When you are just starting out, there can be a lot of fear about where money is going to come from and how you’ll find clients. I understand this because back in the beginning, I lived through it too. So I went back and documented everything I did that worked and created the Quick Start Guide.
One of the gems in that start up program is to write a congratulatory card to yourself about how much money you want to earn each month, the number of clients you need and how you’ll feel when this happens.
I recommend crafting a few positive statements about what you want to happen, but make sure you write everything in present tense so it sounds like you are living it right now. Then type this on your computer in a font that looks script-like, as if it’s someone else’s handwriting. Don’t skip this step because it does make a difference to receive a card that’s not in your own handwriting. Then paste it in a card, put it in an envelope, address it to yourself and mail it.
The mindset shift from receiving this card can be tremendous. Imagine opening a card right now that congratulates you for achieving your monthly goal and reminds you how great you feel about this reality. Feels good doesn’t it? Once received, put the card in plain sight on a bulletin board or your desk. Or carry the card with you so if you’re out of the office a lot, you can still look at it. You want to look at this daily to help you make the positive mind shift you seek.
The idea is that this card is positive evidence of your success. It’s a powerful tool to help you focus and believe to shift your mindset from feeling fearful to feeling successful.
Here’s what one client said about her experience with doing this exercise, “I sent myself two cards and I loved receiving them…The next day I had two clients that signed up…Wow, money is just coming in the door.”
The power of using visual representation for your goals to create a mindset shift is truly remarkable. Writing and sending a card to yourself can help you start to feel like the success you desire.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Have you decided what your immediate goals are? Now is the time! Imagine that you have set and achieved your first set of goals. How does that feel? What will it be like when your initial dream becomes your reality? Capture that feeling in a few statements and then put them on a card and send it out. Review this card often so you can feel it, believe and know the truth in those statements. You’ll find the mindset shift is just what you need to stay positive and be open to opportunities.
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 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.
As entrepreneurs, we move quickly in business. We make decisions more quickly than most. We are spontaneous and we have the technology at our fingertips to assist us even further.
But there are times in life and business, when we need to take a step back, slow down and think it through more carefully than usual, especially during those rare times of national, even global crisis. For us as a company, that has happened twice in late 2012 with two tragedies that hit very close to home here in Connecticut, where ClientAttraction.com is headquartered.
Six new guidelines to doing business with dignity, integrity and respect during times of tragedy. (Click here to tweet this.)
Both times—first during Hurricane Sandy (one of the most severe storms to ever hit the East Coast) then again during the Newtown school shootings, our nation experienced deep heartbreak as we watched our neighbors endure severe loss. And both times over that short span of two months, we as a small company with clients to serve, employees to support and year-end goals to meet, were in the middle of a major business launch.
Did we do everything right as a company in response to the tragedies? No. But we’re learning and applying what we’ve learned to our Best Practices so that as a company we can continue to get better at what we do, continue to improve our service to our customers and clients, and to always, always put people first.
Watch this week’s important video for my six new guidelines to doing business with dignity, integrity and respect during times of tragedy.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Take some time to evaluate how you do business during times of crisis—what worked and what didn’t in the past? Use my six guidelines to help you prepare your own checklist. My advice is to do this in advance…before you ever need it. My team and I would like to extend our sympathies to the city of Boston and to all those who were affected by this recent tragedy. I hope these strategies will help you do business with more authenticity, integrity and love.
For many entrepreneurial women with children at home, your working time is limited. Given this restriction, how do you balance the children, household tasks and work to keep your business growing?
One thing I know from having three children and a business is that it is a Catch-22. It’s hard to bring in more clients and more money when you don’t have the support. You need some type of child care. Yet it’s hard to afford childcare when you don’t have more clients and money coming in, right?
What I’ve experienced in my own life is that I need a single focus. What I mean is – when I’m with my clients they have to be my focus and when I’m with my children my attention must be with them. Any time you do anything less, you’re cheating one or the other which is never a good feeling or very productive.
