August 2014 - Small Business Coach, Women Business Coaching

When you are looking to get new clients, one of the best ways is to have a phone call with prospects to get to know them a bit and tell them about your services. Some people offer a free consultation, but I tell my students that this is not the best positioning for what the call is really about.

Instead I recommend offering a “Get Acquainted Call.” Here are three reasons why this is a much better approach to get clients:

1. People Love Free Stuff. There can be a lot of confusion around this first call and what it really involves. When people show up, they expect you to consult with them like a free session. They tend to take the information and go off with it, but don’t hire you.

2. You Must Set the Expectation. When you call this initial session a Get Acquainted Call, you are not offering any free service. You will be talking about the person’s needs and struggles and how you can help. This sets a completely different expectation, one that is far better for converting prospects into clients.

3. No Problem Solving. A Get Acquainted Call allows you to learn about the prospect’s situation. You can simply start by saying, “I want to hear about your situation and see if I can help.” This gives you lots of information to understand what the person’s struggles and needs are.

Using this language prevents prospects from assuming you are going to start helping them improve anything immediately. You are just having a conversation to discover how you can help and engaging in a process to determine if you are a good fit. Once you figure this out, then you can share your programs to see if the prospect wants to become a client.

If you feel there is good potential to work with the person, make sure you follow up with, “Yes I can help you with that.” You may want to add a few happy client examples of people who got good results with similar issues. This way prospects know you have done this before and feel confident you can help them too.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
If you’ve been offering free consultations, rewrite your script for discussing this initial conversation. Get comfortable talk about the “Get Acquainted” call and be clear you will be getting to know the person. This will make a difference in your ability to close and get clients and will tend to attract fewer tire-kickers who waste your time.

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.

Have you increased your prices lately? If you answered yes, let me congratulate you! Sometimes business owners fear raising their rates, believing they won’t get clients and will lose out on prospects. I went through this as well in my earlier years.

Yet, you can stay with your pricing structure so long before you need to change things, especially if your calendar is getting full. That’s a sure sign it’s time for a fee hike. When I started to really fill my practice, I raised my prices as frequently as every couple of months.

Sometimes, after an increase you may notice a bit of resistance. Perhaps you’ll get calls from several prospects, run through the get acquainted information and then they don’t sign up. People might tell you “that doesn’t fit in my budget,” or say they’ll get back to you but you never hear from them. Even if you use the bookend method of scheduling a follow up call, they still don’t say yes. This can make you question if your price is too high and wonder if you should reconsider. However, that is usually not the case.

More often, the resistance is within you and can be a mindset problem. To address this, there are two vital steps to take to ensure you stay in the flow and still get new clients.

1. Add Value. You want the value of your offering to be so yummy that people find it a no brainer to sign up. So, you have to add value when you take your prices up. Add any of the following:

Brief chats by telephone
A VIP half or full day in person
Extra programs on audio or ebooks
Making your entire library available

2. Align Your Energy with Your Pricing. This is a mindset matter. You need to check in with yourself to make sure you are aligned with the relationship between the value you provide and the price you want to charge. Do you have thoughts about not being fair or that other people charge less? Some prospects will think your fees are too high while others will see tremendous value. The truth is, it doesn’t matter what other people think; it only matters what YOU think.

Check in with yourself and ask, “Do I feel I’m giving clients and prospects everything that justifies this fee? Will get the results they desire?” You want to give even more value so that you have a strong conviction around the program fee to get clients. You need to feel this in every cell of your body and every fiber of your being – that’s how you know your energy is aligned with the program’s value and pricing.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
How do you feel about the value you offer clients? Maybe it’s time to check in with clients to discover what else they might need or really want from working with you. It’s so much easier to get clients when you don’t have to struggle to point out the incredible value they get from working with you.

As your business starts to build, responding to email inquiries can become a problem. There are just so many of them! You might think this is a good thing, and to an extent it is because emails are part of client attraction. But you need to learn how to efficiently handle, sort, and respond to numerous emails.

