When I am working with coaching clients, one of the questions I hear most often is, “How can I bring in more clients?” or “How can I close more sales?” One item I tell my clients to do is to ask for referrals from current satisfied clients and to ask for testimonials from chose clients — having a current client recommend you is the best way to bring in new business.
If your client-closure rates aren’t what you hoped they’d be, here are some tips for closing that sale:
Make sure you understand their pain points.
Don’t try to be everything to everyone — make sure the products and services you’re offering are a good fit for that client.
Build relationships by taking more time to listen than you do talking. Listen to what a potential client is telling you because their pain point might be different than what you imagined it was.
What tried and true tactics do you have to bring in new clients? Take time today to ask a current client for a referral.
Have you ever been told, “You can’t be all things to all people?” As a business owner, I know it’s sometimes difficult to not say “yes” to every project a client or potential client throws at you. I also know that when you’re just starting out you are looking at your business’s bottom line and the urge is there to say yes, simply to keep your bank account in the black.
I can tell you though, that if you choose a niche or specialize your bank account will remain in the black and your business will thrive.
In what way will being a specialist help you to be more profitable? Here are a few:
You will be better able to focus your marketing efforts
Being a specialist — regardless of the field — gives you immediate credibility
You may attract higher-paying clients. (Professionals would rather work with someone who truly “gets” what they do)
Choosing a niche aka area of specialization will set you apart from your competitors. Your clients and potential clients will appreciate working with a professional who truly understands the subtle nuances of their industry. Are you focused on a particular niche?
Monsoon season is coming to Arizona and because of that, business owners (in Arizona and across the globe, actually) have to have plans in place to weather storms — both figuratively and literally. With Arizona’s monsoons come damaging rains, high winds and dust storms aka haboobs and all of these — or even any one of these could put an unprepared business owner into a tailspin.
If you have a physical location, you could find your building flooded or find yourself without electricity. Even if you have a virtual business you could find yourself impacted by storms in the form of power outages or floods as well. It’s best to have contingency plans in place to help weather storms and these could be in the form of off site storage, cloud storage and insurance coverage to help make you whole in the event of an emergency.
In addition to this, a business owner needs to understand ways to deal with the intangibles of entrepreneurship. Do you ever find yourself getting knocked off course? Are there events that happen that you just hadn’t planned for that cause you to skip a beat? If so, here are steps you can implement today to help you maintain an even keel:
Is your vision for your business clear? If it isn’t you can easily be blown off course.
Is your mission for how you deliver your goods and services clear? Again, see Number 1.
Does your team understand the mission and vision and the procedures you have in place to make them a reality?
Does your team understand their individual roles and responsibilities in the organization?
Are you an accountable and inspirational leader? This means, you take responsibility for your actions and you lead by example.
How prepared are you and is your business in the event of a “monsoon”?
Enewsletters, used wisely, can help grow your business simply by helping you stay front of mind and in their inboxes on a regular basis. It’s not enough to be in their inboxes, but you need to be providing quality information as a way to build your relationships with them.
How can you be relevant and provide value to your clients with your enewsletter? Here are a few options:
Know the purpose for your enewsletter. Yes, you want to stay in front of your clients, but you need to bring them something of value. Know the purpose for your enewsletter before you start.
Keep the content relevant. If you have a wide client base, you may want to segregate your enewsletters and send them to the target audience that would benefit the most.
Keep it brief. Your clients don’t have the time to read a lengthy enewsletter. Put in brief points and then direct them back to your website with links and photos. Remember, many of them are reading your correspondence on a smartphone — make it readable.
Show your expertise. Make your enewsletters a resource that they keep and refer to when they need the answer to a question. Stay on top of your field and become the go-to person when there are changes afoot.
Speak to them. If the enewsletter program you’re using allows you to embed a video, then share your message via video. Keep it short, snappy and fun. Use video once or twice a month as a way to keep your clients/readers engaged.
Make sure your enewsletters have a clear call to action in every one and be consistent in sending them out. We provide enewsletter services and can assist you in determining how or if an enewsletter would benefit your marketing efforts.
As the owner of a business that works with team members across the globe, the benefits of cloud computing cannot be praised highly enough. Cloud computing makes it easier to collaborate, to share documents and frankly, to save money — and what business owner doesn’t want that?
Technological developments allow those with the entrepreneurial spirit to build a killer team without location being a hindrance. Here are some of the benefits we’ve found with cloud computing (also known as using programs like Google Drive, Dropbox, or any of the many other free and paid online storage programs):
Efficiency. With clouds your information is stored on a remote server — one which you, the business owner, do not have to maintain. With the cloud you can efficiently run a business without having to worry about your own server or your bandwidth. With cloud computing you can also access your documents from anywhere, from any device — computer, smartphone, etc.
All access. With cloud computing it doesn’t matter what operating system or type of machines your staff utilizes, programs in the cloud are accessible to all. Your staff can open, make changes to and then close documents and the rest of the staff can see them in real time.
Save money. Because you don’t have to pay for additional storage on your actual computer you can save money. Because you don’t have to find a place to store disks or paperwork, you can save money. Depending on how much information you need to store you can either utilize many cloud computing programs for free or purchase — at reasonable rates — additional storage.
Cloud computing is safe and secure — as long as you have set up strong passwords. Imagine the possibilities of cloud computing and your business growth.
Unless you’re a fast food restaurant, chances are you cannot be, nor do you want to be, everything to everyone. You can’t mix and match all of your products (sandwiches) and add or subtract other items (condiments) until you are everything to everyone. You will make more money and be more productive and well-respected if you focus on a particular niche. Claim your expertise and focus on a particular client or market segment. Be the gourmet restaurant, not the fast food drive through.
Who is your ideal client? When you’re just starting out you may not truly know nor will you find it easy to turn away
potential clients who might not be just right for your goods or services. You don’t want to fall into the trap of changing your offerings to feed the market. Let the market come to you because you are specialized and exclusive.
Here are steps to work through when developing the persona of your ideal client:
If you’ve built the better mousetrap, who would be best served by it? Consider your client’s pain points and the solution your product or service offers and focus on that as your potential market.
If you know that your goods or services address XYZ issue in the market place, then go to the marketplace and demonstrate how you can help them do their XYZ even better.
If you have a client base, take some time to look at them and note all of the common traits they share. If you have turned away potential clients, make note of why and what they did, or did not, possess that made you think that your goods or services weren’t ideal for them. Your current client base is your best source for building a client persona.
Target a specific market. Make sure that your goods or services fit their needs then focus on making what you offer the best it can be.
