More Clients Memorandum

Romancing your way to more clients

Posted byIan Brodie on April 3rd, 2011.

In my recent emails I've focused on the planning and activities needed to make your initial contact with potential clients.

Now it would be great if at that initial point of contact, it turns out that your potential client is ready to buy right then and there.

But in reality, that's very rarely the case.

In my experience, 80-95% or more of the time, your initial contact will be with prospects who could be great clients – but who just aren't quite ready to hire you yet.

It could be they haven't yet realised they have an issue you can help with.

Or they haven't seen the magnitude of the challenge and aren't yet addressing it with urgency.

Or very often, they haven't seen enough from you yet to trust you and believe in your capabilities.

Or it may even be that you ended up pitching for some work but lost out to a competitor.

Typically what happens next is that you'll move on to your next “hot prospect”. You'll focus on the next initial meeting or call you have arranged, or that new proposal you've been asked for.

But has that potential client you've been focusing your attention on up to now suddenly become a bad prospect?

Are they suddenly not a good fit for your services because they're not ready to buy yet, or they've chosen to go with a competitor?

It could be that during your initial contact with them you discovered some new information which tells you they're not a good prospect. But nine times out of ten that's not the case.

Usually the answer is that they're still a good prospect – only not for now. Maybe 3 months or 6 months or 18 months down the line.

The trouble is that most of us will act as if they're no longer a high potential client. We'll devote all our energy to our new hot prospects and ignore the people who only weeks ago were top of our list.

As a result, when 3 months, 6 months or 18 months has passed and they're now much more ready to buy – do they turn to us?

If we've ignored them over that time, or only contacted them to ask if they were ready yet, then the chances are that we won't be the one they call.

Who would you call in those circumstances?

Someone you spoke to months earlier but who never contacted you again – or someone who kept in touch by sending you useful, relevant information? Someone who introduced you to useful contacts and invited you to interesting events.

No matter how great your credentials and capabilities, if you ignore a potential client they're never going to find out how great you are.

As David Maister used to point out, the situation is very much like the difference between romance and “one night stands”.

If you're looking for a significant commitment from someone, then the chances are they're not going to make it on the first date. You need to romance them over time.

You need to show that you genuinely care about them – and that you're the sort of person they're looking for.

That's not going to happen if you use the “one night stand” tactics of trying your luck then moving on to the next person if you don't hit it lucky straight away.

Think of the difference in approaches. Succeeding with one night stands (at least so I'm told – obviously I have no first-hand experience ;) ) is all about you. It's about putting on a show. Looking the best you can, having the best chat up lines and pick up techniques.

Romance is all about the other person. Genuinely listening to them. Understanding what they're looking for (and maybe deciding you're not right for each other).

Doing nice things for them. Proving to them that you're the one. It's not about using clever chat or techniques.

All of this requires an investment of a not-insignificant amount of time and effort. In the world of personal relationships, it's pretty difficult to romance more than one person at a time.

In the world of business relationships, you can manage a few more and they rarely expect you to be “exclusive”.

But nonetheless, it's very difficult to romance more than a handful of clients personally at any given time. So before you make that investment, you need to make sure that they really are right for you and that you're right for them.

So let's put that into practice.

Out of the potential clients you met in the last few weeks, write down a short list of the small number who could be those “perfect” clients for you.

Then think through and write down what you can do over the next few weeks to start romancing them.

Keep building that list week-in, week-out. And keep planning those romance activities for the highest potential clients on your list. It'll pay off sooner rather than later.

More Clients Memorandum

My best tips for “making things happen”

Posted byIan Brodie on March 27th, 2011.

We've reached the stage in our process where it's time to take action. To make things happen.

We know who our ideal clients are. We thoroughly understand what makes them tick.

We've got an irresistible value proposition and we've planned the right lead generation activities to make our first contact with them.

Now we have to turn those plans into action.

And I must admit, this is the area I'm personally the weakest at. I get my kicks from thinking: innovating or solving problems. It's probably what makes me quite a good consultant.

But I'm not so good at actually implementing my ideas myself. I just don't find that quite as exciting.

And my experience from working with hundreds of consultants, coaches and other professionals over the years is that I'm not alone.

It seems endemic that we prefer the intellectual to the practical or relationship sides of business.

So if, like me, you're in that camp then click here for my simple “implementation tips” that I've picked up over the years. They've made me vastly more effective at getting things done and getting results than I used to be.

More Clients Memorandum

Don’t miss this crucial marketing step

Posted byIan Brodie on March 20th, 2011.

