Are you getting overwhelmed with all the things you have to do in order to make your business profitable? Building the list, running campaigns and so much more? They are all important, I can assure you. And, sometimes it’s good to go back to basics and ask yourself, how many clients do I really need in order to be profitable? How many and which programs do I really need to run in order to make the money I want? Sometimes we over complicate things when what we really need to do to get our goals is just so simple.

When was the last time you looked at all your great ideas for programs and asked yourself:

What is the fastest and easiest way I can create the income I want while enjoying the programs I run and the people I work with?

I know what I most enjoy doing is running programs for my clients so I consistently look at how I can deliver more value and market less so I can be in my flow as much as possible.
Doing this means I stay energised, motivated and connected to the energy of abundance.
I am keen to share my top three tips for achieving just that with you so here we go:

1. Ask them what they want
When was the last time you asked your subscribers and indeed your clients what they want? Not many entrepreneurs do this on a consistent basis. Often they spend more time thinking about what they want to deliver than what it is that their clients and prospects might want. This can be as easy as running a survey, picking up the phone and asking them or creating something like focus groups or research teams (made up of clients and/or prospects) that you can run your ideas past and that you can ask for input over a coffee or lunch. Many clients and other members from your community would be more than happy to participate in something like this if asked.

2. Make your first offer a ‘no brainer’ one
The secret to creating repeat business is to build a strong bond of trust between you and your clients. Learn to look at the first program people attend with you as just the beginning. Sometimes it’s smart not to necessarily look at that first program as needing a huge profit margin in order to be worthwhile. It could be the ‘trust builder’ that sets up client relationships for years to come. It is so much easier to create repeat business with clients who already know-like and trust you rather than finding new ones all the time. Sure you will also need new clients but the more long term relationships you create, the better for you.

3. Pick up the phone
It’s easy to get caught up in working on big marketing campaigns and forgetting the basics: Sometimes it’s as easy as getting on the phone and having a personal conversation in order to win a new client or participant for your program. Actually, the two go hand in hand. A good marketing campaign will make it easy for you to pick up the phone and call people and they will be thrilled to hear from you.
Often people don’t take that last step though out of fear they will be perceived as pushy. Not so. As I said most people will be delighted that you go through the trouble of calling them as not many service professionals do this.

What are your thoughts on these ‘keep it simple’ tips? I’d love to know, please leave me a note.

At my Six Figure Income Breakthrough Secrets Workshop I will give my participants the skills to just ‘get on the phone’ and have the conversation, a skill that has added significantly to my bottom line and client loyalty over the years. I will also show them how to create the ‘no brainer’ offers and how to position them so they are most effective.

You can still jump in to this program, but be aware the bonus “Money Mindset and Pricing Strategy Secrets Series starts next week and is only available if you book your ticket by this Monday 19th July.

You can listen to this blog post here (4min 39sec)

Years of coaching Entrepreneurs through mindset challenges has not meant that I don’t have any myself but it does mean that I am finding it easier these days to recognise my own patterns and stop them.

Here is one that I have personally experienced, have a look and see can you relate:

Imagine having three business opportunities lined up. They all have the potential for a huge payoff. You get excited, you work hard to make them happen. Then one doesn’t eventuate, one shrinks disappointingly and one works successfully but doesn’t get the results you had expected. And suddenly you feel like your business is a house of cards that is so fragile that it can fall down any time.

Has this ever happened to you? It has happened more than once for me, let me tell you. It takes me a bit of courage to talk about this so openly but I think it’s important.

It’s those times that my inner critic comes out to play and tells me this isn’t going to work, I’m wasting my time, I’ve missed the bus when it comes to opportunities, and maybe I wasn’t cut out to run a big business in the end anyway. See, I know my pattern, this is it.

What don’t see in these moments are the other opportunities that came seemingly out of nowhere. That were completely unexpected, are a perfect fit and while not as huge as the others I feel I just lost (and even that’s debatable), they quickly add up to something really solid. So in other words, my perspective on what is going on is heavily skewed and it’s really not serving me.

The truth is, this is the kind of dance that happens for me every time I take a significant step to grow my business and I feel out of my comfort zone.