But the outside help, whether it’s childcare or even a virtual assistant, can make the difference you need to get your business moving. To ramp up my business after having my first child, I paid a nanny $15 per hour for an 8-hour day, three days a week. I ended up paying her more than I made the first month! This seemed crazy, but it paid off in the next few months as my practice started to fill up again.
This same thing is true when you want to hire a virtual assistant or a team for your business. Sometimes you have to make the investment upfront, knowing that as soon as you do, you’ll focus like crazy on client attraction to bring in money, which will pay for that help.
So, if your time is limited, find a way to get more time. Whether you find childcare or an assistant, you need to free up even one day for client attraction. Then use the mix of methods to bring in those clients, including speaking, coffee dates with your spheres of influence, networking events, your ezine and warm letters. You can do a little of all of them in your one day of marketing per week and this can really help to bring those clients in quickly.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
What would be better for your situation? Childcare or the help of an assistant? Once you decide the right help for you, be sure to sit down and plan out what you will accomplish when you have that help. If you stay highly focused during this time, no matter how limited it is, you can be extremely productive to attract the clients you need to pay for this help in a short time frame.
Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to fill your practice in the FIRST place, then follow a step-by-step women business coach 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 you are working to transition from one business to another, then you need a way to jump start your business and get things off the ground quickly. Many of my clients are looking for how to use their time efficiently, so they can launch their new idea, while they still have money coming in from the original business.
To jump start your business, the single strongest step you can take is to start speaking. Here’s what I recommend you focus on to get in front of audiences and make this transition as quickly as possible.
1. Signature Talk – You need to develop your Signature Talk. Create a program that you will be known for getting to the heart of what your ideal clients need most. Coming up with a compelling title is essential as well. Something that sums up the problem and solution you offer.
2. Speaker Sheet – Once you know what your Signature Talk is and have the description, then put together your Speaker Sheet. This works like a sales piece to help the people who book speakers know exactly what you offer and why they want you to speak to their group. The Speaker Sheet helps you get the speaking gigs you need quickly to jump start your business.
3. Seminar Email – This step is the key to landing speaking gigs. If you included the basic elements listed below, this one email can get you booked to speak almost anywhere. My clients have had great success with this email. Whether you are looking for local free speaking opportunities or paying gigs, the seminar email works very well.
Here are the four basic elements:
Your Signature Talk name and description
The benefits for the audience – explain what they get out of your program
Clarify what makes you an expert to speak on this topic
Your contact information
4. Target the Right Person – Find out who is in charge of programming. Sometimes the position is called the speaker chairperson, programming director or meeting planner depending on the group.
Positioning yourself as the expert on this subject matter makes a big difference. This is what will persuade the programming person to want to book you for their group or organization. Be sure your marketing message grabs the meeting planner’s attention, so she can see how great your talk will go over with her group.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Have you created your Signature Talk yet? This is the key to starting your speaking efforts. Spend time thinking about who your ideal clients are and what wakes them up with the 3am sweats. Develop your talk around this idea to create the most compelling program you can. That’s how you can turn people in the audience into paying clients, once they see how well you understand their needs.
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.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, when it comes to knowing how to market your business online using the web and the Internet, social media and networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are receiving lots of attention as tools for Client Attraction.
And if you’ve used any of these tools, you can see how it’s easy to spend a lot of (wasted) time there. To attract ideal high paying clients from social media and also build your list of email subscribers, it’s important to remember that that the same rules apply for social media as they do for traditional marketing: give value and build relationships!
“To attract ideal clients using social media, give value and build relationships.” (Click here to tweet this.)
As you know, here at Client Attraction we teach our clients and students that authentic and compelling marketing is all about PULLING prospects to you. With the use of a compelling marketing message and by offering high-content information that adds value, your audience is motivated to take further action, either by wanting to join your email list or even better – wanting to work with you.
And the same applies with social media marketing. So, when using social media, you want to be crystal clear on how you plan to effectively and strategically use these marketing tools and still remain “Client Attractive.”
