March 2014 - Small Business Coach, Women Business Coaching

Sometimes my students end up in the frustrating place where prospects can’t afford their programs. This is a tough spot to be in and there are a few things that might be contributing to this situation. When I hear this, I recommend three tweaks to their get acquainted session and closing process.

1. Stop Teaching During the Get Acquainted Call. When you aren’t converting enough prospects in the get acquainted call, I ask if the person is “teaching.” Some people, in their desire to help, actually end up coaching on this first call and giving away their knowledge for free. That doesn’t work so well. Once a prospect has what he or she needs, why would they sign up to work with you? People walk away satisfied, having gotten what they need and as a result they don’t become a paying client. To attract more clients, you have to giving away your knowledge for free.

2. Ensure Prospects Answer Prep Questions Prior to the Call. There are a number of questions prospects need to answer before the get acquainted call, preparing them to talk to you. One of the questions I always asked was, “How much is one new client worth to you?”

Let’s say the value of one client is $1,000. Next I asked how many clients they have (let’s say two) and how many they need (let’s say 20). Then it’s clear the gap is 18 clients at $1,000 each – that’s a gap of $18,000 right? My program was $2,000, so prospects could see the cost was far less than the $18,000 they needed. Or another way to look at it is that the cost of my program could be covered with just two new clients.

You’ll want to apply this to your own closing process. Perhaps you’ll ask your prospects what is the value of good health to him or her? Or what is the value of finding true love? Whatever they say, your program is probably less than that. You might say, “Well my program is only $1,000” which conveys how affordable it is.

A Third Tweak Might Be Needed. Now, if you make these two tweaks and prospects still can’t afford your program, a third factor may be present. You might not be networking in the right place for your ideal prospects.

Even if your prospects have all the qualities of your ideal clients, but can’t afford your offerings, they are not really ideal. To attract clients who are ideal, change your marketing materials to say, “I work with successful women” or “successful business owners” – whatever your target audience is. It may sound harsh, but you are doing them a service by not wasting their time or yours.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
If you encounter a lot of prospects who can’t afford your services, rethink where you are networking. It’s also not enough to go to monthly events. You are more likely to fill your pipeline and attract clients when you join a weekly group focused on providing leads.

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.

If you are in the start-up phase of your business, you may wonder how much networking you need to do. Some people don’t feel comfortable with networking and meeting new people and as a result, they prefer to do less. Their natural instinct is to avoid this process.

One of my students recently asked me this very question. She had joined BNI which meets weekly and was getting good leads every time she went. That’s exactly what you want of course! But, she felt that should be enough and didn’t want to get out much more. Her tendency was to hang back because she didn’t feel very comfortable.

When I was just starting out, I went to everything and joined as many things as possible. I would attend seven networking groups and sometimes four to seven events in just one week. Now, that wasn’t every single week since some groups were monthly. Keep in mind, at this point I had more time than I had clients or money.

So I used my time to attract clients and make money. You want to take a “no excuses” approach right? Even if you are getting leads in one place, you may still need to attract more clients. That’s when more networking is the right action to take.

Of course you want to avoid burnout too. There is a fine line between doing everything imaginable and extending yourself past your limits which becomes burnout. The key is to push yourself until you start seeing some results. After a while you’ll figure out what is working for you. You’ll track which groups deliver the most leads and then slowly, you can weed some groups out. You might end up keeping three to four groups that truly work for you.

So, if you still need clients but wish you could stop networking after one or two groups, rethink this desire. Until your pipeline is full and your practice is at capacity, you‘ll need to be doing lots of networking.

The good news is, the more you network, the better you’ll be at it. You will start to feel more comfortable and become skilled at meeting people. The better you get at it, the more networking will work for you to attract clients and become successful.

Your Client Attract Assignment
When you are doing a lot of networking, I recommend you create a log to track your results. If you are out there often, you might not easily remember which client came from which group. Tracking your results will help you know which groups serve you best, and which ones you can let fall go of. Sometimes you need to try a wide variety of groups to discover which ones provide the best access to your ideal clients.

When you offer programs that stretch over six months to a year, you will encounter clients who want to drop out. Frequently, money is cited as the reason. What’s behind this excuse is usually one of two things. Occasionally, clients are not experiencing the value they anticipated, but this is not common.

More often the person who wants to leave early has not been taking the recommend action. When clients aren’t doing the assignments and see their credit cards being charged monthly, they question whether the program is right for them. The reason behind this is really their issue with not taking action.

Longer programs can produce amazing results, but only when people understand what’s involved. To get the desired results requires a commitment to be part of the entire program. First there is a legal and financial commitment made when registering. There is also the commitment to other participants, to you and your company and most importantly, to themselves and the results they hope to achieve.