Luckily I have ways to recover from this very quickly these days. The three tips I’ll share with you here are my safety net. These things keep me sane, get me focused again and have kept me from quitting more than once.

Get a reality check

The voice that comes through in these times is your inner critic who is NOT rational, often not caring and wants to drag you back to the safest path (which is certainly not running a business). This voice is often very dominant and loud. What you need is a reality check. I use my mastermind network and my mentor to do this for me. Whenever I feel this kind of stressful state come on I reach out to them and ask them for their perspective. I don’t know how many times I have blessed my Mentor for finding just the right words or my mastermind network for just being there, giving me a new perspective or cheering me on when I needed it most. Make sure you have a support network of like minded people preferably those that have walked the path before you.

Change your state

It’s almost impossible to find a new perspective or a sensible solution when in an unresourceful state, when you feel down, depressed or stressed. My way out of it is to put my favourite pieces of uplifting music on before I even attempt to shift my perspective. And it works wonders. I feel better, and I see new options. I know this sounds so simple but doing this takes some discipline as it often is tempting to wallow in your depressed mood. So the important thing is to nip this in the butt as soon as possible.

Commit to a bigger game

When you stress about things it is often because you are playing too small. If you fret about losing a client then what does that say about your prospect pipeline? And what does it say about your efforts you put into growing your business to a certain level? What if: What if instead of three big opportunities I had six lined up? How big a deal would it be if one or two didn’t turn out? Not as big. I think one of the biggest dangers is that people underestimate what it takes to get the results they want. So commit to playing big and stop sweating the small things.
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What do you think? What do you do to get yourself back on track? And how is that working for you? Please leave me a note I’d love to know your view.

A few weeks ago I attended a great conference with awesome speakers. They were passionate, polished and very knowledgeable. There was just one thing that struck me as very odd. So many of them crumbled when it came to the end where they were going to make an offer. I heard things said such as “I am not trying to sell you anything, this is not a sales pitch,…”. Why not??? Why do we need to even excuse ourselves for a sales pitch?

Sales is not a dirty word and I think it’s important we get over our resistance to it because none of us would even have a business if we were not actively selling something. As you can see from my newsletter I always have an offer for you out there even if it’s a free one.

I do understand that there is some backlash to events that are simply pitch fests and people being over that. AND, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. The reason why there are so many fantastic free offers out there is because they inspire a certain percentage of everyone enjoying the free stuff to actually take action and invest in taking the next step. And it’s when they take the next step that they really see the big benefits. Because even though the free stuff is extremely useful, it is always only part of the picture.

Nobody can put years worth of study and experience into a one hour free teleseminar/webinar and the like. The purpose of the free offer is to showcase your expertise and to give the audience the inspiration and the confidence to take take the next step and commit to achieving their goal using your material, teaching, systems.That is a really important step as when you sell information/coaching/consulting you are always selling a result.

So the better you are at building people’s confidence that they can do what you recommend in order to get the results they want, the more people will invest with you. That’s what you want to achieve in your promo free give aways. So don’t be afraid to be generous when you give information for free and at the same time don’t be afraid to make your offer and invite people to take the next step. Your speech/free give away earns you the right to make that offer.

And believe me, there are  people who want to hear it, who are waiting for you to show them how they can find out more, so don’t rob them of the opportunity to invest in themselves!

Ok, I”m going to get off my soap box now, what do you think of this? I’d love your comments on this here on the blog, I promise I read every one of them, even if I don’t always get to answer everybody!

So drop me a line ok?

Click here to listen to this blog post (4min 12sec play time)

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>

I made this video for you to pull away the curtains and give you a behind the scenes glimpse at my current Magnetic Marketing Webinar Series Marketing Campaign Results and the Success Formula that I use to fill this program (which is the same one that I teach during the webinar). In case you haven’t seen the campaign, it is highly successful already and its not over yet.

You probably know by now that I want to do right by you. Yes I want to promote my Webinar Series, and yes I am mentioning it here at the end of the video and I really think this is one of the smartest investments you can make right now in your marketing skills, that’s why I am setting out to prove it to you in the best way I know: by sharing with you what I have achieved using my own
principles. It’s 10 min long, well worth it I promise! So grab a cuppa, sit back and watch!

