Recently I shared three powerful ways to follow up. But sometimes the methods alone don’t help you get the job done.

That’s when you have to ask yourself, “Do I have a system in place to follow up with hot prospects?” Without a system, it’s easy to let the follow up tasks fall between the cracks.

Follow up can be time consuming, especially when there are several calls back and forth if you have trouble reaching a prospect. That’s not a good thing because a hot prospect can get cold while phone tag is in play.

Or, for some business owners, you put off the calls because there are so many other things on your to-do list. You tell yourself you’ll get to it, but that just doesn’t happen. Even though follow up is a top priority, things get in the way.

There is one way to make sure you don’t get caught up in phone tag and the follow up calls get scheduled. Put a system in place. Scheduling of follow up calls with potential clients is a great item to delegate and it frees you up from wasting valuable time.

Work with your virtual assistant (or hire one) to set up a system for scheduling your follow up calls. Your assistant can play phone tag while you focus on income generating tasks. And then of course, you will be the one adding value, showing that you care and possibly closing the sale during the follow up call.

Another aspect of this system is to require the potential clients to call you. When your assistant sets up the appointment, have part of the process be that clients call you. If they are interested, they will come to the call and that is another way to free yourself up.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Do you have a system in place for following up with hot prospects? You do now! Talk to your virtual assistant to delegate the scheduling and you can focus on the closing the sale conversations to bring in that low hanging fruit. Sweet!

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.

If your target is female entrepreneurs, that is great news. Why do I say this? Because they are an easy group to find! If this group is your ideal client, I’m going to share a variety of methods to help you reach women business owners.

1. Visit Women’s Associations

In general, entrepreneurs like to gather and so do women. That’s two strong reasons why women entrepreneurs are an easy group to find. There are so many associations! For example, the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), eWomenNetwork, National Association of Professional Women (NAPW), and National Association of Female Executives (NAFE) to name just a few. And new organizations are cropping up practically every day. Check out the groups in your area and attend a variety of meetings to see which ones will serve you best.

2. Become a Regular Fixture

After you attend a range of events and choose the ones offering you the most potential ideal clients, it’s time to become a regular fixture. You want to be seen and be known there. To strengthen the relationship with the groups you select, you can do any or all of the following:

• Sponsor special events
• Speak to the groups
• Become a board member

3. Speak to Other Women’s Groups

You can’t attend every women’s networking event because there are just too many of them. But to reach more of your ideal target, you can speak to groups where you are not an active member. 

As you know, I often talk about how speaking to prospects is a great way to build the know-like-trust factor. It also gives people a firsthand experience of who you are and the type of expertise you share.

4. Hold Seminars that Appeal to Women Business Owners

Choose topics that you know will appeal to your target audience. Women love to learn, which is demonstrated by the fact that they purchase 75% of all self-help books. You may have to adjust the event titles and topics until you get it just right, but that’s part of the marketing process.

Holding your own events allows you to establish yourself up as an expert and the problem solver women business owners need.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Is your target women entrepreneurs? If you answer yes, I recommend that you take some time to think about how to further identify them. The clearer you get about your ideal clients, the easier it will be to find them. You might want to qualify them further with these additional characteristics such as:

• Income
• Geographic area
• Business type
• Years in business
• Number of employees
• Problems that need solving

There are many other ways to identify your ideal target in my Home Study System as well.

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/mwx6XIcHCdk[/youtube]

While creating a home study course is far more lucrative than a book, sometimes the book can be a good first step for business owners. Let me give you a few details about how to publish an ebook as well as a printed paperback.

Creating an eBook

Nothing much is easier to produce than an ebook. Get all your content together and type it up. Choose a font, what size the chapter title is vs. your regular text and that’s it. Ebooks can have live links to your website and today I’ve seen ebooks with video embedded. But it’s not necessary.

Once that’s complete, you create a pdf by using Adobe Acrobat. If you don’t have this software, your virtual assistant might or check out pdf995.com for a free version.

What’s great about using the pdf format vs. a regular word document is that you can “lock it” so that it is readable only. That means no one can copy and paste directly from your document which helps to protect your intellectual property.

And that’s it – you now have a downloadable book to share with prospects as your Irresistible Free Offer or as a revenue generating product.

