What’s the best way to follow up with prospects? This is one of the most common questions I get and there are as many experts with an answer to this as there are ways to do it.
One day, my friend Rob was celebrating a big new account he’d just signed on. I asked him how he got such a great client. Rob told me that it was persistence and “just checking in” on a regular basis that landed him the sizable account.
Check in with prospects and remember that “not right now” doesn’t mean “no.” (Click here to tweet this.)
Let me tell you Rob’s story and my five rules for success when it comes to checking in with prospects. Watch this week’s video strategy below to master the art of “just checking in.”
[youtube]http://youtu.be/HQsbe_AwNQ4[/youtube]
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Do you have a list of prospects you haven’t checked in with lately? Reach out to them this week, using the method I described in this week’s video strategy. Remember, “not right now” doesn’t mean “no.” Be persistent without being aggressive and your prospects will convert to clients before you know it.
Having a video on your homepage brings your connection with visitors to another level so you can attract clients more easily. When prospects come to your site and click on the video, they get to see who you are, which is huge. As you know people do business with people they know, like and trust. Video facilitates the start of a relationship.
To get the most from your video, here are my recommendations:
1. Hire a Professional Videographer. You might think this is too expensive, but you only get one chance to make a first impression. To ensure a quality presentation, working with a videographer makes a big difference because he knows about:
- Lighting
- Sound
- Editing
- Teleprompters
All of this creates a far more professional looking production to attract clients. The teleprompter makes things so much easier because you don’t have to memorize your script. You can read from the teleprompter in a conversational manner with a little practice, so it won’t be distracting to your viewers and will still allow you to come from a place of authenticity. This investment is worth every penny.
2. Focus on Your Irresistible Free Offer. Keep in mind what you want the viewers to do. I call this your Most Wanted Response and their Most Wanted Action. For my homepage video, I simply wanted viewers to request my free CD. This is what my video is still all about. You want to drive people to whatever your irresistible free offer is to attract clients.
3. Keep the Length Only 60-90 Seconds. Shorter is better when it comes to video. If you can edit your script down to a minute or so, you have the best chance for people to watch the entire video. This is a place where less is definitely more.
4. Infuse Your Presentation with Personality. If you want people to get to know you, make sure you allow them to see who you are. Show off your personality to differentiate yourself from others who offer the same or similar products and services. Again, this relates back to people doing business with those they know, like and trust. Let viewers see your warmth and desire to help, so they connect with you quickly.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Thinking about making a video? One thing that can really help is to see what your competition has done with video. After viewing several, you’ll get a better idea of what you want to say and what you want to avoid as well. Then, get started! Don’t put this off because today, more than ever, video helps you market more effectively and attract clients.
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.
When I first started doing teleseminars to attract clients, I would do live calls with everyone on the line being able to ask me questions. My first boot camps were structured the same way as well. This worked fine when the groups were relatively small.
Background Noise is Disruptive
What I noticed over time was, inevitably, there would be noise in the background that was very distracting. You’d hear a dog barking, a baby crying, someone washing dishes or watching TV. On occasion, one person who didn’t realize they were live on the call would answer a cell phone and you would hear the entire conversation. People didn’t realize that everyone on the call could hear everything going on.
The level of frustration as a presenter when this happens is very high. After all, you want to share all your knowledge and wisdom which is why you set up the teleseminar in the first place right? So when there are six people on the call, it’s not such a problem. But when you have 120 or 1200 and you cannot control the noise, it becomes frustrating and unworkable for everyone.
Logistically, an Open Call Is Hard to Manage
So, even though in my heart I would love to open up the calls and have everyone join the discussion, logistically it just doesn’t work. Earlier on I would ask people to please mute themselves but surprisingly, people just don’t seem to follow these instructions and requests.
That’s why I shifted to lecture mode where the line is muted for the callers and everyone can hear me. And that’s what I recommend to my students as well. It’s just easier to put everyone on mute yourself with lecture mode to make sure all the information gets delivered clearly and without interruptions.
Open the Line for Questions
If you really want the interaction and feel it’s essential to the learning experience, here’s another option. Mute the line while you are presenting information, then open the line for a brief question period before going back on mute. You can do this periodically throughout the teleseminar or hold all questions until the end of the call.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
If you are holding open calls to attract clients, consider the benefits of lecture mode. It makes for a better learning experience and a better quality recording that you can sell later. To take questions, let people know when that will be possible during the call and then open the line. This way, you maintain control. Sometimes you may need to mute the call again as you answer a question because the noise level makes it too difficult to be heard otherwise.
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.