Here is my two-step approach for handling clients who want to drop out:

1) Talk About Personal Responsibility
A few years ago I started talking more about personal responsibility. It’s one of the most important changes I made in my programs to attract the right clients. Mention personal responsibility in your welcome letter and agreement. Then remind people as you move through the program. At the beginning of each a call, I speak first about personal responsibility and the fact that you create results by every action you take and don’t take.

2) Be Strong and Ask a Lot of Your Clients
When I first started doing longer programs, I discovered I wasn’t asking enough of my clients. I let them get away with not playing big. Then, I read how the one thing most people want is a strong coach – somebody who demands a lot of their clients. That’s a big part of how you attract clients too.

Clients often say to me, “Kick me in the butt. Hold me accountable. Stretch me.” They don’t want you to be lenient or soft. Tell them you don’t enable quitters. That’s what I tell my clients and why they choose me. Being held accountable delivers results and attracts clients who become successful.

Tell your clients who want to drop out that you aren’t going to let them NOT reach their goals. Talk about how success takes commitment and perseverance. And in terms of mindset, tell them how they need to believe in the possibility of their success to see it unfold and become a reality.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
Do you have a problem with drop outs? Are you too lenient with your clients? To attract clients who are committed, I give you permission to take a stand and say, “Come on now.” Then remind them of why they joined the program and the goals they signed up to achieve. Be the strong coach your clients need to help them stay committed to their vision of success.

Recently, one of my students asked me a really good question about how to deal with “know-it-alls” who attend your live events. When you get a heckler in the audience or someone who dominates with too many questions, it can be very disconcerting. This and other situations can arise that require you to step up and really manage the room.

Being on stage involves a lot more than just teaching. You have to use your intuition and have the confidence to handle situations as they arise.

1. Manage the Energy. Low energy, restlessness, eyes glazing over–all things you may notice from the stage. Don’t take this personally. It’s often just a normal reaction when there is a lot of information being conveyed. However, you want to keep the energy moving so the audience stays engaged.

To break up the energy and engage people again, you can turn up the music and even have everyone dance! Try varying the pace and volume of your speaking as well. You can also ask people to turn to the person next to them and share for a moment. These actions get the energy moving again.

2. Over-bearing participation. Participation will vary in any group. There will always be people who never speak and then there are those who speak too much. When you have to deal with a know-it-all, they often don’t even realize what they are doing. It’s not their fault, it’s just who they are.

For the frequent hand raiser, you can say, “I hear you, but I want to hear from somebody who hasn’t spoken yet to give everyone a chance.” Then encourage your quieter attendees to come out of their comfort zone a bit by speaking up.

For a person who raises her hand in the middle of a point, you can say, “Let me get back to you in a minute. I want to finish my thought.” Or, “Hey guys, I’ve got so much content, I can’t take any more questions right now.” Always respond and say these things with a smile.

3. Command the Room. As the presenter, you have to drive the train. You have to provide the audience with the content you promised and create the outcome you want. If you allow yourself to get off track, you won’t be able to do that. When they walk out of the room and don’t get the value they could have gotten, you end up feeling like you cheated them. Don’t let that happen.

It’s your job to manage the room and provide the content, so own that. Stand up because that generates more energy and helps you feel in control. If you are around a conference room table, stand to feel like you are on stage. If you sit, you are on the same level and people feel they need to chip in which may cause you to lose control. Standing is the way to be in command of the room.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
Next time you deliver a live workshop or give your signature talk, take a moment to review these tips for managing the energy in the room. Anyone can get flustered, but now you know how to deal with a know-it-all, command the room and move through these situations with grace and ease.

If you are ready to start offering live seminars in person, you might wonder how to find clients and fill seats. When I was building my business, I relied on networking to fill my workshops. BNI (Business Networking International) was a mainstay for me, since it offers weekly networking to build a referral team. This international organization has chapters literally all over the world, with some cities offering multiple meetings.

8 Steps to Find Clients for Your Workshop
These are the eight steps I used to fill my first workshops and countless clients and used them successfully as well. They will work for you too.

1. Prepare a concise and compelling way to talk about your program. Keep the message short and practice it so you capture attention and get the main point across easily. Deliver this as your 30-second commercial during the weekly meeting.
2. Create a flier with a snappy headline and hand it out at meetings to help members refer prospects to you.
3. Send members a reminder email with details so they can forward to potential attendees.
4. Schedule coffee chats with members who have the most potential to refer clients.
5. Attend additional BNI meetings in the same city or neighboring towns to leverage your network and spread the word to as many people as possible.
6. Visit other trade and association meetings to connect with people in other networks.
7. Call the people on your list of low hanging fruit since they might be open to your workshop.

This is a proven strategy to promote your program. However, if you are looking to fill a workshop that is multiple weeks, you may want to add a step.