Today's email is about a crucial step in your marketing that many of us miss out – and it costs us big time.

If you've followed my “soup to nuts” emails so far you'll know we've touched on identifying our ideal, target clients. We've built deep understanding of their needs and figured out what makes them tick.

We've developed a compelling value proposition and identified what marketing approaches are the best to get our message across to them.

Time for action then?

Not quite.

Almost all of the strategies we're going to use require planning. Even something as seemingly simple as networking needs you to identify the right events, to develop a simple benefit-focused introduction and a set of questions to ask.

And you'll need to figure out what your follow-up approach is going to be.

Without planning, even the most effective marketing will fail to deliver results.

Case in point: when I first started up on my own I decided I wanted to use speaking & seminars as a way of getting in front of potential clients.

But for over a year it just didn't happen.

The reason: wanting and wishing aren't the same as planning and doing.

But once I'd set myself a target of 12 presentations or seminars to audiences with at least 10 or more potential clients I was spurred into to action.

I broke down the target into months and planned the activities I needed to do to hit that target.

I brainstormed potential events & venues, thought through the topics I would focus on that would be likely to lead to potential clients engaging with me, and identified the resources I would need to achieve my goal.

Once I had my plan in place, I became more aware of possibilities for offering my services as a presenter.

And by reviewing the plan and progress initially weekly and then monthly, I kept the pressure on myself to hit the target.

And it worked. I beat my target after only 9 months.

Simple stuff. But I hadn't done it the year before, because I hadn't taken the simple step of setting a target and making a plan.

What Makes an Effective Plan?

An effective plan is not just about the details of activities and milestones.

What's more important is to think through the objectives and deliverables – and what are the critical success factors – the “must do”s that will make sure you achieve your objectives. The things you can control.

In my case I set a goal of getting at least 6 clients from my talks during the year – and I reckoned I'd need to do 12 talks to audiences of at least 10 potential clients to do it.

That was my final goal. But in order to achieve that goal I needed to develop a high quality talk, and to find the right events to speak at.

I also needed to develop a follow up system to identify who in the audience was really interested in the topic and to then convert them into clients.

Those were my critical success factors.

They may seem obvious now in retrospect, but it took a few minutes of brainstorming to make sure I really understood what they were and had prioritised them above all the other things I could have been doing.

That led me to create a simple plan – focusing first on getting a compelling topic and doing a brief synopsis.

Then working in parallel on developing the talk itself while finding the right events to speak at and speaking to the organisers to get booked.
Then I worked on creating the talk itself and the follow-up system just in time to deliver the first one.

Do I really need to do all this planning?

Absolutely yes.

I've seen so many professionals who think they can wing it. That once they've identified their key marketing approaches they can just make them happen and hold all the details in their heads.

They can't. They fail.

Or worst of all, they experience minor success – so they keep on doing it, not realising how much more effective they could be if they planned properly.

If you haven't got a written plan that you're reviewing week-in, week-out for the key marketing approches you're going to use to bring in clients then inevitably you'll be distracted by the day to day pressures of client work and running the business.

Don't fall into that trap. Get planning.

More Clients Memorandum

How to choose the right tools for the (marketing) job

Posted byIan Brodie on February 27th, 2011.

You know that old saying about how if all you have is a hammer, everything ends up looking like a nail?

(Apparently it was Abraham Maslow of “hierarchy of needs” fame who first coined the phrase back in 1966, although Drayton Bird tells me that Mark Twain was saying something similar even earlier).

Business owners (and frankly, far too many so-called marketing experts) tend to be like that too.

We have one way of marketing we know about so we use it in every available circumstance.

Far too often, we head off to that networking event because it's easy, we'll meet some friends, and it doesn't require much thought or preparation. And because it's what we've always done.

But is it the best use of our time to bring in new clients?

Choosing the right marketing and lead generation approaches to connect with your specific clients in a way that maximises your chances of a positive outcome is a real art that requires considerable thought.

But I've got something for you that I think will help.

It's my Marketing Menu.

The marketing menu is my run-through of the top lead generation approaches for professionals, with details of what they are, when they work, and simple strategies for making them work more effectively for you.

If you click here…

…you'll get to a presentation based on a training video I developed a little while back for my private members coaching site.

Feel free to download it, and use it to help you think through what's going to work for you and get you connected to those ideal, high paying clients you're love to work with.

More Clients Memorandum

The starting point for all great marketing is…

Posted byIan Brodie on January 2nd, 2011.

…to build deep understanding of your clients.

