I'm going to say something now that might be a little bit scary…

Perhaps the most important factor in your success at nurturing and building relationships with potential clients is your ability to entertain them.

That sounds like quite a big ask, doesn't it? Not many of us consider ourselves entertainers.

Experts, yes.

Results-getters. Yup.

But entertainers? Er, not me.

But entertain we must.

How else are you going to hold the attention of potential clients and keep them listening, watching or reading week after week, month after month?

Because if they're not paying attention, you're not going to get your expertise and result-getting qualities across.

And no matter how useful the information you have to share is, no one wants to get a dull, dry research paper in their email every week.

The good news, though, is that being entertaining – in business at least – isn't as difficult as you might think.

Firstly, the bar isn't that high.

Most of the business emails I get through my inbox are either blatant promotions, braggy “look what I did”s or deathly dull “7 tips you've probably seen before”s.

Along with the obligatory contrived rags-to-riches story we've all heard a hundred times before.

When it comes to business emails your readers don't expect a laugh a minute. Nor do they want a huge sob story or emotional roller coaster.

All it takes is a little bit of humour.

An interesting story to illustrate a point.

An unusual or intriguing idea.

A controversial or counterintuitive point of view.

Just a little bit extra effort every email. 5 minutes more after you have the content to spice it up, make it easy to read and sound right.

Makes the world of difference. Keeps your reader's attention just that bit longer.

So your expertise and credibility gets across without you having to ram it down their throats.

And they'll tune in the next week. And the week after.

Until they're ready to buy.