To secure one one of the last spots in the Magnetic Marketing Webinar Series, go to http://www.clientprosperity.com/magneticmarketing the special price ends at Midnight Thursday April 8th.

Running your business can be a lot of fun when things go well and clients knock on your door. And it can also become a huge energy drag if things are not going so well. While we all go through the ‘freak out days’ where we think we’ll never fill a workshop, that’s just part of the game, if the state of anxiety about getting enough clients persists, then it’s definitely no fun. It is all to easy to get drawn into the energy of wanting to ‘get’ the next client. And from my experience that is where the problem starts and the clients disappear.

It’s important that as entrepreneurs we stay connected to the energy of abundance, generosity and excitement around our business. It’s that high level of vibration where we are most creative that we are most client attractive. In other words, if you are enjoying yourself, your ideal clients will come to you.

So how do we stay connected to that energy of abundance? This is no woo-woo stuff, it’s really fundamental for a successful business. If you want to keep your sanity while building your six figure income business, you really want to be taking notice of my three top tips for staying in the energy of abundance and generosity that I want to share with you here

1. Be energetically connected with your ideal client
Yes, I wrote about the ideal client just last week, and I am mentioning it here again because it’s so important. This goes way beyond just collecting data. It’s really about being energetically connected with them, knowing what is going on for them on an emotional level so you can write to them and speak to them in your marketing message. It’s kind of like a free flowing continuation, working with you is just what is naturally happening next. Most Solopreneurs who struggle to attract clients are much more connected to what they want to provide than to what their clients want right now. Shift your focus and see what comes up. New doors may just open that you hadn’t considered before.

2. Be realistic with your goals
It’s easy to get freaked out if you have set yourself goals that are unrealistic. Check in with your goals, are they really achievable? There comes a stage where marketing (good marketing) is a numbers game and you need to know how many people you need to speak to in order to fill a program. It’s not necessarily a reflection on your service or product if not enough clients show up, sometimes you just haven’t got your numbers right. Most solopreneurs underestimate the amount of prospects and well nurtured relationships it takes in order to fill a program. So check in with your whole marketing campaign, is it built to create the result you want? Or do you need to adjust the bar?

3. The magic of pent-up demand
This is really about the energy you WANT to create. This one can be a little uncomfortable too, especially if you are someone who likes to please everybody at once. However pent up demand is a good thing. It’s the kind of energy you have just before the doors open to the Boxing Day Sales or the day really hot concert tickets are released and people are camping outside to get their hands on them.
I’m serious, that’s the holy grail of marketing. You can only create it if what you do is not abundantly available on every street corner. So have a look at what your clients really really want and give it to them, but not anytime anywhere.

If you want to learn more about how to build your business in a way that attracts clients to you, while you are in the energy of abundance and generosity, then attend my upcoming free teleclass http://www.clientprosperity.com/teleseminar03.html where I’ll be sharing with you how to design a Coaching or Consulting Business that attracts ideal clients and has them contact YOU.

And if you enjoyed this post, please leave me a note, I’d love to know what you think of it.

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!

Listen to this blog post here:

How you describe what you do can either be totally inspiring for your potential clients in which case they will WANT to work with you and often excitedly say “this is exactly what I need right now” or it can leave them confused and in a way ‘turned off’. Let me share with you my three step formula for inspiring your potential clients into working with you.

Here’s the secret: Give them back their hope that their desires can be fulfilled. Move their dreams within reach.

Clients become clients because they have a problem that you can solve. Your task is to convince them that you can help them. Most people take that to mean talk about your solution. And that’s a big mistake. People aren’t ready to hear it yet. Instead, take them on a journey with an inspiring story. And here is how it goes:

1. Let them know you truly understand their problem
This is the first and THE most important step. If you miss this the rest won’t work. Tell them how you either have been in the situation they are in now or how you have observed the problem many times in people around you and how it really bothered you.

2. Tell them that you solved the problem and how it is now
Tap into your potential clients’ dreams. Inspire them by sharing with them your new reality which is everything your potential clients want. Knowing that you have just that now is much more inspiring to them than your ‘how to’ description.