The better you understand their hopes, fears, dreams, problems, issues, goals and aspirations; the better able you are to “speak to them” directly and meaningfully in their own language.

I wrote about this in a blog post a while back, using the lyrics of Lori Lieberman's song “Killing Me Softly” to illustrate the power of really speaking to your clients and prospects in ways that show deep empathy and understanding.

In many ways it's more important to showcase your understanding than anything to do with your expertise, credentials or other types of brilliance.

As leadership guru John C Maxwell said: “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care”.

Sometimes it's expressed in the simple things. For example, I always talk about clients rather than customers. Since my clients are primarily consultants, coaches or people in the professions and that's the language they use – it makes me feel like an insider.

Sometimes building a deeper level of understanding can effect the whole way you do your marketing.

I certainly found that when I took the time to talk to clients personally, and survey them about their major frustrations a number of years ago. It turned out that many people wanted to know more about the way I market myself online and how they could do something similar.

I hadn't really put much thought into it back then. But it led to me to focus more in Momentum Club on online marketing and that's proved to be a winning formula that's helped members get great results themselves.

So how do you build up that deep understanding yourself?

The secret is to immerse yourself in your client's world. Talk to clients, ex-clients and prospects frequently about what they do and what gets in their way (in your field).

If you can, carve out the time spend a “day in the life” of your clients. Shadow them. Watch the challenges they face. You'll discover many things you can really help with that they didn't think of themselves.

You can also go a long way just by thinking in the right way. The trick is to get into specifics.

Build a “pen picture” of your ideal client. Who are they? What do they do? What motivates them? What frustrates them? What are their big problems and issues? What are their greatest hopes and ambitions?

My method for doing this in a systematic way is here:

Customer Insight Mapping

The more of these questions you're able to answer, the better you'll understand your clients, and the more effective your marketing will become.

More Clients Memorandum

Can it really be this simple?

Posted byIan Brodie on September 14th, 2008.

I had a discussion with a client recently where we were getting into some quite complex and frankly convoluted ideas for setting up sales meetings with potential clients.

At one point we both paused for a bit, recognising we were overcomplicating things. And then my client reminded me of something the great Ford Harding had taught him.

(I'm paraphrasing here, but I'm sure Ford will forgive me for mangling the words as long as I get the essence right).

Ford taught him that at the end of the day, all we're really trying to do is create ways of getting together with potential clients to listen to them and allow them to tell us what they need.

If we know that potential client reasonably well and we've been a valuable resource to them before, then often we don't need to engineer a clever excuse for meeting with them.

We can just ask them for a coffee and a chat.

And in that chat we can ask them “what's new?”. or “Anything interesting you're working on?”. Or any one of a myriad of little opening questions that allow them to tell you what they're focused on and what help they might need.

Of course, you could get more out of those meetings by using some smart questioning techniques and following a decent process.

But sometimes by trying to learn the perfect way of doing these meetings we paralyse ourselves and never have them for fear of not getting it right.

Often it's enough to sit down and have a chat with a friendly person we've built a good relationship with. We don't need the fancy sales techniques.

The key is to just get more of those meetings (or calls or whatever it is you do to bring clients on board).

Is it really that simple?

Well, for most potential clients, no.

But for some…yes.

I bet if you thought about it you'd be able to find at least one or two potential clients you've built a good relationship with who would be happy to catch up and find out how things are going on both sides.

And if you ask them what they're focused on right now, sometimes it'll be something you could help with.

More Clients Memorandum

New thinking on Linkedin Profiles

Posted byIan Brodie on October 22nd, 0202.

Here's a really simple but subtle tip.

I'm sure you've read tons of advice about your Linkedin profile. Most of it solid and sensible:

• Have a decent profile image
• Make sure your headline isn't just your job title but instead tells people what they'd get from working with you (perhaps the problems you solve or the benefits they'd get)
• Make sure your profile summary expands on that so they can see the value of working with you, backed up with proof, and followed by a call to action to connect or visit your website or call you.

But you have to be careful with that advice.

You see, how we use Linkedin has morphed over the years.

Most of the advice on profiles hasn't changed from back in the days when we thought the main way to get business on Linkedin was to be found in searches by people looking for someone who does the sort of work you do.

In fact, you'll still see people stuffing a bunch of keywords into their headline and profile in the hope there are people out there searching for people just like them ready to hire them.

I don't know about you but if I want to hire someone I don't start by searching for someone I don't know on Linkedin. I start with people I know.

And although it used to happen, I can't remember the last time someone contacted me to work with me after finding me on a Linkedin search. But I regularly get people contacting me after reading posts I've made on Linkedin.