Now, some emails are inquiries from prospects who are seriously interested in working with you. Others are tire kickers or are asking for free advice. At some point, you won’t have time to answer them all on your own. Remember, there are only two types of activity you want to spend your time on when building your business:

Working with clients and providing your service
Marketing your service to fill your pipeline and get clients

This is why answering emails can be an incredible time drain. I experienced the problem myself as my business started to take off. After a while, I figured out that I needed to maintain strong boundaries to guard against situations that can take up loads of time, but don’t fall under the two essential categories above.

Here’s what I did to handle email inquiries, which can work for you too:

1. Stop answering emails to your personal address. This is a very big first step and a powerful one, although I’ll admit it’s not an easy step to take. I had to let go of answering all emails that came into fabienne@clientattraction.com. I passed this task along to my virtual assistant so she could sort through them and forward the ones requiring my attention. The others she responded to herself. We worked out a system so she knew how I wanted different questions answered. This eliminated a ton of busy work for me and freed me to focus on more marketing and money-making activities.

2. Stop giving away free advice. Establishing boundaries is not only a smart business practice, but a valuable skill for life in general. If you let them, people will take advantage of you – not necessarily because they mean any harm, but because people are curious, have a genuine need and don’t necessarily realize the impact of a request.

When requests for free advice got to be overwhelming, I came up with a response that educated people about their interactions with me. You can say, “The answer to your question depends on many variables. It’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of answer. If you are interested in working with me, I would be happy to explore that with you, create a strategy and help you determine which method could work best for you.”

A lot of the people who email will not be ready to work with you, which is to be expected. Some people will be upset with you. Just state your boundaries in a yummy way that is warm and positive, but firm, to safeguard your time available for client attraction.

You Client Attraction Assignment
Which emails tend to waste your time? Figure out your standard answer and save it as a word document. You can even cut and paste your response if you aren’t ready yet to hand your email off to a VA.

As your small business grows beyond the start up phase, you become very busy. You calendar is close to being full or is jammed. This may lead to thoughts like, “How long can I keep doing this?” You look into the future and realize you probably won’t be able to grow beyond the hours in a day, feeling stretched into the next three to five years. Yet, you still want to grow your business and work on client attraction. How do you make a shift in business growth like this?

Having these thoughts is how you know you are ready to begin the leverage phase. It’s time to think about how you can shift to the next level of business to help and work with more people than you can on an individual basis. Your one-on-one model will start to hinder your business potential. It’s time to put on your leverage hat. You are ready to discover the answers for getting to the next level of client attraction.

Here’s how you do that. You actually make time to figure this out. When you are looking for change and growth in your business, yet are mired in the daily details, you cannot figure anything out. You need to carve time out to be quiet. What is required is to sit and think, journal and plan out what your evolution is going to look like.

The number one step I recommend is to set up at least one day per quarter (if not once a month) where you don’t go to the office at all. You need a separate place to foster your creativity and problem solving abilities. Then, get out a white board or flip chart and start to brainstorm so you map out how you want your business to evolve.

You have to create this essential time in your life to download and get divine inspiration. This is the only way to flush out the ideas you already have and to allow new ones to come to mind. The process requires empty space set aside specifically for this purpose without the day-to-day business and interruptions that will prevent your creative flow.

I do this with Derek on a regular basis. It can help to have another person to bounce ideas around with (but you can also do this alone, so not to worry). It’s always an expansive day where we explore all sorts of crazy possibilities. Let yourself go and don’t worry about being totally realistic at the start. That’s where amazing ideas can come to life.

Later, bring things back down to earth. Your next step is to see which ideas you could actually use and execute. Think about how you could put the concepts to work in your business now and plan for the roll-out.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
Right now, take out your calendar and plan your first brainstorming day. Then mark down other dates for the balance of the year. Set this time aside today and stick with your plan for future client attraction ideas. This is how you honor the possibilities of what your business can grow into and become.

If you’ve been in business for awhile, you have a number of clients who completed your initial program. You may wonder, “What can I do with these clients next?” They are a valuable group since they have already invested in working with you.

