QUOTE: “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” -Thomas Jefferson

You may be working your tail off to market your business and yet you’re still wondering why it hasn’t “happened” yet. I’ve seen this happen thousands of times. An entrepreneur is seemingly working HARD to get clients, working like a dog to bring in some good in-come and yet, the results just aren’t showing up. It’s like fighting an uphill battle and often seems like it’s not really worth it, or worse, like something’s wrong with us. (more…)

The cold hard truth of why most entrepreneurs don’t ever make a lot in their business is that most businesses simply aren’t set up for success. Think about it: you spend all your time offering services to lots of individuals and generating new leads, and then “delivering the goods” one person at a time, only to be left exhausted, frustrated, and poor! But there IS a way to leverage yourself and your income, AND set yourself up as an expert, and that’s by creating a profitable association, organization, or group, of any size. On this month’s Special Topic call, we’ll show you how to use the power of leverage to achieve financial success faster by creating a profitable membership-based business. If you’re tired of working one-to-one, without making as much as you’d like to make, and even if you’ve NEVER thought of starting an association, join us for this high-content, one-time call.

This call is ONLY for Inner Circle members. Not a member yet? Join now to access this call with Fabienne’s FREE 2-month Membership trial (plus a small shipping/handling fee).

It’s important to educate the people you consider personal advocates (those who know you, like you, trust you, love you and want the best for you), and let them know what you’re up to and who your best clients are. If you’re just starting out, it’s a letter of introduction; if you’ve been in practice several months or years, write an “update letter” of how your practice has grown or new services that you provide.

Now, before you resist this and think it might be too forward, read on. The fact is; most people who are your personal advocates will be happy to help (people LOVE to give referrals and to help out a friend in business, especially when the person is a trusted friend). It makes them feel good, yet most of us somehow feel we’re being a burden on our network when we do this. The good news is; it all depends on how tastefully it’s done.

In both of my private practices, I sent “warm” letters of introduction letting my friends and family know what I was doing and asking them to think of me when they saw or overheard a particular situation relating to my coaching. Both times, I received clients right away, and both times, friends also referred people as long after the fact as 6 months to a year after receiving the letter. It sure feels good to get those phone calls from people you don’t know saying they’d like to work with you.

This will be one of your most effective client attraction tools, and best of all, it’s relatively no-cost to you! Here’s what you do: write a letter to contacts that you already know, as an announcement or introduction to your services. Be sure to keep it friendly, warm, as well as educational, remember, this is NOT a sales letter. You’re just educating your environment at this point. Describe your ideal client and ask the recipient if they know someone who might fit that profile.

I sent it to everyone I knew, about 10 to 20 a week. I hand-wrote a couple of words at the top to make it more personal. (“Hi Mary! It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. Would love to catch up over a cup of tea. I’ll call you this week. Best, Fabienne.”)

That following week, I would call the people I wrote to, set up a meeting for breakfast, lunch or tea, get caught up on their life and talk to them about my new business, asking them if anyone they knew fit my ideal client profile.

The result? Word spread and I received a number of clients and referrals this way.

Client example:

A former client of mine (a professional organizer) dragged her feet with this idea at first, thinking that it was too sales-y for her personal style and she wasn’t going to get any leads or new clients that way. After some coaxing and coaching, she started the process of sending out letters of introduction and was absolutely shocked at the results: new clients started coming in and her friends, former colleagues, school friends and family were the ones referring them. She was thrilled and years later, continues to update her personal advocates on what she’s up to, using her update letter.

New clients weren’t the only things she received. Soon after, this client was flown from New York to Washington D.C. to give a seminar on organizing one’s office and do a series of organizing projects within a corporation. This referral, as you may have guessed, came directly from a “non-sales-y” introduction letter she sent to a remote friend in Washington—only 3 weeks after sending it out.

Your Assignment:

• Create and send a “warm” letter of introduction as an announcement/update of your practice to contacts that you already know.
• This includes everyone (your family, friends, colleagues, past clients, and acquaintances).
• Keep it friendly, as well as educational, but definitely NOT sales-y.
• You may write a handwritten hello at the top of the page to make it more personal.
• Follow up one week later with a phone call and invite people to join you for a conversation, either in person for a casual meeting or over the phone.
• Describe your Ideal Client and ask them if they know someone who might fit that profile.
• If you have been in practice several months or years, write an “update letter” of how your practice has grown or new services that you provide.

If you’re ready to take a no-excuses approach to getting lots of clients, you’ll definitely want to check out The Client Attraction Home Study System™. Step by step, I take you through everything you need to do to stand out in the marketplace, pull clients in easily and consistently, and exactly what to say to turn them into paying clients. Get it today by going to http://www.theclientattractionsystem.com/. You’ll also get hundreds of other ideas and resources to help YOU become a Client Attraction machine like thousands of my previous clients.