3. Mention that you have a simple step by step solution
Only now do you allude to the fact that from your experience you have designed a step by step system that reliably creates the results your clients want. You don’t even have to tell them what they step are, if they truly are your ideal client, they will be hanging on every word you are saying by now and will ask “How?”. Voila, someone is getting ready to engage your services.

Very elegant, don’t you think? Incidentally, I happen to have a step by step system to create this kind of message that makes it really easy to inspire your clients, no matter what your business. Because as you can imagine, how exactly you tell your story in these three stages makes a big difference to your results. The beauty of it is, that doing this also helps you to clarify in your own mind what it is you do. Which is very inspiring for YOU.

I just took all my platinum clients through it last weekend. Watch their excitement as they get it really clear in their mind what they do and how to communicate that to their clients.

June Kitto from www.careerfit.com.au on her breakthroughs on niche, standards and masterminding

To see more videos with breakthroughs my clients are sharing go to http://www.clientprosperity.com/blog/?p=427

I had a number of phone calls and emails in the last two weeks from some of you, my valued subscribers. And I was delighted. We did some strategizing on the spot (your initiative always pays off). And here is what I noticed that compelled me to write this article:

What people have been saying is this: “Yvonne, I am so inspired by your weekly newsletters and I’d love to work with you in getting my business really going but… I don’t have the funds, I don’t know how what my niche is, I don’t know that I have what it takes.”

These are probably the three biggest obstacles people create for themselves when wanting but presumably not being able to grow their business. Citing these obstacles often spells the end of the entrepreneurial dream.
So I wanted to address them in this week’s article. The truth is, none of these should stop you, they are not truly an obstacle. Read the truth that dispells these three myths and what it really takes for you to get over them. What you read might surprise or even shock you, but I promise you it’s my truth, I live by it and it’s working.
Let me show you what I mean:

1. I don’t know how to position myself as unique. I don’t know what my niche is.
I hear this all the time. For some reason people often think that they have come up with a unique idea in order to build a successful business. The truth is you don’t. And what’s more, it’s incredibly risky to come up with a completely novel idea because you have no idea how the market, your ideal clients, will respond.
The super successful Entrepreneurs I know have done no such thing. Let me tell you what people such as Aussie Business Icon Dick Smith, and Marketing Legend Frank Kern (who made $8 million last year) are doing: They know what they’re passionate about, they copy what the best people in their industry are doing and they make it better. So there you have it. I believe this is the fastest way to success. Allow yourself to stand on the shoulders of Giants.. Give them credit for it, and take the credit for creating something better as a result of learning from them. That’s exactly the formula I follow and it’s working very well for me. And it can for you too, no matter what industry you are in.

2. I don’t know whether I’m ready for this
How ready do you have to be??? You know what you’re passionate about. You know more about it than others. You have some of the missing links that can solve your clients problems and you are passionate about building your own business. Good. You’re as ready as you’ll ever be. You don’t need to be the top expert who has worked in the field for 20 years before you do it. You will be the accomplished expert much sooner if you make the jump and just go for it. If you don’t do it now, chances are you will tell yourself that you’re ‘not ready’ for the rest of your life and never take action. That’s what most people do. Do you want to be ‘most people’?

3. I don’t have the funds to invest in my business.
I know we all love the shoestring budget thing. But listen, shoestring or not you still need a budget to grow a business. Especially if it’s your first business. Most importantly you need money to invest in your own education. If you don’t start there, then you will be wasting a lot of money spent on Marketing etc because more than likely you will invest in the wrong things. So yes, you might think I’m biased because I happen to be a mentor myself, and I I’ll say it anyway – get a mentor. It will get you to where you want to be faster, easier and with much less frustration. I’ve always had one while in business and I credit my success entirely to that fact.
Don’t have the money? It’s not that hard to raise say $10,000 starting capital if you really want to. Sell your car, take a part time job, find an extra client, raise your fees, do whatever it takes to make this happen. Where there’s a will there’s a way. I really believe that.

So, no excuses now. Simply ask yourself, how much do you really want to run your own Six Figure Income business? If you really want it bad, take action NOW.