Of course, you could create a whole new program or a more advanced level of your work. But another valid and smart option to get repeat clients is to simply ask them if they would like to continue the program they are in.

I was part of a coaching program with somebody for four years. This year, I renewed for the second year of the coaching program I was in last year. Why did I do this? I got great value! The first year was more foundational, but the second year is where you can really start to soar.

As a big believer in sticking with what works, I say it’s just smart to keep going. Otherwise, your clients who stop are likely to stagnate and their results will slow too. If they keep working with you, they will create compound results based on the success they achieved in the first series.

In reality, you are actually doing your clients a disservice if you don’t invite them to continue working with you for a second year or series.

To get more clients, you may also want to create a maintenance program. Let’s say you had three or four sessions a month in the original program; the maintenance series could be once a month. You can say, “You know, I also have a maintenance program to keep your toes in the water. It’s a six month (or whatever time frame you offer) and it includes…” then provide some details.

During this conversation, follow up your suggestion of continuing the work by reviewing their accomplishments. Looking at the first round and the great impact it had on their business can be very motivating. Have them share their goals for the next 12 months so they can start to see how your support would continue to be invaluable.

The best solution to get repeat clients is to invite them to continue the program they’ve been in or try the maintenance idea. This is what I’ve discovered with my own programs.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
To get clients to sign up again, make sure to suggest it as a standard part of your series wrap up. Plan to review what they learned and achieved and how it’s smart to keep going while business is growing.

Most business owners have experienced this common situation. You get an email inquiry asking about your fees as the first or only question. If you have responded with your pricing, you probably never heard from the person again, right? This is not the best way to reel in a potential client.

People may be interested in working with you but fear they cannot afford you. When you send your pricing right off the bat, you prevent the sales conversation and you haven’t built in any value. That’s why I recommend you should not send out your prices when requested.

Instead, the best way to handle this is to let the person know you have many packages and programs. Say something like, “Most likely you can afford working with me because I have different packages to fit any level.” Then, suggest you have a phone conversation to better understand their situation and discuss the different programs to find out which one fits best.

This is the way to open a conversation that allows you to build rapport and trust, which helps prospects start to feel comfortable. Your prospect will let down some of his or her defenses so you can really connect and help. Once they figure out how you can help and understand that there is an affordable option, closing the deal to get new clients becomes much easier.

In addition, if you are familiar with my methods, you know I also recommend a written interview with you in which you directly answer many of the expected objections potential clients may have. These include:

Will this work?
Will this work for me?
Is it expensive?
Will I get results?
How fast will I get results?
Can you prove your system works?

Be sure to answer each of these common objections in your written interview so prospects can find answers before they even contact you or while waiting for your ‘Get Acquainted” call.

One last point – it helps to get comfortable with the idea that it takes time to describe all the different packages. If you have fear about this and fumble, that gives people the feeling you are not comfortable and erodes trust. Tell people who email asking for prices that discussing your packages and prices takes more than a quick answer by email. This encourages them to get on the phone with you for 15 minutes so you can learn about their situation, talk about your programs, describe how they work and explain the fees. It’s simply not something that can be answered in one minute.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
Have you written and posted your “Interview with…” on your site yet? This is a valuable tool that you share with a potential client before the Get Acquainted call. Ask the person to read the interview so that many of the potential objections are handled before you even speak. This can work wonders and help you get clients for sure.

If you are familiar with my methods, then you know I always recommend networking groups, and BNI in particular. This powerful international group helped me learn how to network and fill my practice quickly by meeting lots of new people and gaining referrals.

However, many students have shared their concerns about the referral process. This is particularly true if you are just starting out as a new business owner. Often new business owners worry about their ability to provide referrals and the expectations around this. I have frequently mentioned that the strength of the referral network you create is usually based on the number of referrals you provide. Truth is, I had this same concern when I started out years ago.

