Monday, May 17, 2010

3 Simple Steps to Get Clients to Call You [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Image by jamiefreaky via Flickr

3 Simple Steps to Get Clients to Call You

Concepts:

clients, market, business, target, Tutorials, Design, SitePoint, features, niche, ideal clients, knowing, Forums, newsletters, money, gain

Article Summary:

In this article, I'll outline my simple formula for attracting clients.
As a self-employed professional or small business owner, defining your niche makes acquiring clients much easier.
You can position yourself to attract clients, and have a clearer idea of how to target them.
It makes it easier to identify the places where your marketing will have the greatest effect.
Clarifying this also help you to explain to your contacts and associates what kinds of referrals you'd like to receive from them.
It's impossible to please everyone, and trying to is guaranteed to fail.
By having a clearly defined position, you gain a better understanding of what types of benefits you can provide to your clients.
You'll be able to directly target their unique needs, explaining how you can solve their problems and make their lives easier.
By knowing your niche, you can position yourself as your prospective clients' ideal solution.
Once you define your niche, you no longer have to waste your marketing effort on less than ideal clients who are not likely to work with you in the first place.
You'll narrow the field of who you're marketing to, which will translate into much larger returns on the time and money you invest in marketing.
Most importantly, when you know your niche, you can present yourself as the expert in your field.
Clients benefit by working with you, and most are willing to pay more for your services.
Such expertise gives you the opportunity to make more income.
Once your niche is identified it's time to look outwards, towards your potential clients.
The goal is to figure out what results your clients will achieve by working with you.
In other words, you must define for clients the benefits of working with you.
When working with my clients, I find that many of them are unclear on the distinction between benefits and features.
If you want to draw clients, talking about the features of your business may be wasting their valuable time.
In most cases, your features are irrelevant to your client's needs and struggles.
On the other hand, if you can send a clear message about the benefits of your business, potential clients are more likely to say, "Let's work together!"
When I talk about features, I mean attributes of your company.
These include general statements about your product or service, or factors such as how you work, the size of your company, and so forth.
In contrast, benefits are what your clients gain out of working with you, or buying from you.
Anything that answers the all-important question: "What do I get out of it?"
For example, with regard to my own business, here are some features and benefits.
I offer a free discovery session for the client to learn about my business, and how it can help them achieve their goals.
Clients have the opportunity to connect with me before they hire me, so they know in advance that they're making the right choice.
I give my clients recordings of each of our sessions.
My clients are able to go over the information again later as a refresher, or if they're unsure of a certain point; there's no pressure on having to fully grasp everything immediately.
I have a 14-step formula (process) I use with all my clients.
My clients gain access to a proven formula that has contributed to the success of many other businesses, so they can see that I'm in the best position to produce the right results for them.
By defining your niche and the benefits of working with you, identifying your target market becomes simple.
Your target market comprises the people who need, want, and can pay for the products or services you offer.
They're the people who are most likely to do business with you.
Your ideal clients are a segment of your target market.
Some of my newer clients have a misconception about marketing: they mistakenly believe that they should be marketing to the whole world.
In some cases, they need business so badly that they pull out all the stops and forget to target their marketing.
Unfortunately, they end up wasting a lot of time and money marketing to so-called "potential clients" who would never be interested in their products in the first place.
When you identify your target market, it makes it easier to focus your energies on the people who are likely to do business with you.
This way, you spend less time with the "tire-kickers"---that is, people who ultimately have no interest in buying from you.
Any angler will tell you that you have to know what kind of fish you want to catch.
There's no such thing as an all-purpose net.
Know what type of catch you're going for, and use the tactics that are best for that specific type.
If you're unsure who you're targeting, your marketing will be ineffective.
On the other hand, if you know exactly who you want to target, it becomes that much easier to customize your marketing message.
This helps you to create a message that's clear enough to draw your ideal clients toward you.
It addresses their unique concerns, and let them know that you can give them exactly what they want and need.
It will bring in clients with who you'll enjoying doing business.
It makes it much easier to address the specific needs of your market.
It clarifies who your market is, enabling you to move forward with confidence.
Once you know who will be using your product, you can position your offers in all the right ways.
You can customize your message to your market, and to segments of your market.
You'll save important time and money, which can then be put to other uses.
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Jennifer Davey, Founder of JJS Coaching and Author of the Getting Clients Home Study Program, is a Business Coach, Marketing Strategist, and Speaker.
She helps small businesses and self-employed professionals grow their businesses and develop strategies for getting clients, building business, and making more income.
It's so much easier to have a business where clients call you, instead of you chasing after them.
Pulling clients to you is easier than you would think, as long as you know what steps to take.

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Monday, May 17, 2010