Watch this week’s video for three great strategies when it comes to using social media to attract clients.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Apply the steps from today’s video with a focus on creating meaningful connections and establishing long-term value. As you do, you’ll cultivate the right relationships and as a result, prospects see you as Client Attractive. Focus on that and you’ll never be without clients, ever again.
Join Fabienne with her guest Jeff Walker for a great conversation on how to play big – in your business and your life. Enjoy!
Jeff Walker has literally transformed the way stuff is sold online. Back in the old days before he started teaching his “Product Launch Formula”, almost no one in the online entrepreneurial world talked about “product launches” and the idea of a “million dollar day” seemed almost ludicrous. But now, in the post-Product Launch Formula world, the million dollar (and multi-million dollar) launches don’t even raise an eyebrow. They’re really nice, but they’ve become almost routine. But Jeff’s techniques are not just for big gurus – he’s now taught thousands of students (who operate in hundreds of niches), and they’ve generated more than $400 million in sales. Along the way, he’s continued to hone his craft – one of Jeff’s personal launches did $1.1 million in sales in the first hour, and almost $4 million in the first 36 hours (along the way, his launches regularly generate $75 per email address… and have gone as high as $209 per email address.)
Think about your email list (or how many people you WILL have on your email list), then multiply the number of people on that list by $75… now you can see what all the excitement is about.
Listen to this Master Class today!
Subscribe to “Play Big Master Class” podcast on iTunes or download the mp3 here.
If you have been ramping up to provide a group program and have success with gathering a good group, you might be wondering what the next step is. How can you leverage success with a group and extend working with them?
There are a few things you can do to build on the success of a group program. Choose which one might work for you based on how much of your topic has been addressed in the initial group program.
1. Offer a Second Session. If you covered only a portion of the steps on a subject, you can offer a group program that continues from where you left off. This second session helps clients learn everything you have on a topic.
2. Offer an Advanced Course. If your group program covered all the bases, but just scratched the surface of the material, you can offer an advanced program that dives more deeply into each area. Depending on the topic, you can even offer a separate program on each of the sub topics you have covered in the first program session by session.
3. Offer Group Mentoring. If you have provided all the content, but feel clients could benefit from having direct access to you, mentoring can be a great addition. Offering a group program makes mentoring more affordable and can bring you more profit in the single hour than one-on-one mentoring.
4. Offer Private Mentoring. For the clients who want direct access and your full attention, private mentoring or coaching is the way to go. You can limit the number of people who can take advantage of this service to ensure you have time in your calendar and make it even more desirable.
Creating the Next Group Program – If you are very busy and don’t know how you’ll find time to create the next program, let me simplify that for you. Start by developing a simple outline or framework for what will be included. Then, you only need to develop one week at a time and deliver it. You can pace the development over the program and you only need to be a week or two ahead of your group.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Do you have a group program that’s going well? Start thinking about which of these four ways to leverage your success will work for your business. Not everyone will want the next offering. But, you can easily encourage some group members to continue working with you by mentioning that you are developing the next phase and will tell them more before the first program is over.
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.
People I meet at events around the country always ask me what it takes to create uncommon results in one’s business. I’m talking about the kind of results that astounds everybody around you and makes them say, “Huh? How’d she do that?”
When I share with them what to do, they sometimes think it sounds too simple. I think it’s because most people are waiting for a ninja strategy (and yes, there are plenty and I share the ninja stuff with our students and clients) but it also comes down to doing things in accordance with two laws of success, and they actually go hand in hand.
“There are two lifelong success strategies that all highly successful people adopt.” (Click here to tweet this.)
That being said, many people don’t give these two lifelong success strategies much thought because they’ve heard them before. They say, yeah, I know that already. And you’ve probably said that too. But do you? You see, I don’t believe you know something until you do it on a daily basis, until it becomes second nature to you. And in business, if you don’t do it daily, then you don’t know it, you’ve only HEARD of it! If you’re not getting results from it day in and day out, then you don’t really know it. Action is key and implementation is crucial, even with the simple stuff.