Selling eBooks

If you want to sell the ebook, there are additional resources where you can get affiliates to help sell your book. One very good resource is Clickbank.com. Publishers or other Internet marketers can find your ebook in their marketplace and simply pick up a unique code to be your affiliate. Clickbank does all the hard work of tracking who sold what, collecting the money, splitting the fees and sending out the checks. It’s that easy!

Printing Your Book

If you want to print a paperback, there is a little more to it. Two very good resources are LuLu.com and CreateSpace.com which is part of Amazon.com. Both companies print your books on demand – there is no minimum order. You upload your pdf file and they design your cover and the book interior. You’ll receive an actual paperback to proof or even a hard cover if you prefer.

One advantage to Create Space is that they will sell your book automatically on Amazon if you like and you don’t have to worry about shipping the books to them. As the book gets ordered, they print and ship them for you!

The Kindle Option

One additional option is to turn your ebook pdf into a Kindle book for Amazon.com. You will need to set up a separate account for that but as you know it’s very popular way to read books today, so worth looking into.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Do you have a book in you? You can start from scratch or combine articles from you blog posts. It doesn’t need to be long. You might be surprised what you can quickly create when you put your mind to it.

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.

While individual coaching is the fastest path to cash, sometimes people prefer to run groups. If you have a busy practice, groups can be a wonderful way to leverage your time, so you get paid by multiple people for the same time slot. If groups appeal to you, here are a few tips to enroll clients.

1. Networking

When networking, nothing compares to being a member of BNI. Business Networking International offers membership groups on a city by city basis with exclusivity. In other words, there is only one of each type of business within the group. That is a big advantage since what it means is you’ll have no competition within your own group.

Regardless of where you join, the group format is often the same, giving you 30 to 60 seconds to do a “commercial” or elevator pitch to promote your business. This is the perfect time to talk about the group you are trying to fill. Keep in mind that you are not trying to get fellow members to join, but looking for referrals from outside the membership.

Group members act like your personal sales force which is the beauty of this global network. So, members will likely be on the lookout for people who would be a good fit with what you are offering.

2. Speaking

Book a few speaking gigs to get in front of prospects.Work the new group into your talk and wrap up with a special offer promoting the group.

3. Ezine and Warm Letters

Other ways to gain enrollment include sending an announcement in your ezine with or without a special offer.You can even mention the group and what you are doing in your warm letters that you send to your contact list.

4. Special Events

Another option is to offer a special evening event that might be free or low cost, like $20, to attract prospects to join your group.This event also helps build your data base at the same time and gives prospects a chance to get to know and like you. A firsthand experience with you can be very enticing, helping people decide to become a group member.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Do you have a program that would work well with a group? Review your offerings to see if running a live, in-person group would be a good addition to your current programs. This is a great way to help more people at an affordable price without sacrificing your any revenues.

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.

There are so many ways to follow up with potential clients. Some are less direct than others, but still help you build a relationship and stay in touch with prospects. I’m going to share three of the easiest ways to warm up prospects and stay in touch.

1. Your Irresistible Free Offer and ezine

Your Irresistible Free Offer gives them a great product of yours to help potential clients get to know-like-trust you. In addition, this usually gets them registered for your ezine – your way to stay in touch with prospects and clients on a weekly basis. Pack it full of great content so they can see how much you know and imagine how much more they could learn if they decide to work with you.

2. Traditional Monthly Mailings via Snail Mail

Each month you can write a letter to prospects sharing your work with a particular client. Keep that person’s identity anonymous of course, but use your interactions to showcase your work and the difference you make. This is a way to highlight yourself as the problem solver and connect with prospects by writing about issues they can relate to.

In addition, sending a monthly letter keeps you on a prospect’s radar screen over and over again, beyond your ezine.

3. Pick Up the Phone and Be Authentic

Let’s say you have your eye on 10 specific prospects this month that you want to deepen the relationship with. To take them from cold to warm, warm to hot and hot to ready-to-buy can be as simple as picking up the phone. When you get them on the line, just be really authentic and say something like, “Hi, its _____. I was thinking about you. If there’s anything I can do for you…” Or try, “I’m checking in to see how you are doing.”

Just be you and don’t go in for the kill. The reason is because if you go in for the kill, you won’t feel good and the person on the other end of the line can sense it. It’s too much for them and might cause people to put up their walls of resistance.

