5 Big Things That Keep You From Getting New Clients
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"How do I get more clients?" This is the #1 question I get from almost everyone I work with.
"I need more clients. I need them quickly. Things have to start picking up and fast!" Sound familiar?
The good news is that I have the answer. Of course, there are people out there who simply have a bad product or are trying to attract the wrong audience. I'll save those issues for another post. Just for a moment, let's assume you have a great product. Let's assume you offer a valuable service and you know who your audience is.
Now comes the best part... I have the answer and I'm getting ready to give it to you! There are actually 5 reasons you're not bringing in more business.
You're Focused On Too Many Things
Great ideas can be a real problem for an entrepreneur. Sounds strange doesn't it? Aren't great ideas exactly what an entrepreneur needs? Well, yes, sort of. You need one great idea and then you need to implement it very well. More on implementation later. When you have ten great ideas, you tend to run from one idea to the next and you never fully work out the details, lay out a plan or implement. It's a real problem.
We often refer to the people who work like this as "Shiny Object People". Oh, look! There's a shiny object! Wait... there's another shiny object! Hold the phone... here's yet another shiny object! Make sense? You're so busy jumping from one great idea to the next that none of them truly come to fruition. That includes your marketing tactics. Jumping from one platform to another, trying out the latest and greatest strategy of everyone who happens to find themselves in your inbox... these behaviors create real problems.
Keep a list of your great ideas. Keep a list of all the platforms and tools you want to try. Don't try to implement everything at once, in the name of bringing in clients faster.
Trust me when I tell you that it never works and you'll just end up frustrated, overwhelmed and no closer to your ultimate goal.
You're Focused On the Wrong Things
What exactly should you be focused on? That depends on your business and your goals. A good rule of thumb is that you need to understand your sales funnel completely and focus on the different aspects of it. First, you must Reach the right audience. Just get in front of them. Next comes full Awareness, Interest, Decision and Action on their part. These are the 5 main concepts of the sales funnel. You must first reach the right audience, then your audience must become aware of who you are and what you offer. Some of those people will show an interest in you. A few will make the decision to contact you and some of those will take action and buy from you.
Far too many entrepreneurs want the Decision and Action part of the funnel and won't spend time on Reach, Awareness or Interest. It doesn't work that way. Numbers like Reach and Views are just as important as the actual sale. You can't get to the sale without first getting people's attention. I've had far too many clients ignore people who commented on their Facebook page or wouldn't take the time to thank people who shared their content. They weren't interested in those things. They called them "fluff numbers".
It's true, you can't simply congratulate yourself on Likes and Views and ignore what happens next. Reach certainly won't pay the bills. My point, however, is that it all starts with these numbers. Once you begin getting in front of the right audience and they see who you are and what you do on a regular basis, then you can begin focusing on getting them interested enough to comment, like, share and come back again. Start building a loyal audience who knows you and keeps coming back for more and you will absolutely start getting people who are willing to make the decision to contact you and ultimately buy.
You're Listening to The Wrong People
Very often, I get an email or a call from a client telling me that a friend or family member really feels they need to be focused on something other than what we're working on. As an example, a few years ago I had a client who was working with me to get her book published on Amazon. She was supposed to be recording videos sharing her motivational message and talking about the book. I left her with the job of recording 10 of these videos and we were supposed to meet the following Monday to review. That Monday she called me to tell me her sister told her that she was so beautiful that everyone would want to hear her skincare tips and that she should really start a Facebook page talking about skincare. Please note, skincare had nothing to do with what we had been working on. Her sister just thought it would be a nice side income for her. No real plan on how that was going to work. She just knew that other people were doing it online. So instead of doing what she was supposed to do, this client spent the weekend on a completely different and fun little project with her sister.She was devastated when I explained that what she wanted to do was an entirely different business idea and couldn't be easily tied in with the book she had spent the last two years writing. The entire project was derailed and it took us a week to get back on track.