No matter what industry or market you’re in, it’s important to stay on the pulse of what’s happening in your niche around the globe. These days, news and information comes to us in so many ways… Sometimes I find that overwhelming and I like to cut to the chase. If I want news fast, I’ll head to Twitter.
So many of us are on Twitter, talking to friends and colleagues and clients. We follow companies and brands and receive instantaneous news updates, status updates, content and so much more. But are you using Twitter effectively for your business networking?
Use Twitter to make meaningful connections around trends in your company, brand, message or industry. (Click here to tweet this.)
Twitter is all about the conversation. All social media thrives on two-way communication and Twitter is one of the best formats for that. It’s not necessarily a platform to broadcast, but rather to engage and find out what’s going on in your space right now.
Before social media, networking was a whole different ball game. If you were looking to connect with like-minded people, you had to literally get out there. I mean, you had to physically step out there into the world and engage in face-to-face interactions. While these interactions are priceless, we don’t always have the time for them as busy entrepreneurs. We also don’t want to be limited by time or geography; we want to get out there and reach the people that matter to us no matter whey they are.
Where can we do that? On Twitter. Watch this week’s video strategy to learn all about how you can share your message and connect effectively with the right people using Twitter.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/Ce38Ydb2rT0[/youtube]
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Get out there and start interacting with others on Twitter. Find out what’s trending in relation to your company, brand, message or industry and start making those important connections. If you take five minutes to do this every day, your network and email subscriber list will grow, allowing you to attract more partners and more clients.
I’m thrilled to welcome back one of our standout students of The Client Attraction Business School™, Love and Passion Coach Stacey Martino. Enjoy Stacey’s words of wisdom and please post your comments and questions below. ~ Fabienne. Connect with Stacey on Facebook here.
As a love and passion expert, who primarily serves entrepreneurs and coaches, I get asked the following question a lot. “Stacey, I want to grow my business, but my partner isn’t on board! What can I do to get him/her to support me in my business?”
My answer is always the same, “Without coaching or training, no human on earth will 100% support something they are also competing with for your time, attention and priority.”
No one will 100% support something they are also competing with for your time, attention and priority. (Click here to tweet this.)
So here’s my advice; it starts with you. At Love and Passion Coach, I empower people to transform their intimate relationships without their partner needing to participate. The same can be done when it comes to getting your partner’s support with you business. It begins with a raw and vulnerable conversation that you have not been willing to have yet.
It goes something like this…
“You are the most important thing in my world, not my business, not this program (or whatever you want to do), not my parents, not even the kids; only you. Everything begins and ends with you. And whatever you want, is what I want. Your dreams are my dreams too. And I’m scared and I need you. Right now this is what I really need (to grow my business) and I want to talk to you about it. But I absolutely want you to know that no matter what, it will never change the fact that you come first for me, always. My intention is that no matter what we decide to do together, you are my number one. And whatever we decide to do together, that’s what I will do, because you are first for me!”
When you speak these words from your heart and really mean them and when your partner truly feels what you’re saying, it shifts everything. You may think it could take months for them to feel that but it can actually happen in a moment!
When you truly come from this space, your partner will no longer feel that they are COMPETING with your business for your time, attention and priority. That’s when they will give you the support you desire.
Once you experience your partner’s support in your business, you will see that the greatest gift of having their support is NOT actually that you get to DO whatever it is that you want to DO in your business. The greatest gift of your partner’s support in your business, is that you get to lean on them, confide in them, celebrate with them, cry to them, collaborate with them and experience your business with them!
The purpose of relationships is to magnify the human experience and live as the best version of yourself. If you have not been able to SHARE your business with your partner, not only have you been taking everything on yourself, which is exhausting, but you are missing out on sharing the experience of your business with the most important person in your life!
You are an entrepreneur. Your business is not exactly “separate” from you. If you have been operating your business separately from your partner, you are creating separation between the two of you that is too risky…for both your relationship and your business!
I’m not saying that your partner has to work IN your business with you. You can include your partner in your business simply by sharing it with them authentically.
You may not have been willing to “share” your business with them before because you FELT their resistance, so you kept your business to yourself. But their resistance isn’t that they don’t CARE or aren’t interested. Their resistance is that they feel they are lower on your list than your business, so they don’t want “that business” getting any more attention.
Until you can proudly say, with authenticity, integrity and love, that your partner IS your number one, then you cannot expect your partner’s 100% support for your business.
I know you love your partner. Operationally, where has your partner been on your list? Day to day, how are you living? Are you living that your partner is number one? Or is it the kids? Or your business? Or your folks? If I asked your partner right now, where would THEY say they fall on your list? Number one? Number two? Number 5?
Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s very rare to organically live putting your partner first. No one ever taught us to do that. But until your partner feels that they are number one, you will not get the support you want for your business, and your business can only grow so much without your partner’s support! So you must start here!
Make your partner your number one and make sure they feel it! Sometimes this can be easier said than done. If this is a struggle for you, please watch our free video series for the tools and strategies that you need to quickly and easily create this in your intimate relationship.
Once you transform your intimate relationship so that you are putting your partner first and authentically sharing your business with them… THEN your business will truly have NO LIMITS! And as a nice side bonus, you will find that the PASSION comes back to your relationship in a BIG way!!!
Stacey Martino helps people who feel stuck, frustrated and helpless with the challenges that intimate relationship brings. Through targeted, strategic private coaching, programs and events for her Relationship Transformation™, Relationship Rescue™ and Relationship Transition™ programs, individuals learn to use her proven strategies and tools to create an unshakable love and unleashed passion that lasts a lifetime.
Stacey firmly believes that it absolutely does NOT take two to tango, that one person can significantly shift the dynamics of the relationship. Clients have praised Stacey for helping them to see massive results in record time. Formerly known as “The Ice Princess”, Stacey is intimately aware of what it takes to transform oneself to be ready to both give and receive love and passion like you have never experienced before.
Watch Stacey’s Free Valentine’s Day Video Series, “How to Reignite Your Passion” here.
Some of my students have chosen a target audience or niche that is hard to reach through regular marketing methods. For example, doctors fall into this category. They are so incredibly busy and focused on patient needs, that discussing marketing with them is not easy.
So you could try any of the following traditional methods to connect individually or where they congregate in groups:
• Cold calling to speak to practice managers
• Mailings to physicians and practice managers
• Attending medical conventions
• Attending pharmaceutical conventions
While you might make some headway, this can be a hard, long road to work. Physicians are simply a tough group to break into. So how can you reach out to groups like this with a high barrier for communication?
Niches like this tend to be more open to considering new services through referrals. It’s kind of like reaching the affluent. Affluent people don’t gather that much in networking groups. Instead, they gather more socially and for charities. They are harder to reach. They have more gatekeepers.
So to reach a tougher group like physicians or the affluent, look at who you already know in this arena and create a referral program. By connecting with the people you already know and building relationships, you can often gain access to the people they know.
You want to nurture your existing contacts so you get the referrals you need to attract clients. It’s through letters and coffee dates and all that, but it’s for people you already know. Remember, people tend to do business with those they know, like and trust and this statement is even stronger in tight knit, affluent communities. This can be the fastest path for those niches that are hard to reach or have strong gatekeepers.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Have you made a list of all the contacts you know? Have you written your warm letter and created your own system for staying in touch? I encourage you to build strong relationships with your contact list and build on that further to attract clients and the referrals needed to help build your business.
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.
People always ask me, “Fabienne, I feel like sometimes I have lots of clients and at other times, there is nothing. What’s the secret to having clients consistently?”
My answer is something I call “A.B.M.” Always Be Marketing! If you want a full roster of clients in 6 months, you must be marketing TODAY and every day. And not just once in a while, but consistently.
To have clients consistently, always be marketing. (Click here to tweet this.)
If you don’t set things up to be systematic, then you won’t stay on track. And if you don’t stay on track, you won’t market consistently. And if you don’t market consistently, then you won’t take action and get results consistently.
That means that you’re going to have a much harder time keeping your practice consistently full, UNLESS you set things up to work on their own, with a little tweak from you here and there. It’s necessary to create a system around your marketing calendar, so you always know what to do…
In this week’s video I explain a strategy that our students of The Client Attraction Business School use to “Always Be Marketing.” Check it out below…
[youtube]http://youtu.be/Nrv9XXcjDFI[/youtube]
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Get started on your Year-at-a-Glace calendar and map out the year ahead. Take a systematic approach and space out or stagger your tasks so the whole calendar is covered. You’ll never worry about where your next clients will come from, because you will consistently be marketing. Couldn’t be easier!
While I’m not a professional speaking expert, when clients ask me how to improve their chances for being selected to speak by decision makers, I share what I have done. Speaking is a great way to get more clients and gain exposure for what you do.
Here’s what has worked for me:
1. Give Decision Makers What They Want. The most important piece is to provide what the decision makers are looking for. Fill out their forms completely for a “call for speakers”. If you get a chance to talk to someone, ask for specifics about the presenter they are seeking. This is how you can give the people in power the most pertinent information about you and your topics and why you are a great fit for their purposes.
2. Create a “Speaker One-Sheet” for yourself. This is like your speaking brochure but there is typical format that speakers often use. You can look this up online. Your one-sheet is where you sell yourself and your speaking topics. Make sure you write this from the perspective of the person hiring you. Think about why what you do is ideal for them and how you suit their purposes.