© 2010 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Want to use this article on your website or your own ezine?

No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System , the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your in.come, visit www.ClientAttraction.com .

It’s been a fantastic week of Masterminding with our new high-level Platinum members, entrepreneurs with a big vision, who are already successful in their businesses and want to get even more leverage, expand their reach and multiply their income, by impacting so many more people. Many of them came in with “respectable” plans for growth and got their visions totally stretched to the next BIG level, along with a marketing strategy and implementation plan to make it happen quickly. It was AWESOME… (we’ll accept applications for the next one in September at the Mindset Retreat, in Miami.)

There are some solo-entrepreneurs that market ’til they’re blue in the face, and STILL don’t attract ideal, high-paying clients. They’re seemingly doing all the “right things”: they’ve got marketing materials, marketing plans, they’re speaking, networking, etc. and yet producing no real results. Yes, they have some clients. Yes, they’re making their bills. But they’re not seeing the kind of success they so desperately want. (Are you one of those?) (more…)

Do you dream of picking up the phone and hearing the person on the other end of the line say, “Hi, you don’t know me but I’d like to work with you. Here’s my credit card number. When can we start?”

You might laugh, but isn’t that what we all really want, deep down?

Well, the good news is, it’s totally POSSIBLE. I’ve found a way to make this happen and can honestly say that a third of the private coaching clients I sign on, I’ve never met before and don’t know who they are until I get that phone call that says they’re ready to get started. Here’s how I do it and how you can too.

You need to stop pushing and start PULLING your clients in with your materials. To educate your environment and turn interest into a prospect and a prospect into a client, you’ll need some marketing materials that REALLY SPEAK to them.

You’re looking for something that PULLS them in and gets them to, at all costs, want to talk to you:

Here’s how you get ready for the next assignment:

• Put yourself in their shoes first.
• Stop focusing on yourself and talk about them and their struggles.
• Then, only then, can you position yourself as their problem solver.

A good example of something that will PULL ideal clients in is a set of compelling questions to which your ideal client would answer YES for each and every question.

Examples of this are on the back of my business card and on my website www.ClientAttraction.com:

• Not attracting enough clients to your existing small business?
• Do you love what you do but haven’t mastered that “marketing thing” yet?
• Are your current clients not sending you enough referrals?
• Do you wish you could turn more prospects into paying clients?
• Do you sometimes feel like you’re just pushing too hard?

The questions above were formulated based on what brand new clients were coming to me for. Many of them used the above topics as things they wanted to work on and resolve immediately with my help. So, seeing that this was what was drawing clients to me without much effort on my part (and they were very good clients), I decided to put together a set of standard questions that would begin to develop trust and credibility among other prospects and suspects. What would yours be?

The key here is to focus on your Ideal Client’s struggles and hot buttons first. To get them into the pain just slightly, so they realize their situation isn’t as great as they’d like it to be.

But mostly, the questions above will get your prospective clients to feel like you REALLY understand their situation and you’ve been helping people like them for a long, long time.

Once they feel that trust and see you can provide them with the results they need, they’ll be closer to picking up the phone to call YOU.

Your Assignment:

What questions can you use to PULL prospects in, based on the struggles, challenges and hot buttons they have?

Be sure the people reading the questions will answer “yes” to all of them (instead of yes, no, yes, no) and you keep it to no more than 6 or 7 of them, so you don’t overwhelm them in the process. Once you’ve written them all out, put them on the back of your business card, on your home page, etc.

You’ll get their attention with the questions, and they’ll be much more likely to read the rest of what you’ve got to say, and if you continue to talk to them in terms of the results they can expect from working with you, you’re golden! Just be ready for new clients…

That’s just ONE of the many tools you can easily implement to PULL clients in (and stop pushing so hard to fill your practice). Wanna know all the tools I use myself and thousands of my clients have used for the same purpose? Then you’ll probably want to either call me to investigate private coaching, or look into the Client Attraction Home Study System™ for attracting all the clients you need with proven, systematic processes that will help you fill your practice quickly and consistently, guaranteed. Here’s where you can get a copy: www.TheClientAttractionSystem.com.

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Want to use this article on your website or your own ezine?

No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System , the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your in.come, visit www.ClientAttraction.com .

I’m here in beautiful San Francisco, at a seminar on marketing yourself as an expert. And someone said to me, “Why are YOU here? You’re already an expert, Fabienne!” Well, here’s one important thing you must know about people who continually succeed in business: They’re always “sharpening the saw”, meaning they keep getting better and better at their skill. And I’m one of those people. I’m always learning, signing up for new programs, going to seminars, working with the highest level mentors available and adding more learning, not just for myself and my own success, but also because it makes me infinitely more valuable to my private clients. And I believe you should too.

