outgoing people.” But you will then attract just more people like you.
On the other hand, if you’re writing an ad for somebody who’s going to help you with operations or systems, then the ad should say something like, “You are an organized, systematic person who likes processes and checklists and you love everything to be in its place,” because that wording is going to excite them in a way that it would never excite you and me. The people inclined to respond to that ad will be the right type of person.
4. Once you have hired the right person, have them do some assessments. Our entire team here at ClientAttraction.com has taken two or three assessments that let’s us find out exactly how they’re wired. Right now, we’re in the process of transitioning somebody so that she does even more of what she’s wired to do. She’s loving it and we’re loving it and it’s great.
When you have assessments, (choose one of the many that will work for you), you get to learn how everybody on your team is wired as opposed to how you’re wired and then you can complement each other. Do them, not just on yourself, but on the team so that you create a team that works really well together and you all get stuff done as opposed to two people talking about great ideas and nothing gets done.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Start putting these tips into place right away because it doesn’t matter whether you’re just starting out, or looking to leverage or really creating a legacy empire, you need to hire effectively.
If you are just starting to run group programs, finding the right time slot may feel like a challenge. Sometimes my clients want to please everyone, so they ask the group that is forming what are the best times for them. What I have found as a rule of thumb is that whenever you ask for a consensus, you open up a huge can of worms that you never can close for two reasons.
“Be strategic with your time while leading a group program to ensure everyone can participate and get value.” (Click here to tweet this.)
1. No one will ever agree and you’ll be stuck because now that you’ve asked, somebody will be disappointed since you didn’t pick his or her time.
2. Asking group members what they want sets up a sense of entitlement. I’m just telling the truth given my experience of doing so many group coaching programs. After years of having it be really hard to figure out what I should do, I found that people are looking for a leader.
So how do you pick a good time for the program? There are two things to consider.
1. Look at what time your clients will be available. Business owners can create their own schedules so I would have calls at 3:00 or 4:00pm. They can usually move their schedules around.
2. What works for you? The best thing you can do is be a decisive leader. Pick the time and day and that’s it. Somebody is always going to be unhappy – that is unavoidable. So decide when you want to run the group and remember you can always change it if you have to later.
Once you choose a day and time, keep to the same schedule each week and be consistent. Record the session and make the replay audio available. That way you can say, “Even if there are one or more classes you can’t attend, no problem. Every call will be recorded. In fact you can listen to these calls as often as you like.”
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Are you planning a group program soon? Be a good leader who makes decisions. Your decisiveness and consistency help your clients know what the rules are and how things work. Too many choices can be confusing, so take on this responsibility for your clients. Most people appreciate structure so don’t hesitate.
Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to fill your practice in the FIRST place, then follow a step-by-step system that feels easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction Home Study System™ gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.
“Easily attract clients from speaking gigs with a proven formula and a step-by-step system that works.” (Click here to tweet this.)
If you have been out there giving presentations, then you want to know how to maximize the number of clients you can get from each free talk. This is how I did it for many years.
1. The set up
Start your talk with your compelling story and introduce yourself. Then explain what you will be talking about so people have an idea of what to expect. This helps the attendees feel comfortable and at ease with what is coming up.
2. Collecting contact information from attendees
Next, say something like, “I want to give you the formula for ____(one thing you do that people really want – I used to offer the formula for your elevator speech) and if you want to receive notes from today’s session, here’s a clip board to put your first and last name, email, phone, type of business and if you’d like to receive my free _________tools (I used to say free Client Attraction tools) by email check “yes” on the form.
Ninety eight percent, if not virtually a 100%, would check yes in the free tools column, which is your ezine of course.
3. Plant the seed that you are for hire
Weave client examples into your talk throughout the presentation to let them know you are for hire without saying it directly. Share examples that are closely related to what the people in the group do for a living when you know what that is. I call this “Suggestology” – you suggest that you are for hire and they can work with you without saying “I would like you to hire me”. When you give a client example, be sure to explain the issue the person was having as well as the results you helped him or her achieve.
4. Wrapping up with a soft close
At the end, add a quick sentence saying, “Hey I’m really approachable and accessible. If you are wondering whether something like this can work for you, just give me a call. Let’s set up a get acquainted session to see if I can help. Or come to me at the end of the talk and I’ll be happy to set something up with you.”
This is exactly what I did at my free talks and it worked so well, I’d often get five or six clients every time.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
If you haven’t been getting the clients you want from speaking, now you have a proven system to follow that will make a big difference. Be sure your signature talk has these four elements.
I recommend creating a library of client success examples with variety of problems and solutions. You may want to have examples from the different professions you serve, an assortment of issues you have helped resolve, or goals you have helped clients achieve. Update this library on a regular basis, so you’ll be ready when you need these case studies for your next speech.
Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to fill your practice in the FIRST place, then follow a step-by-step system that feels easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction Home Study System™ gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.