Let me share three reasons why you can let go of the fear and take the pressure off yourself as you learn how to network:

1. You’ll Be Making Friends
As you take time to get to know people in your BNI chapter, they will become your friends. You are going to sit down and have coffee with the individuals and really get to know them. That alone makes the process a lot easier and less pressurized. Building your business connections expands your reach and increases your opportunities for success.

2. You’ll Learn Who Networkers Are Seeking
As you get to know group members, you’ll ask each person who they are looking for. Ask questions like, “So, tell me about the kind of clients you’re looking for. What’s the thing you want me to say or listen for that is a buzz word that would put me in a position to give you a referral? What is the best thing I can say to people to interest them in your products or services?”

Many members will have specific words you can use which will make the referral process go much more smoothly.

3. You’ll Find Giving Referrals Becomes Natural
Talking about referrals with other members gets your mental rolodex flipping as you think about who you may know that could benefit from their service or product. But running into these possible referrals – whether they are people you already know or new people you will meet – doesn’t happen instantly. It takes time and everyone involved knows this.

You aren’t expected to start dishing out referrals straight out of the gate. But, the more you network, the more people you meet. As you talk to them, their needs will naturally come out in conversation. So your job is really to listen for those natural opportunities and connect people looking for each other.

Also, keep in mind there maybe people in the group whose services you will want to take advantage of yourself. Having a personal experience of working with them makes it easier to refer others.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
When it comes to receiving referrals, you need to have a strong elevator pitch, know who your ideal client is and how to relate to them. The easier you make it for others to recognize your ideal clients, the more referrals you will get. Spend time figuring out who your ideal client is and how to relay that to others as you learn how to network and give referrals.

When it comes to list building, joint ventures can deliver the growth you are seeking. Students often ask me how to reach out to potential partners. A lot depends on who they are and the level of business success they have achieved. I recommend a different strategy for partners who are in a similar place as you versus partners who are more advanced.

Joint Ventures with Similar Business Size
Approaching a possible partner who is at your level is fairly easy. You can offer to do an exchange where you do something for your partner’s list and then you promote them to your list. This benefits you both; I did this a lot at the beginning.

Joint Ventures with Bigger Partners
If you approach a bigger business partner and ask them to promote you to their list, the answer will likely be “no.” See, there is nothing in it for them because of the inequality of your success. I learned this the hard way and realized I was going about this all wrong…

Offer Your Assistance First
You need a different strategy to get the attention of a larger partner. Now, when I approach someone with a bigger list, I offer my help. Try this script:

“I really like what you’ve been doing. I like the message and think we target similar people. How can I help? How can I promote you to my list?”

Recently, I tried this with a well-known business owner with a much larger list than mine. After asking how I could help her, she said, “Then I can help you. I definitely want to promote you to my people and maybe create some strategic alliance.” That’s exactly what I was hoping for, but I started the conversation by focusing on what I could do for her.

Try the Intuitive Approach
If you have the opportunity to speak with a potential partner privately, you can try this script. However, only do this if it’s true and feels natural, otherwise it won’t seem genuine.

“I just really love what you’re doing. I keep getting this intuitive nudge that we should be doing something together. I don’t know exactly what it looks like. Are you open to talking about this for a couple of minutes?” This works most of the time for me.

How Many Times to Approach People
Many students ask me how many times they should approach a person about partnering for list building before walking away. There is no right number, but I have noticed the Power of Three. Show up three times on somebody’s radar screen in a short timeframe, like a week or two. It can really help if the person hears about you from different sources so it seems like you are everywhere. Then, the person is far more likely to pay attention to you and be open to a conversation.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
Who do you know that would make a great joint venture partner? Who can help you meet that person? Check on LinkedIn to see if you have connections for an introduction. Then, try these scripts to discover which list building partnerships you can create.

client-attraction-internet-marketing-intensive Want more strategies like this? Join Derek in August for his Internet Marketing Intensive live training event. Over the course of three days you’ll discover everything you need to do to consistently and easily add hundreds (if not thousands) of highly targeted, ideal and super-qualified leads to your email list, while making more money using proven online marketing strategies and campaigns that are easy to implement, genuinely authentic and that work. Learn more at www.InternetMarketingIntensiveEvent.com.