You see, clients want a different perspective than their own, they’re searching for big-time guidance and answers to their biggest problems. And the more value you provide in the marketplace, the more you become a client magnet, and most importantly, the more you produce results for them (which means they’ll tell more people about you). Because that’s what people want, results and solutions to their problems. And if you can provide that consistently, you too will become the pied piper in your industry and multiply your business-income over and over again.

Have you ever been stopped in your marketing tracks because of procrastination and didn’t know where it was coming from? This happened a few times with some of my private clients recently, and we noticed that every time, it wasn’t really procrastination, it was a fear of some sort that was holding them back.

Perhaps you’ve experienced it too? The fear of reaching out to people, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of not doing something right, and the kicker, fear of REJECTION? I don’t think I know anyone who’s not experienced some form of fear of rejection when marketing themselves. I think it’s innate for many of us. Problem is, it holds us back from doing what it takes to get clients. And it’s got to stop. (more…)

Professionals don’t discount. Period. Your lawyer doesn’t. Neither does your doctor. A set rate is a set rate. At least for them.

But what about you? Having a sale on products you sell to generate interest or say ‘thanks’ is fine, once in a while. It even makes people excited to test out your stuff. But have you ever felt the temptation to discount your services to sign on more clients? Come on, be honest.

Worse, you may be someone who has a “sliding scale,” meaning you determine what to charge once you get that prospective client in front of you. You’ve got to stop doing that! It’s about the worse thing you can do for your reputation, Client Attraction, and practice building.

Now, many people feel the pull to offer discounts to friends and people who can’t seem to afford their services. Here’s my thought about that: it devalues your services dramatically and shows others you’ve given them permission (as well as yourself) to think your services are not worth what you charge for them.

While you’re at it, you’re also giving them a signal to keep taking advantage of you over and over again. I remember when I was doing nutrition counseling, back many years ago, I was “pressured” by a client to give a discount. I was in a place where I “needed” clients, so I gave in, thinking that this person would not have signed up if I hadn’t knocked off those last $200 or $300.

I found I resented that client the entire time we worked together. Somehow, I was a little angry that I was forced into this and I found myself giving less of myself in our sessions. I didn’t like what I was doing. I just felt used. (Has that ever happened to you?)

It became clear that when someone takes an inch (asking for a discount and getting it), they’ll then try to take a mile (not believing the policies and procedures apply to them). I had to set up a whole bunch of boundaries in the relationship. Needless to say, the whole thing was a disaster and if I’d stuck to my original rate the first time (my boundaries around my rates) I wouldn’t have had this problem throughout.

Discounting is not necessarily good news for you and your reputation. Here’s what you can do instead. Offer different options, and different programs to fit all different budget levels. Let there be something for everyone’s budget, that way, you don’t HAVE to discount.

Your assignment:

Make a pact with yourself now that you will never discount. Yes, right now. Trust me on this one.

If the person still cannot afford your services, that’s OK. Avoid the temptation to reduce your rates, even “just this one time, because I like you.” (This is especially important for those who don’t have a full practice and really NEED the money.)

Let them know you’ll be here to help them whenever they’re able to. Most times, people come back to sign up for one of your programs when they can afford it a few weeks later. It’s worth the wait.

Instead, create different offerings at different price points to have something there for different types of clients and different budget levels. Wanna see how I set up different packages and programs with different price points, so there’s something for everyone? It’s easy and it’s all in the Client Attraction Home Study System™, the “bible” for attracting all the clients you need with proven, systematic processes that will help you fill your practice quickly and consistently, guaranteed. Here’s where you can get a copy: TheClientAttractionSystem.com.

© 2010 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Want to use this article on your website or your own ezine?

No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System , the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income, visit www.ClientAttraction.com .

Had a great time on vacation last week! Derek and I made a commitment to ourselves to get away for some “solo time” every 90 days or so. Our strategy is to go away for 3 or 4 days during the workweek while the kids are in their school routines and well taken care of. That way, he and I can have some “alone time” in a beautiful location, rejuvenate, reconnect and just enjoy being together (with three little kids climbing all over us most every day, I think it’s important to not lose focus on our relationship, you know?)

We stayed in a stunning suite at the beautiful Mandorin Oriental at Elbow Beach, an intimate luxury resort on acres of landscaped gardens, with a mile-long private pink sand beach with turquoise blue water. Gorgeous. It was truly magical, and somehow, it felt like we were there for a lot longer than 4 days!

I’d recommend taking some time away for yourself too. (We all need it.)