When I started out, my speaker sheet was homemade and it did sort of look it. Later I had the one-sheet professionally done so I could compete with and stand out among top speaking professionals.
3. Use Catchy Titles for Your Signature Talks. You need to grab the attention of the person doing the booking. They’ll want to see the types of talks you do to get a feeling for who you are and if their audience will appreciate what you have to say.
4. Video a Couple of Your Talks. Video helps the decision maker see how you are on stage and if you’ll be a good fit for their audience. Video conveys so much more than words on a one-sheet ever can. They can see the video link on your one-sheet and then watch how you present. The last thing a decision maker wants is to have a boring speaker at their event, so this is your chance to shine.
5. Learn from Professional Speakers. Attend a local chapter of the Nationals Speakers Association (NSA) to learn more about how the professionals do things. Talk to the members and ask questions. This is a great place to network because other speakers will share resources on how to get booked. Landing more speaking gigs means you’ll get more clients.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Speaking is one of the most powerful ways to get more clients. When people hear you present, they get a first-hand taste of what you have to offer and get to know you a little. This breaks down the barriers and warms prospects up to the idea of working with you. Take a professional approach to land more speaking to get more clients and make more money.
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.
Many people struggle with how to follow up with potential clients who say they are interested in working with you. Sometimes you leave them voicemail messages and never hear back. Sometimes they put you off or ask you to call back again at a later date. There are countless reasons why you might not connect right away, even though the person voiced an interest.
For example, when I was doing nutrition coaching, I would do lots of health fairs to attract clients, meet prospects and build my list. I had a sign up list for a free consultation and all these people would sign up for that. Then they would completely flake out. I’d find myself on the phone constantly pursuing people and thinking to myself, “What am I doing? This doesn’t feel good.” So I stopped doing that.
Then I changed my tactics. I wanted to put the ball in their court to attract clients. At the end of my talk I would say, “I gave you a lot of information today. You can go ahead and implement this on your own. If for some reason you feel that it’s a bit much to do by yourself and you want some help, I’m very approachable and accessible.
“You have my card because I left it on your chair. Please give me a call and let’s set up a get-acquainted session and see if I can help. Or come up to me after the end of this talk and let’s chat for a moment. Then if it makes sense for us to talk more, I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”
Now sometimes prospects still want to put off working with you. That’s where the low hanging fruit list becomes so important, because you can check in with them later. Many times people will actually say, “I’m so glad you called,” since they are now ready to get started.
If you want to leave a message, here’s what you can say, “Hi, it’s (your name). I’m really looking forward to chatting with you. Just checking in to see how you are. Please give me a call.” Remember to strike while the iron is hot as they say. So follow up the very next day.
Being of service and continuing to reach out to these prospects will help you attract clients. Try Facebook, emailing, calling, an invitation to something, an article clipping and snail mail. Contacting prospects repeatedly with different communication methods and messages keeps you in front of people and top-of-mind when they are finally ready to get to work. This is where your ezine helps you stay in touch as well. So you don’t have to call and call and call. Try a variety of methods to reach out and follow up to attract clients.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Do you have a follow up system set up for your business to attract clients? If not, creating that low-hanging fruit list and a step by step system that you can automate will make it so much easier to attract clients and grow your business.
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.
A few weeks ago, I shared how you can use Twitter to get out there and expand your visibility online. Twitter is a powerful and easy to use social network that can make a huge difference for your business.
You might be thinking, Twitter is purely social… that’s why they call it social media. But I’m here today to tell you that Twitter, especially, is a huge untapped resource of information, one that you can easily leverage for your market research.
Ever use Twitter for market research? Find conversations centered on your market all around the world. (Click here to tweet this.)
Part of growing your business is doing market research. This was probably one of the first steps you took before you even started your business. You looked at your industry to see what was going on and what was missing, and from there how you could fill that gap with your service or product. You probably started online using Google or other search engines to see what was out there. But did you think about checking on Twitter?
Twitter allows you to create and join in on conversations centered on your market, your industry and your message, all around the world. This is not only extremely helpful for networking, but also so useful for market research. It means you can create relationships and learn more about your marketplace all at the same time. Watch the video below to learn how to get started right away.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QvVmp4mKcU[/youtube]
Your Client Attraction Assignment
So here’s your assignment for this week: run a search on twitter for your topic or market. Reply to five original posters in your “space” and engage in conversation. Ask questions and provide compelling responses. Get out there and learn what people are talking about in your market right at this very moment. It will help you grow your business, attract your ideal clients and change even more lives. Until next time, Happy Client Attraction!