Try an Introductory Evening to Build Attendance
When I was starting out, I offered a free introductory evening. It’s easier for your referral network to help you find clients for a free program. One or two free events become the funnel to fill your higher-end program. Talk about the power of your program and provide a sample of the available learning, then, sell your bigger program at the end. Another option is to run a low-priced, one night introduction that offers top-line basics of your program.

Be sure to give yourself enough lead time. You may need at least a full month to reach as many people as possible and allow your referral team to find clients to fill those seats.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

To find clients for your workshops, networking is your best bet. This is also a great way to start building your list, so you can continue marketing to them in the future. Remember a free introductory evening lowers the risk to attract higher attendance. Once there, people will have the chance to get to know you. As you know, people do business with those they know, like and trust. This week, think about what you could feature in a one-time seminar, and then schedule it and start spreading the word.

As the landscape of the Internet is changing, the world of search engine optimization (SEO) is shifting too. As part of our online marketing, we rely on SEO to be discovered by our ideal prospects and clients on the web. A strong Internet presence helps us connect with new people we want to attract to our message and the services we offer.

Google is constantly updating their search algorithm, which means we need to constantly update our SEO methods and strategies. With the introduction of Google’s latest update, “Hummingbird,” the SEO playing field got a little more confusing and challenging. The new update means search engine optimization is no longer limited to links and keywords, but uses a more advanced technology to rank sites based on branding and content.

SEO is no longer limited to links and keywords, but relies on branding and content. (Click here to tweet this.)

This opens a can of worms of new SEO methods and strategies, but I don’t want you to get overwhelmed. Today I’m going to focus on one of the new tools that can help you boost your online brand, and ultimately your SEO ranking.

Google Authorship is a tool that allows authors and companies to claim their content as it appears all around the web. Watch the video below to learn how to get started with Google Authorship.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvw_PgSR3gA[/youtube]

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Google is working on automatically linking users’ content to Google+ profiles, but you can get the process going manually right now. Chat with your web manager or take a look at Google’s instructions online – it’s pretty easy to set up. If you are published by high-traffic websites, reach out to them about linking your articles to your Google+ profile and they’ll know what to do.

If you are looking to attract clients through joint venture partners, you will occasionally meet someone who is not a good fit for you. This is normal in business and in life – you are not meant to work with everyone. So, how do you handle this situation?

Here’s an example. One of my students–I’ll call her Mary– was a health care professional in a BNI group. Part of networking in BNI includes getting to know other members over coffee, since they act as your sales team. In chatting with this member who was also in the health care field, Mary realized that they would not make good working partners. My student didn’t respect this person or feel they were a good match in personality or philosophy to attract clients for her own business.

She felt fearful about being pressured to work together and didn’t know what to do about this delicate situation. Being members of the same group, they would continue to see each other every week.

Fear of Confrontation
While Mary knew she wanted to avoid working with him, she also wanted to avoid the awkwardness as well. She didn’t know how to say “no” gracefully and admitted she wasn’t comfortable saying no to anyone due to her fear of confrontation.

You Have the Right to Choose
I explained to Mary that she had the right to choose who she worked with. It was totally appropriate for her to avoid starting a partnership with someone who didn’t feel like a good fit. Saying no to anyone, even if the person was in her BNI group was completely acceptable. To attract clients, you want to team up with people who support your values and way of doing business. Listening to your gut instincts and intuition in these situations is always smart.

You Don’t Need a Reason
I assured Mary that if this member pushed to start a partnership, she didn’t need to give a reason why she didn’t want to. All she needed to say is something simple like, “It just doesn’t feel right.” Or, “My plate is full now, but, I’ll let you know if and when it feels right.”

Issues Come Up for Resolution
In addition, I explained to Mary how this person was like an angel, bringing up issues for resolution. I encourage all my students to do some personal growth and development in order to work through these situations because they will keep coming up while in business. EFT can be an excellent resource around confrontation, but there are many healing modalities that can be helpful as well.

Healing these fears is important because you have big things to do. You don’t want to play small. Don’t avoid addressing these issues because they will keep you from playing a bigger game and achieving your potential.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
If you are going to be in business, you need to learn how to say “Yes” and “No” to situations and people. When this arises, remember you have the right to choose what feels best and don’t need to explain yourself. Joint venture partners are meant to help you attract clients and build business, but getting involved with the wrong partners will not help with either goal. Be strong and choose wisely.

Webinars and teleseminars are wonderful methods to sell a product or service and attract clients. But they also offer you a lot more from a marketing perspective. You can connect with interested people, share your knowledge and provide value. Whether you offer products or services, how you orchestrate and deliver the program doesn’t really change. And if you are serving the corporate market, the approach would again be the same.