So don’t look to make the sale. Instead, add value and think about this like you really are checking in. Recognize that you do care about each person. Then you’ll be coming from an authentic place of serving which is so much more appealing. Of course if the discussion feels positive, you can always move into your closing the sale conversation.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Have you written and sent any mailings with case studies that highlight you as the problem solver? These letters can have a tremendous impact on prospects who are considering working with you. Set an hour aside this week to make some notes and write your first letter.  Then be sure to send it out!

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/stOOVT2qif8[/youtube]

I often get the question, “Fabienne, how do I deal with prospects or people who want my stuff, but aren’t willing to pay for my services?”

I have experience with that. I’ve been doing this for about 12 years now and this has happened to me in the past, especially with prospects who come to hear me speak. I get off the stage and when greeting attendees I often hear, “So, I wonder if you can help me with (fill in the blank.) Here I’ve just spent an hour and a half or sometimes three hours on stage, giving the best of my best stuff, and yet there’s this boundary that some people don’t always understand.

I’m not judging because I’ve done this myself too. I remember going to lunch with one of my friends many years ago in New York City and I asked, “Who do you use for this and who do you use for that?” It was the wrong thing to do. So, let me share with you how best to handle it.

The very first thing that you want to do is let people know on your website that there is an investment in working with you. I know that sounds simple, but not everyone does this. A lot of people seem to think that it’s free. I have client in Australia who has been giving away content for so many years for almost nothing and the minute she started charging a little bit more, people started getting angry―it’s the people who have been getting free stuff for a long time that have a hard time.

Then there are people who will try to pick your brain (like what happened in the example I just gave.) Here’s my elegant answer, “That’s a great question. That’s exactly what I talk about when I work privately with someone. Let me know if you ever want to chat about working together.” That’s all you have to say. It immediately creates a boundary and they get it. They know inside that they’re just trying to pick at you and get something for free.

Another way to get around that is refer them to your free content. give a lot of free content online, on video training series, articles, blogs, on facebook, on teleseminars. I’m constantly giving free content. So when somebody tries to push some boundaries, I simply say, “You know what, there is so much of my free content online. Why don’t you go to Google and do a search for Fabienne Fredrickson or go to my Facebook fan page. You’ll see so much stuff there.”

Then there’s one last bonus final tip. This is an example of whyI actually stopped giving free consultations many years ago. Here I was, living in New York City and I was listed on some business coaching directory and I got a call from this guy, who shall remain unnamed. He said, “I see that you give a free consultation. I’m interested in hiring you,” and so we set it up because that’s what I was offering―a one-hour free consultation.

 

I cringe just thinking about it now.I gave him the entire consultation, but he kept asking me questions throughout our time together. This really shouldn’t have been called a consultation because it was supposed to be more of a “get acquainted” session to see if I could help him. Instead, he was grilling me.

Then I found out, because word travels always. He had called every single business coach on that directory and grilled them all for a full hour. Now, I got the last laugh because eventually he ended up working with me and he got good value. I think he recognized that, but the point is to no longer offer free consultations. I personally don’t believe in them. I believe that when you tell people it’s a free consultation, either they will know that there’s going to be a catch, or they will think that you are available for grilling.

Instead, I believe in creating a space.I call it a “get acquainted” session to find out if it makes sense to work together. Whatever it is that you call it, my advice would be, don’t call it the free consultation.

So those are all ways of dealing with people who seem interested in working with you, but aren’t willing to invest, whether it’s for your product or for your service. Refer them to your free content and say, “Listen, when it feels right and you’re ready, just raise your hand let’s see about working together.” That’s worked very well. It’s helped me stay in my truth and feel honored and it also honors where they are if they’re not ready quite yet.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Your assignment this week is to start putting some of these boundaries in place, so that you don’t feel like people are getting too much from you when you’re not willing to give it. Protect your time, your content and your worth. Your prospects will respect you for it.

When you speak to groups or run a teleclass, you want to share enough information to accomplish three goals:

1. Demonstrate your expertise
2. Provide insight about the topic
3. Offer some real value to listeners

Delivering on these three goals will help you connect with prospects and attract new clients. For some people, they may have a tendency to give away too much information for free. You may be the kind of person who cares about them and wants to take care of them. Or you might feel you have to give everything away for people to like you.