Sometimes I have these moments in my business where I am reminded so greatly of the importance of what we do within the Business School… and how meaningful the results are for our students…

I sat down on my porch this morning with my mug of coffee and opened my email. Within minutes, I was in tears. Good tears.

One of our students in the Growth Track sent me a video (for my eyes only) telling me about all the big things that have happened since she enrolled in The Client Attraction Business School months ago. She told me how she used to get in her own way, again and again, not saying yes to the opportunities that kept showing up, for fear of (being judged, being criticized, [insert your own fears here, we all have them]).

But then something happened, she said. There was one thing that was absolutely life-changing for her, something that got her out of her own way.

She upgraded her Mindset with me, in the span of 3 days.

She told me how she had been approached with a BIG opportunity for growth year after year, but her “gunky” mindset kept getting in the way and she kept saying no to this opportunity because she was scared. Like many of us, she was scared to take this next giant leap in her business. “What if I’m not good enough? What if I don’t have what it takes?” she asked herself, like so many who stop themselves do.

She said that only after attending The Mindset Retreat just 11 months ago, was she able to step into fear with courage and confidence, rather than back down like she’d done previously. As she’s telling me this in her video, she was holding back tears of gratitude that, frankly, got my eyes worked up too.

And guess what? After shifting her mindset just months ago, and stepping INTO the fear with a newfound faith, rather than backing away from it, she’s finally said yes to this big opportunity, and said yes to countless other opportunities that have brought her business (and income) to an entirely new level.

In fact, this is the second time in 2 days that I’ve been told something like this…

I’d like to keep her anonymity private because, well, she’s a private kind of person, but I have to tell you that in her video, she revealed to me that she’s still a little scared sometimes.

And so am I.

Fears will always show up when you reach for a fuller, richer, more abundant life. Here are examples of fears that come up when you begin to think bigger and reach for something outside your comfort zone:

Fear of rejection
Fear of failure (or fear of success)
Fear of what others will think of you

And I will tell you, if you want to get to that next level of your own income and breakthrough, you MUST be willing to stretch beyond your existing comfort zone. That’s what happened to this Growth Track student of ours.

And here’s what she said she now realizes: since our Mindset work together, she now knows just how to walk right into those pesky fears with confidence and how exciting it really is to do so, and then reap the rewards.

So, I’m celebrating her big time today. Because she said YES to upgrading her mindset (there is no other choice, just so you know, unless we want to stay at the same plateau).

I hope this inspires you just a bit, and I also want to share a mindset lesson with you, in hopes that you will overcome some of the same fears she was able to (and that all our students do), so you too can step into your greater purpose and a more abundant life.

To help you get beyond this discomfort and act with courage and confidence, so you can reach to the next level of your income, I’m hosting a free class for you. Some of the dozens and dozens of concepts I will share with you are:

1. What you want (the breakthrough) is right beyond your fear.

2. You must be courageous.

3. The discomfort is always strongest the first time.

4. It helps to surround yourself with people who have successfully crossed the fear many times. They can coach you through the process and reassure you you’re on the right track.

That being said, I want to invite you to get out of your own fear-based mindset by joining me for my free 3-hour Mindset Masterclass this month.

If you’re interested in dipping your toes into the Mindset ‘water’, so to speak, and to see what it’s all about, I’m offering a totally free Mindset Masterclass for 3 full hours on August 11^th. I’ll be livestreaming from my home here in Stamford, CT. (Yes, that means you can stay in your pajamas and not leave the house, if you like!) 😉

The 3-hour Mindset Masterclass Livestream is happening:

Monday, August 11, 2014
11 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET (New York Time)
3 hours of content and inspiration
Video presentation: all you need is a computer and an Internet connection
(Free of charge)

I believe this Mindset MasterClass may be the beginning of a new time in your life, one that may bring you tears of gratitude too.

Click here to sign up for free now.

Until August 11^th!

As always, I am always here to help, with love.

Hugs,
Fabienne

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