So these days the most powerful use of Linkedin is to build credibility and trust with potential clients by using it as a publishing platform and as a follow-up messaging platform.

And both of those methods require you to be connected to your potential clients.

That means the most important use of your profile is not to “optimise” your profile for search and then persuade people to contact you or go to your website; it's to persuade someone who you've sent a connection request to to accept it.

If they don't connect they don't see your content. They don't get all that value you put out to build credibility and trust.

If they don't connect you can't message them to begin nurturing conversations or follow up on them.

So it all begins with them accepting that connection request.

And I should correct myself here. The goal really isn't to “persuade” them to accept your connection request. It's to avoid them rejecting it.

I've been doing research recently on what makes people accept or reject connection requests and the overwhelming finding is that people filter out rather than filter in.

In other words, they primarily look for red flags that give them a reason to reject your connection request rather than searching for positive reasons to connect with you.

Some people only connect with a few people. But most people are fairly open and are happy to connect with a wider group of people – as long as they don't see red flags.

What's a red flag?

Overwhelmingly it's when it looks like you might start aggressively selling to them if they connect with you.

Sometimes that's down to what you do and can't be avoided. Don't get me started on the number of “high ticket closers” I get asking to connect with me – and I just know their first message is going to be about how they can help me close loads more sales blah blah blah.

But very often the problem is the way you've written your profile.

If you've written your profile thinking that people looking to hire you from cold will find it via search then there's a good chance it will try to grab them, tell them about all the amazing benefits they'll get from working with you, and push them into calling you or going to your website.

And there's a good chance it will come across as a bit too salesy because of that.

Not for everyone. But for someone who could be a great client but who's not currently looking (exactly the sort of person you want to build a relationship with based on giving value first) it can give the impression that you might try to pitch them if they connect with you.

It's one of the most common red flags that people use to reject your connection request.

For example, my headline used to say something along the lines of “I help consultants and coaches get more clients without the pain and expense of traditional marketing”.

That's pretty decent in the sense that if a consultant or coach on the lookout for help to get clients stumbled across it they might check me out.

But the reality is that that tiny sliver of people aren't going to stumble across it.

Instead, most people who don't know me will see it when I send them a connection request. And to people who don't know me, that headline says “I am going to try to sell you my services to win clients”.

Even though in reality I won't. My approach is to thank them for connecting, to publish valuable content, and to wait for them to contact me when they're ready or when a post triggers their interest.

So these days I use the headline “Creator of the Value-Based Marketing Blueprint. Owner of dodgy beard. Grower of exotic chillies.”

The first sentence hints that I might have something interesting for them if they're interested in winning more clients – but doesn't ram it down their throats. The next two sentences add a bit of humour.

Most importantly, it hasn't got the red flags that would make them reject my connection request.

Because people aren't going to hire me based on reading my headline and profile. They're going to hire me based on the value they get from me after we connect.

It's a subtle difference, to be sure.

You still need your profile to say what value people get from you.

But you want to tone down the sales side.

Your goal isn't to get them to take action to hire you straight away. It's simply for them not to reject your connection request.

Once you're connected then the value you give on an ongoing basis comes into play and over time they'll come to see you as the person they want to work with.

But only if they connect.

More Clients Memorandum

Don’t make this basic error

Posted byIan Brodie on November 22nd, 0201.

I was driving home recently after running a bunch of errands and I got it into my head that I wanted to pop into a Garden Centre to pick up a few bits and bobs for the greenhouse.

It had just gone 5.30, so I wasn't sure whether anywhere would be open.

On my way home I passed 4 garden centres. All of them had entrance gateways with the main shop being further down a driveway.

And not one of them had their opening hours visible at the gateway.

For the first couple I drove in, parked up, and walked to the entrance. Only to find out they'd just shut.

I didn't even bother with the last two.

You'd think it would be obvious: to make sure crucial information like your opening hours were visible to potential customers driving past who might come in if they knew you were open.

But none of them did.

I wonder how much potential “drop in” trade they've lost as a result?

Of course, we would never do anything like that, would we?

Our “shop front” (usually our website) always has all the information our potential clients need to know to be ready to give us a call, doesn't it?

We have clear descriptions of who we work with and the sort of challenges or goals we help them with, don't we?

And we make it crystal clear what benefits clients get from working with us and how we're different to others in our field, right?

If not, you might want to start working on those areas. You don't want to end up like the Garden Centres: losing customers simply because you didn't make the basic information people need to know available to them.