However, what I have learned over the years is that when you give too much away, especially for free, people don’t value the information. Which means they don’t put your methods to use. And as a result they don’t get the results and they stay stuck where they are!

In actuality, you are doing them a huge disservice by giving away too much for free. They will not appreciate the information. They will not use it and they will not hire you. None of these results are what they truly want or need.

What can you do instead?

The way you do it is you talk about what they want, why they don’t have it and why it’s so important for them to change their situation. Talk about and focus on the steps, which again is ”The What” and sprinkle a little bit of “The How”, but mainly in theory rather than specific details.

Hold back a little to avoid giving away too much.

So your script might bounce back and forth between the what and the why, what and why, and so on, explaining the problem, talking about why it’s so important to fix it, the “what” of how to fix it but not the “How to fix it” precisely. Leave that for when they hire you so they will truly value the information, system and methods you share with them. This is the only way to really help people get unstuck.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Think about your get-acquainted call script. Do you give away too much? Do prospects tend to hire you or hang up without signing up? Revise anything that seems to be giving away too much information so that you can help them close the gap when they will most value this help.

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.

In the beginning you may feel like “Only I can do it this way.” But, there’s a concept called the “Glass Ceiling” in business where you can’t go any higher because there’s only so much you can do yourself. The business gets so complex that you will actually need to simplify.

It’s kind of like nature which goes in cycles right? It goes like this – chaos, simplicity, chaos, simplicity, chaos, simplicity. And that’s what happens in business too. As you apply the Client Attraction techniques, over time you’ll hit the glass ceiling and you cannot break through it by working harder. Seriously, stop a moment and take that in. That’s really important to acknowledge. If you try to address this by working harder, that’s when you can potentially make yourself sick. No one wants that.

The key to get through this is to simplify and that requires bringing someone new on board. They do not have to be an employee. The person could be an independent contractor or an unpaid intern so you don’t have to worry about the taxes right away and can work up to that.

Once you add someone to your staff, you can work with them in a number of ways:

• You can teach them how to do a part of what you do
• You can have them do that part with you for a client
• You can send the person ahead to get it done before you get there or have them work on this alone at your office
• You can delegate a variety of tasks that are repetitive to free yourself up to generate more revenue
• You can have them work virtually at their own location

It will take some time to get used to working with another person. You’ll have to be more organized to prepare so the person has everything she needs to get the work done. And you‘ll have to get to know each other’s styles and work habits. But once you get in the swing, you’ll start getting so much more done you’ll wonder why you waited so long to make this empowering change.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Is it time for you to bring someone new into your business? Look at the number of hours you work a week. Think about how you spend your time. If you are wishing you had another person just like you, it’s time to seriously consider looking for help. Give yourself permission to bring on a staff member and enjoy watching your business grow to new levels.

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.

Investing Money – Pay Per Click Advertising

The first way to build a powerful list that is fast and easy is to simply spend money on Pay Per Click advertising through either Google or Facebook. This is certainly not the cheapest way of course, but it will rapidly build a strong list of interested people. Your investment can be significant however, so this might not appeal or be possible for everyone.

Investing Time – Writing, Networking, Speaking…

The second way to build a powerful list is to do it by investing your time. This is the cheapest method because you are doing a lot of list building activities and manually adding people to your list. Some examples include:

• Article submissions
• Blogging
• Social media
• Your irresistible free offer
• Speaking
• Joint ventures
• Networking, etc.

Basically you’ll be spending your time and your own blood, sweat, and tears to build that list. The tools you use in the second method generate web traffic to your site as well as help you meet people face to face. Its hard work, but you know that the people you attract are right for your business.

In addition, as you collect names, particularly from face-to-face encounters, you need to make sure they are getting recorded and added to the data base. You don’t want to just let those business cards pile up o your desk because that won’t help you at all.

I believe in building your list authentically, not like slick Internet marketing that so many others are teaching. My husband Derek has developed a product based on what we have been doing to build our list authentically by the thousands every year. You can find out more at http://derekfredrickson.com.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Do you have a plan for building your list? If you are trying to build your list without a plan, my bet is that’s not working as well as it could. Write out a plan for yourself so you know exactly what you need to be doing. You can include a mix of tools and even use some Pay Per Click advertising in conjunction with that blood, sweat, and tears of manually building your list.

 

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.