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Have you ever met somebody, you were interested in what they do, you were considering doing business with them, ready to learn more about them and the first thing they do is send you a blatant advertising of their services asking you to buy? It’s rather off putting isn’t it. This approach just doesn’t work anymore in the age of abundance, especially for coaches and consultants. There is a three step process that you must go through in order to turn people who are effectively strangers into long term appreciative clients. Each step has it’s own purpose and wanting to achieve more than one step with whatever action you take can spoil all your efforts.

I know, I am impatient too and it’s obvious that what I do helps my ideal clients get what they want, but they don’t know that yet, so you and I need to be patient and stick to the three step formula always knowing what action we take for which purpose when it comes to client attraction. So look at what the three steps are and what actions are appropriate for each step, ok?

1. Lead Generation

Before we can even talk to anyone about our services, we must get in front of the people who could be interested in what we have to offer. Our goal here is to raise their interest enough for them to want to find out more and enter a conversation with us. This is the lead generation stage, they are still stangers. Getting the message out and having people who are interested in what we have to say, wanting to find out more, is the only thing we want to achieve here. This is where we might get people to download a free report from our website, attend a teleseminar or a live speech. We get the word out through social media, direct mail or other an introductory speech at a networking function. All we want at this stage is their permission to continue the conversation. Don’t try to sell here or you’ll kill the relationship.

2. Build the Relationship and Good Will

Once we have permission for the conversation to continue, we want to make deposits into their Good Will account. Here is where we educate what are now our prospects, give them value with no expectation of any return (in other words, still no selling!), delight them and impress them. And allow them to get to know us as a person so we can build a real connection with them (hint: the articles I am sending you every week will hopefully score me points in your Good Will account). While we do this, we also create awareness of what it is that they need more of in order to reach their goals. And of course we want to be the person of choice they go to in order to fulfill that need.

3. Invite them to invest

Ok now you can sell. And I deliberately phrase it as invite them to invest because that’s closer to the truth. If you have done step one and two and your valued prospects are ready to act to fulfill their need, what you offer them hits the mark for them and they trust you now, it’ll be easy for them to say ‘yes’ and invest in your program. You can see the power is always with your prospect. So what you put out there has to be pretty darn good, so it stands out and you become the obvious choice for them to go to. Because they don’t have to. Always remember, they can end the conversation with one mouse click, whenever they want to. Don’t give them reason to do that, but at the same time be sure to communicate enough so they can truly appreciate the offer you are making. It’s a balancing act you need to learn to master.

I am interested in your thoughts and questions. I am planning a huge initiative, I’m organising Massive Client Attraction Week (May 17-21). I’ll be teaming up with Australian and International Client Attraction Experts to bring you the most valuable up to date info on all three of these steps.

So what do you want to know about ??? Please leave me a note with your question and comments so we can make this a really great event that you will love/strong>

How often do you hear “I’d love to work with you but I can’t afford it” from your clients? If you think it’s too often then chances are you are not marketing your services to the right people, those that can actually afford it and those that are affluent enough not to have to be out shopping for the lowest prices.
Marketing to affluent clients has many advantages: It’s easier to raise your fees, you don’t get bargain shoppers but people who value quality and people who will rave about your services to their (also affluent) friends. So how do you position yourself as attractive to this group?

1. Be clear about your ideal client

How clear are you about your ideal client profile? Is your marketing material designed to speak to those people who have the funds to pay your fees? What are their demographics? What affluent means is relative and it all depends on what kind of a fee you are planning it charge. But you want to make sure that your client is in life circumstances where they have enough disposable income to pay what you are asking. For example, a singe stay at home mum with two little kids with an income of $50,000 a year is not very likely to invest $20,000 in a premium image makeover session. While this is an obvious example, I suggest you look at your ideal client profile and just check that you are being realistic with your target audience.

2. Create a strong premium brand

A strong premium brand creates a sense of quality you can trust and it truly sets you apart in the market place. Affluent clients are more likely to buy from you if you have created a strong brand personality. A brand that stands for a clear message of premium, quality, innovative, glamorous or other attributes that are associated with being superior will be favoured by clients who have sufficient disposable income to spend. While budget conscious clients can’t afford to think this way, affluent people can and LIKE that they can ( I know that whenever there’s a premium option available, I’m likely to take it, because I can and I like the preferential treatment).

3. Don’t be a bargain

Affluent clients will not buy from you just because you are offering bargain prices. In fact, they may even be skeptical about the value of your service if you don’t charge enough. That’s right, you can lose sales if you undercharge. Affluent clients equate a premium price with premium service (you need to back it up and actually deliver of course). So if you are wanting to attract affluent clients, position yourself as a premium provider and have your fees be aligned with that.

I realise that doing this (especially the last one about raising your fees) takes some courage to do because whenever you select a specific group to target you are also deselecting another. It shows once again that you can’t be all things to all people. I do know though that if you consistently do the right thing with your marketing, attracting affluent clients to you is a much smarter strategy than being a bargain provider. And as for the middle ground, well, that’s a pretty wishy washy place to be. I suggest you make a decision and stand by it.

What are your thoughts? Would love your comments on this. Please leave me a note!