Here is what we do at ClientAttraction.com
1. 75-80% Content
At least 75 – 80% of the content you deliver in a webinar is about educating your audience. During this segment, you’re not selling them anything. You are really just sharing your knowledge about a particular topic. The point is to paint a picture of things that your listeners might not know from your subject matter and expertise. This is how you deliver value, educate your market place, build credibility and start to create trust, all of which helps you attract clients.

For example, in our monthly Client Attraction webinar, I introduce to the audience what they need to do to get clients. I’m also educating them on all the reasons why they need to take these steps. But I’m not telling them exactly how to do it because that’s what gets delivered via our products and services.

2. 20-25% Promotion
The last 20-25% of the webinar is the part where you promote your product or service and explain that’s where listeners will discover “how” to do whatever you have been talking about. When they buy the product or service, you’ll tell them how things work and take them through the process step by step to see how everything is done. The solutions are provided in your product or service.

The Model Stays the Same
So the setup, delivery and format of the webinar or teleseminar program follows this same model regardless of whether it’s about a product or service being offered. You can see exactly how we do it if you sign up for the monthly webinar at www.ClientAttractionWebinar.com. You’ll see that the majority of the information shared is to educate listeners about what they need to do to attract clients and why. Then the specifics are provided about the product at the end of the webinar. The invitation to buy the product and learn more is confined to the last few minutes. We’ve been using this formula for years at Client Attraction because it works for us and it will work for you as well.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
Have you created your first webinar or teleclass yet? To come up with a topic, think about what your prospects need most. What wakes them up at night with the 3am sweats? What solutions are they craving? Next, take a step back and think about how you can talk about this without giving away your information completely. Save the exact “how-to’s” to attract clients who will purchase your actual product or service.

If you’re starting a new business and want to attract clients, you want everything to be right from the outset. You want the right website, the best designed business card, a well-written blog and so on. You want to cross all the “T’s” and dot all the “I’s” before anyone sees what you have to offer.

I understand. It’s about the desire for everything to be perfect before you go public. Unfortunately, striving for perfection often holds you back and keeps you from getting started.

You are evolving, not static, and the same is true about your business. (Click here to tweet this.)

If you feel this way, I’m going to let you off the hook. This is what I want you to understand: You are evolving, not static, and the same is true about your business. Perfection is not required.

It’s time to let go of the need for perfect that is holding you and your business back. Watch this week’s video strategy below and I’ll help you get started.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/ctngdVeu8Uo[/youtube]

Your Client Attraction Assignment

My question for you is this: are you in a holding pattern because you want everything to be perfect before you get out there in a bigger way? Take a moment to think about the one thing you can do right now to get started. The sooner you start, the faster you’ll get clients.

Sometimes clients come to me who have trouble filling their higher-end programs. I have found the problem can often result from people not seeing the program’s full value. To get clients and fill your programs, you must communicate a lot of value. One of the best ways to do this is crush them with social proof.

When I say “crush them with social proof,” I mean do this in a good way. You create excitement when people can see what you do as well as the results your clients and customers get when working with you. They want that for themselves too. Without social proof, people can be somewhat hesitant to get started; they want to see the success others are having first.

Here is how I incorporate social proof into my marketing and how you can do the same to get clients:

1. Capture Strong Testimonials
If you are doing an in person event, be sure to have a video camera available–even if it’s just a Flip camera or Kodak Z100 — so you can record your clients’ testimonials. Simply ask them, “Would you feel comfortable sharing how you felt about your experience today on video?” Usually, they say “Sure!”

Ask clients to talk about their success and strike while the iron is hot – immediately after they have experienced a breakthrough or some success. This is the best way to capture their enthusiasm and excitement while it’s fresh. Don’t wait for the program to end because oftentimes attendees will be in a rush to catch a flight or needing to head home.

When video is not an option, be sure to request written testimonials. Ask your clients to write about their experience in terms of ‘ before and after’– what their situation was before working with you and what changed after working with you.

2. Show Social Proof of Your Teaching and Coaching
As you’ve seen with my marketing, I often share video snippets of me teaching and coaching clients in order to introduce prospects to the work that I do. The more examples you have, the better people will feel about hiring you or registering for your program.

3. Share Your Social Proof Everywhere!
There are so many places to share client success stories. Sprinkle, sprinkle, drip, drip that social proof everywhere so that you are omnipresent. The more places where people learn about you, the more social proof works to help you get clients.

Put your social proof in all of these places:
• Share in all your social media
• Place video or written testimonials on your website’s home page
• Use on your programs sales pages
• Create a tab on your site dedicated to testimonials
• Include in emails you send to sell your programs
• Include in your newsletters
• Incorporate into snail mail

Your Client Attraction Assignment
How can you incorporate more social proof into your marketing efforts? Make this step a priority and remember to look for opportunities to capture testimonials. Becoming omnipresent with your social proof will definitely help you fill your programs and get more clients.

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