Attracting Clients With Ease

Whether you are already running your own business, or still thinking about starting your own business, I suspect that deep down you know you have gifts and talents that can really make a difference to others. In an ideal world, you'd spend the majority of time doing the work you love to do, with a steady stream of clients knocking at your door as and when you want them. The reality, however, can be somewhat different, and the whole process of finding new business can be a time consuming challenge full of uncertainty.

Some would be entrepreneurs are so intimidated by the idea of finding clients that they never put their dreams into action. Others start promising businesses, yet give up disillusioned by the frustrating lack of clients. Some die-hards persist, but at great emotional and financial cost as the uncertainty about  attracting and maintaining clients takes its toll.

But it doesn't have to be this way. There is a way to reverse the sales process. Imagine, if you will, a situation where instead of having to go out and chase new business, qualified buyers are seeking out YOUR expertise. Imagine putting your marketing efforts on 'automatic pilot' so the right work turns up as and when you need it. Imagine being able to pick and choose which projects you want to work on. Can you imagine having the confidence to turn down work that doesn't meet YOUR criteria?

Here's a metaphor that nicely sums up this approach. Imagine two boys in a garden. Both of them want to catch birds. One of them is frantically chasing after birds; the other just stands still holding out birdseed in his hand and waits. Instinctively, most of us recognise that the second boy will be more successful. Yet most sales techniques used by businesses today involve some form of 'chasing' with the net result that prospective clients are scared away. In this article you will discover how the birdseed approach can help you attract rather than chase clients, and even get them eating out of your hands!

'But that doesn't apply in the business world', I can hear you say. 'If it were that easy, why don't I already have all the clients I want?' Well there are a few possible answers. Some of us have entered the commercial garden, but forgotten the birdseed! Others haven't even taken the birdseed out of the packet. Some of us have the birdseed in our hand, but clenched so tightly the birds can't get to it. If you  are to adopt the latter approach, it's important to spend some time selecting the right birdseed. So what's your birdseed? To answer this question you need to know who you are aiming to attract, so that you are offering the birdseed which is most tasty and appealing to your target clients.

1. Take a moment to think about your prospective clients. What are their concerns and fears? What problems are they struggling with right now? What are their hopes and desires? Be willing to think laterally as you think about what is most important to them.

2. The next step is to align what you have to offer with their most pressing concerns and needs. How can you help your target clients even before they become a client of yours?

3. It's important to emphasise that you already have skills, knowledge and expertise that is valuable to your prospective clients. The trouble is most of us take what comes naturally to us for granted, and completely underestimate the value of what we know to our prospective clients.

Not only is what you know very helpful, you could be using it to attract your prospective clients, by packaging your knowledge and expertise in a form that meets one of their current needs. A classic way of doing this would be to offer a free report or information pack which answers a question or solves a problem that your prospective clients have.

For example, if you are a recruitment consultant, you have probably noticed that some of your existing clients are more successful at attracting and retaining talent than others. Now if you sit down and reflect upon this, you could probably come up with five things that the companies who are successful at retaining talent do that others don't. This could be based entirely on your personal observations over the years. Voila! Flesh out your opinions and you now have a report, '5 ways attract and retain talent' or ''What companies who are successful at attracting and retaining clients do that their competitors don't'

This does not need to be a ground breaking piece of academic research. I want to remind you that you already have an opinion on this, which may well differ from the mainstream view, and if I asked you this question over lunch, you would have no problem in coming up with an answer.

4. Once you have your article written, you could offer this free report by placing a message or short ad in a place where your target clients congregate. I call this a magnet - something that provokes prospective clients to raise their hands and say, 'I'm interested!' By requesting your report, responders indicate that they are interested in this topic.

Now, not everyone who requests your report will be a hot prospect, but there will be some potential clients within this group. The free report would just be the starting point of your relationship. From this point you could offer more 'birdseed' each time demonstrating your credibility in this subject area, up until the point when the prospect asks, 'can you help me', or a one-to-one conversation is necessary.

This is a low cost way to generate leads and position yourself as an expert in your particular field. Yes, it takes a little brainstorming, imagination and creativity on your part, but the knowledge which shapes your 'birdseed' should come naturally anyway, and the time spent thinking about the needs and desires of your prospective clients will never be wasted. 

(c) Bernadette Doyle, 2004.  Reprint rights granted to all venues so long as the article and by-line are reprinted intact.  This article may not be used for any publication unless it is opt-in.

Bernadette Doyle is dedicated to helping self-employed and small businesses become Client Magnets. Get her FREE 7 part mini-course 'How to Become A Client Magnet', send a blank email to minicourse@clientmagnets.com

Marketing Lessons Startups Need to Learn from Google's Project Glass Concept Video TechCrunch The concept video is a powerful marketing strategy for companies that have long production time tables between products…like cars or iPads. Apple will release concept videos like this one on the iPad 3 that keep people in anticipation of the real ... and more »

Starting a Profitable Home Business Made Easy by Internet Marketing Consultant ... San Francisco Chronicle (press release) The website also provides detailed information covering other popular topics like online marketing, affiliate marketing (PRWEB) May 19, 2012 Recently launched home business training website "successtobusiness.com" is making useful contribution to ... and more »

IDA's New Dental Marketing Websites Generate Leads And Ease New Patient Intake San Francisco Chronicle (press release) IDA's new dental marketing Web Portals provide convenience for both new patients and the dental team that results in lead conversions. (PRWEB) May 18, 2012 The new dental marketing websites from Internet Dental Alliance, Inc. (IDA) incorporate patient ... and more »

Study Breaks Advises Tanning Salons on Effective Strategies to Market to ... Houston Chronicle Study Breaks, one of the leading college media entertainment companies, offers marketing advice and techniques for tanning salons to effectively reach college students. Mobile marketing is to tanning salons as peanut butter is to chocolate… a perfect ... and more »

New Look Claim Best Use of Affiliate Marketing at the Performance Marketing ... MarketWatch (press release) LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, May 19, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- High Street fashion leaders, New Look, has picked up another award with vouchercodes.co.uk for Best use of affiliate marketing as part of a multi-channel campaign at the 2012 Performance ... and more »

No Complaints…220 Marketing's Landing Page Technology Works! Albany Times Union For over five years 220 Marketing has been teaching service professionals how to grow their businesses by generating exclusive leads online. Everyone knows there is business to gain by effectively using the internet. The problem is that only a few ... and more »

Forbes

Using Marketing Analytics: I Do, Therefore, I Think Forbes I recently reported that The CMO Survey found companies expect to increase the marketing analytics portion of their marketing budgets by 60% from 5.7% to 9.1% in the next three years. This is a monumental increase especially given that marketing ...

National Positions Launches Pinterest Marketing Program San Francisco Chronicle (press release) Monthly Pinterest marketing program that builds on all the most powerful social media strategies to connect with customers and drive traffic and sales to company websites (PRWEB) May 18, 2012 National Positions, a worldwide leader in Internet marketing ... and more »

GraphicMail Includes Device Detection in their New email Marketing Reports San Francisco Chronicle (press release) Redesigned Reports Displays Device, Geo-Location and Social Engagement Metrics (PRWEB) May 18, 2012 GraphicMail, a leading global hosted email marketing solution, announced today the release of updated Reports metrics that make it easier than ever for ... and more »

Camargo Insurance Agency, Inc. Offers an Interactive Way to Purchase Insurance ... San Francisco Chronicle (press release) Camargo Insurance Agency has partnered with Astonish Results, LLC - a digital marketing and insurance sales training company that specializes in modernizing the way by which the independent insurance industry does business - to create an innovative new ... and more »