In another instance, I was putting together a marketing campaign for a client who owned an exercise facility. She wanted to empower women to stand up and take care of themselves. Great idea! We were working on a strategy when she comes to me one day to tell me that a "bunch of her friends" at a local bar thought it would be a great idea to ask women to post a photo of themselves holding a drink in their hand. They thought it would be empowering. She thought it would be fun. I tried to explain this just wasn't her audience. She didn't listen. She immediately hit Facebook (all by herself) told everyone about her gym and asked women to post a photo of themselves holding a drink. It went nowhere. Even her friends who assured her this was a fabulous idea, didn't post photos of themselves. Time was wasted and we lost an opportunity to plan a serious campaign.
Input from friends and family should always be met with gratitude and sometimes the honest intention to research it further. However, when mom is the person telling you that your idea is a real money maker, you should probably think twice before running to the bank.
You Don't Value Marketing
On a regular basis, people contact me to tell me about an amazing product or service they are offering. It's something they've spent years developing. They've invested many thousands of dollars. It's their dream to make this a reality and want my help sharing it with the world. Unfortunately they didn't plan on spending any money marketing it. They want immediate and amazing results. They want results fast. They only want to spend a few dollars a month making this happen. Sometimes they don't want to spend anything. They want some free advice and then they intend to let their kid sister take on the job of marketing what they have to offer. Sometimes they intend to barter their marketing efforts with someone who wants their product or service for free. In all the years I've been doing this, I've never seen either of these strategies net positive results.
Once a lady called me and was sharing her company and all they had to offer with me. She'd worked for many years and had invested tens of thousands of dollars in this company. She began asking questions about how to create a strategy, what to do, tools to use, etc. About thirty minutes into the conversation, I finally asked for some specifics about her needs so we could discuss pricing. She explained that she wasn't going to hire anyone. She had a friend who was trying to get into the marketing business and she was going to "give her a go at it". She just wanted my advice so she could help her friend get started. Hmmmmmmmm
Marketing your business takes time and a lot of hard work. It's serious business that requires serious thought. It won't happen overnight. You will need to spend time creating content and engaging. You will need to spend money on social advertising. You will need to be creative or hire someone who is creative and experienced. That costs money as well. Yes, there are stories of businesses who came up with one amazing idea and it went viral. Those things happen. They don't happen all the time and you shouldn't make that your plan.
Marketing your business doesn't mean you have to spend thousands each month. It does mean that you need to plan your marketing spend to match your expectations and take your marketing as seriously as the business you've worked so hard to create.
You aren't doing the work
And now we talk about the big bad word that no one wants to discuss... IMPLEMENTATION. Yes, it has to be addressed. It isn't enough to have 20 great ideas. It isn't enough to have paid for the latest and greatest Masterclass and to have downloaded the #1 Blueprint for selling online. Trust me when I tell you that there is no #1 Blueprint for selling online. There are relationships, strategies, action plans and tasks that are designed to get you from point A to point B. That's the reality. Success online takes a lot of hard work and what you are actively doing today will make a huge impact on your business 90 days from now.
So... what are you doing today? Really.. what are you doing today to get yourself the results you need? It's a tough question and it makes people squirm. Are you creating content, making connections, networking... are you evaluating the content on your own website to ensure it offers value to your target audience? Are you making new connections? Are you using your social media sites the way they were meant to be used? These are all questions you must ask yourself. And if you determine that you aren't doing the work... you've got to be prepared to stop the planning, hoping and dreaming and START IMPLEMENTING!
Are you starting to understand why you might not be getting the clients you need? Being a successful entrepreneur means you have to be brutally honest with yourself. Are you really doing what it takes to get the business you need? If you aren't, then it's time for a change. And let's face it... at one time or another, we all get busy and start reacting instead of acting in the best interests of our business. Sometimes it takes a good friend, a mentor, a partner or even a client to make us see the error of our ways and get us back on track to getting the results we know we're capable of getting!
Need a friend to share your ideas with? Need some accountability? Shoot me an email or give me a call! This business was built on relationships. If yours wasn't, then it's not too late to get started. I'll look forward to speaking with you!
