I received an email from a struggling business owner
the other day. She’s good at what she does, but is in danger of closing
her doors after being in business for over 3 years due to a lack of
long term clients.
The problem? There are actually two:
1. She’s not *consistently* marketing to get new clients (filling her funnel, pipeline, pyramid) and
2. She suffers from distraction (yes… it is like a disease).
She
and I are addressing the above problems for the long term. The most
immediate need, however, is getting clients in the door.
Remember the famous quote by Albert Einstein:
Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
To
get clients quickly, you must be willing to take a step outside your
comfort zone – take a big gulp and confidently move forward.
1. Make time to market for new clients.
While
she thinks she’s busy now, a quick look at her time allocation shows
she could tighten up her day to insure she’s *productive*, not just
busy.
When you’re just starting out or in need of new clients, you should spend up to half your day performing marketing activities.
Do what you need to do to make this happen – after all, without clients, you don’t have a business.
2. Get clear on the RESULTS and tell everyone.
Write
a letter to everyone you know (friends, family, former clients,
prospects) and educate (not sell) them on your ideal clients and the
results you provide (NOT what you do – no one really cares) and ask
them if they know anyone who may benefit from your services.
People
like to be seen as a good source of information – you are giving them
the ability to help others by connecting them with you.
3. Partner up!
In the online world, we call it "joint ventures" – it can be called the same thing in the offline world.
Make
a list of other small businesses who offer complementary, not
competing, services and contact them about mutual referrals. For
example, a bookkeeper should call CPA firms and offer bookkeeping
services to their clients (especially at this time of year in
preparation for tax season).
4. Get out of the office.
It’s time to get out of the house/office and do some actual face-to-face networking and speaking.
Groups
are always looking for speakers – give your local Chamber of Commerce,
Real Estate Broker, BNI and Rotary Club a call and offer to speak on a
specialized topic linked to the services you provide.
5. Advertise to those who know you.
If
you are sending out an email newsletter (or any type of CONSISTENT
communications) to your prospects, let them know that you have a few
openings for new clients.
You never know who is thinking about working with you and just needs to know you have the space.
These
steps are designed to get you clients quickly. Once you solve your
immediate "client crunch", it’s time to put processes in place to
insure you have clients in your pipeline consistently and remember, by
not marketing consistently, you are denying those who need you the most!
Your Coaching Challenge
If you’re currently looking for new clients, pick one of the above items to do EACH DAY of the coming week – starting tomorrow.
For the past 5 years, Sandra Martini has been showing
self-employed business owners how to get more clients consistently by
implementing processes and systems to put their marketing on autopilot.
Visit Sandra at www.SandraMartini.com
for details, compelling client testimonials and her free audio series “5 Simple
and Easy Steps to Put Your Marketing on Autopilot”.