The real reason we make excuses around self-promotion is that self- employed people are afraid of what people might think. Our businesses are such an extension of who we are that we are very careful about how we talk about our businesses and what we say to others about it. The problem is (as I’ve said so many times before), if you don’t market consistently, you won’t have clients consistently. Period. (more…)

QUOTE: “Most people confuse wishing and wanting with pursuing. You must place your trust in ACTION.” – Price Pritchett

I’ve been hearing this one question a lot recently: “Fabienne, what did you actually DO the year you crossed the million dollar mark to multiply your income so quickly? How did you get to a million and can I do it too?” Well, the answer is “Yes, you can do it too” and it’s important to realize that it comes down to several different things: Authentic and compelling marketing, systems for everything, a team, different sources of income, leverage, etc. (more…)

Last week, I mentioned my interview with the wonderful Marcella Palmer over at IFV News (In Full View.) The video is featured on their site this week, so I hope you’ll check it out. I had the opportunity to share my personal story with their viewers, and for all you Mompreneurs (and Dadpreneurs), I hope you find it helpful.

We Parent-Entrepreneurs have a unique set of challenges when it comes to running a business and managing our family life. In fact, most Mom and Dadpreneurs that I know have a difficult time separating business from their family life (or even making a go of business at all.) Let’s face it, in order to feel successful when we’re at work, we need to be fully focused on work. And more importantly, when we’re with family, we need to be fully focused on family. Without that ability, we’re cheating our businesses and our children.

Over the years, I’ve been able to create both a personal and professional system to authentically live my ideal life of balance, meaning and happiness. I’m here to tell you it can be done! Enjoy the interview and post a comment to share your thoughts!

Woohooo!! Celebrating one of the most productive (and hysterical!) Platinum Mastermind retreats ever. I’m soooo ridiculously proud of this group’s 6-figure and 7-figure income-breakthroughs since the last meeting! (more…)

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…)

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 .

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 .

“Quote: Invest three percent of your in.come in yourself (self–development) in order to guarantee your future.”– Brian Tracy

Sometimes, the signs that it’s time to invest in taking your business to go to the next BIG level show up without notice. Take this past summer, for example. The second call of my Preview Teleseminar Series for my workshop was scheduled and I was set to interview two inspiring and motivating solopreneurs on how they use the Client Attraction systems daily to make well into the 6–figures. We had close to a thousand entrepreneurs registered for the call and I was excited to host it. (more…)

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” —Albert Schweitzer

I’ve mentored a few already-successful solopreneurs recently who walk the line between ‘high-achiever’ and ‘overachiever’ and let me tell you, there IS a difference. You’ve heard me say many times that I work best with high-achieving go getters who know exactly what they want (usually it’s more clients, more in-come, with more time off to enjoy it all) and who say to me, “Fabienne, show me how to do it and I’ll do exactly what you say.” That’s the kind of person who sees results. (more…)

I once asked a few people to be part of my Research and Development team to find out what stopped them from getting out there in a BIG way to get clients. I also asked them to tell me the MOST they could see themselves making being self-employed. Honestly, I was saddened by the answers that rolled in, and their answers were right in line with the people I talk to on a daily basis. (more…)