Watch this week’s strategy for the two lifelong success strategies that ALL highly successful people adopt.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjekrQSnrU[/youtube]
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Identify the specific excuses and fears that hold you back from taking decisive action on the opportunities that are right in front of you. How are they stopping you and what are you going to do about it?
If you are relatively new at building your business, you may wonder, “What do I say to a prospect who asks me how many clients I have?” Let me share with you what I used to say when I was just building Client Attraction.
Here’s how I would answer this seemingly touchy question, “I have five clients (or whatever the number is) and the reason you want to work with me is I’m not on a pedestal. I’m still building my business. I’m in the trenches with you. Everything I’ve tried that is working, I’m immediately showing you exactly how to do it.”
This let’s your potential clients know you are consistently trying new ideas and improving existing methods because you are in the trenches with them. You are building your business too, but a few steps ahead. That’s how they benefit from working with you.
In addition, when you share your compelling story, you let prospects know you are not just building your business and helping them from books. You are not simply regurgitating what you’ve learned from books, but sharing real life, current experience. I have found people want that “relatability”. They want to know you’re not going to judge them. They want to know you understand what they are going through because you are currently going through it, building your business too.
Here is an important distinction. People say to me that I have “walked my talk”. But I say, “No, that’s not what I’ve done. What I do is I talk my walk – I walk it first. Then I talk about it.” I share every single step of what I did myself, whatever worked in my life with my clients. It’s the proprietary system combined with my compelling story that helps you build your business.
To be in the trenches with your clients, you’ve got to come from your heart which is a place of service. Remember what it was like or is still like for you and go from there.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
If you are just starting out, do you worry about your credibility? Don’t worry. If you use this model of getting in the trenches with your clients, you have the credibility that comes from working on your business. Admitting you are there too, but a few steps ahead can be inspiring and reassuring.
Write your compelling story and develop your proprietary system so you can take them through the process you are going through while building your business. Then when talking to prospects, you let them know you are right beside them in the trenches, sharing everything that works.
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.
Are you struggling with how to choose your niche market? Maybe you have a couple of niches and want a way to test them to discover which will be the most viable. If this concern is keeping you from launching your business or moving to the next level, here are a couple of ways to approach making your selection. A lot depends on how big your list is.
Large List
If you have several thousand people in your data base, you can test which niche market is most viable by segmenting your list. You actually create two different marketing messages and send each one to just half of your list. For example, send the first niche message to A-M in your data base and the second to N –Z. If your current data base is all in one big list, this can work well.
On the other hand, if you already have separate data bases for each niche market – that makes this process even easier. Simply direct your niche messages to the appropriate list. You’ll probably need to send a series of emails before you can draw any solid conclusions. You might need to offer a couple of program ideas to successfully determine which niche market holds the most opportunity for you.
Small List
When your list is smaller (less than a thousand), it’s difficult to conduct a proper test of your niche market. For example, if you have 500 people and 30% open the email (which is a high percentage) the number who take action could be very small, making it difficult to learn anything. The response numbers will be just too small to come to a clear conclusion.
Believe it or not, what I recommend for the client who has a smaller list might sound like heresy – go ahead and market to both ideal client groups. Thomas Leonard who founded Coach U and Coachville and is seen as the grandfather of life coaching said the best way to find out what your best niche is, is to coach 100 people. After coaching this number, you will know who you absolutely never want to work with and who you love working with. And that is a big enough sample size to know about your ideal client’s finances and things like that.
This is a longer approach, but with a small list, it would be difficult to figure out how viable your niche market is in a short period of time.
If this sounds like your situation, the best thing to do is create an umbrella marketing message to cover both niche markets. This way, you can easily speak to both groups with some tweaking, without having to create two completely different approaches. Over time, the best niche market will become obvious.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Have you chosen a niche market? If you are struggling with narrowing your ideal clients down to just one group and feel you have more than one viable option, take time to test this out. Whether you do the email testing method or the longer method marketing to both groups, you will learn where your best money-making option is.
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.
