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Show Notes
Welcome to Small Business Talks the Coaches, episode 337. Last week we talked about getting clients and getting clients without burnout and it was a great episode. We had, I guess, Kathryn, who had some amazing tips. If you haven’t listened to that one, go back and check it out here, SBT Episode 336: Getting Clients Without Burnout With Cathy Smith and Kathryn Eipl
So today I thought we might follow on with that theme and talk about a sustainable client system, because it’s really important that we do have clients as we are all running businesses and that we make sure that it is sustainable.
Marketing That Works for You
The important thing, is to make sure that you are doing the right thing for your personality, for what you love to do and also your chapter of business, because sometimes some things will work for a while and you need to change them up. And sometimes they are never going to work for you. You need to make sure of what works for you. So today, let’s have a chat about what it is that you need to be doing. And getting a new marketing strategy every single month is not the way to go.
Sometimes marketing strategies do take a little while. They are a slow bank, particularly when they are organic, but it doesn’t mean that you should be chopping and changing every month. Sometimes you need to give them a good three six months and sometimes even longer. And depending on what it is that you are doing, you might enjoy doing that. But making sure that it’s sustainable.
Consistency Creates Visibility
The problem is that when we get busy, we forget to be visible. When you are thinking about visibility, what works for you? Visibility can be that quiet consistency. It can be keeping your clients happy so that they then I would amassed. And that’s an amazing way because then you are generally a category of one. If somebody recommends you, they very rarely go looking elsewhere. They are just going to go with you, have a chat, maybe had a consult.
And if that works for them, you have got a new client. Amazing. But how do you scale that? That can be difficult. So you need to make sure that whatever your chosen marketing method, you are out there and you are being visible. That’s one of the reasons that I absolutely love email, because it’s a fairly low entry barrier to entry and it can be set up in a system.
It can be set up. So it’s really easy to do and you can batch it. While you can do your burst of content but you don’t have to spread all over everybody in one go. And you can set it up so it doesn’t fade away. And particularly if you have got that large database and that can be anything from 500 to 1000 or more, because that gives you the opportunity to segment it.
Let People Find You
A website is amazing for that and you can get websites down quite cheaply these days. There’s lots of different ways to do it and we are actually bringing out a website product ourselves, which is going to be an easy low barrier to entry.
So a website is a great way to let people reach out to you, because that’s where you can have safer things. Social media is wonderful and it’s free, but it’s very difficult to search. It’s very difficult to go back and find things. It’s hard to find those frequently asked questions. Well, they are just that little bit more information.
The Power of Follow Up
And then it’s the follow up, making sure that when people do reach out to you or you have been on a networking event and somebody said, hey, I’d like to talk to you, that you do follow up because a lot of people don’t. A lot of people go to all this effort to be on these events, to do networking, whether it’s online or in person. And then that’s it. Crickets. They don’t follow up.
It’s not that difficult to jump on somebody’s booking form and book a call or to put your booking form out there so that people can pick a time and make it easy. But if you are working in time science or in busy areas, it’s really good to have these sort of things set up so that people can do it.
Make the Invitation Clear
And just doing following up is important and it’s far better to follow up then have all the fancy systems and have it all right and then click that invitation, making the invitation to have a chat, have a call to get in front of the audience, whatever it is and make sure that your potential clients know that you have got availability.
Is it a one on one situation? Are you offering one on one coaching? Is it a group? Is it a program? Do you have a lead magnet? Do you have something that are value that you can offer?
Then making sure that you are doing that invitation and that it’s clear because often we think we are being clear. And then you hear somebody say, oh yeah, I’ve just hired a one on one coach and you go, oh, that could have been me.
So making sure that you are consistently letting people know that you have these opportunities, say it. Say it clearly.
Do What Works For You
Make sure that you are doing that invitation and that it’s clear because often we think we are being clear. And then you hear somebody say, oh yeah, I’ve just hired a one on one coach and you go, oh, that could have been me. So making sure that you are consistently letting people know that you have these opportunities, say it. Say it clearly.
Then have a rhythm so that you will have an idea how often should you do things. Is it once a month that you set it all up and then you check it weekly? Is it every Monday afternoon? And remember, try not to multi switched. It is not a good idea and if you haven’t got that between the lines yet, that’s multitasking. It doesn’t work. You have to keep resetting your mind to where you were and it just takes a lot longer than you think. So making sure that you are not doing extra stuff that you don’t need to. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
So it’s great to be at a bench these days. If you are writing a few emails, do them all together if you can because then you have got the right mindset. You are in flow and that can make it much easier.
But just start with the basics: one visible action, one follow up and one invitation. You don’t have to either complicate it and that’s quite often what we do, isn’t it?
Make the Invitation Clear
And just doing following up is important and it’s far better to follow up then have all the fancy systems and have it all right and then click that invitation, making the invitation to have a chat, have a call to get in front of the audience, whatever it is and make sure that your potential clients know that you have got availability.
Is it a one on one situation? Are you offering one on one coaching? Is it a group? Is it a program? Do you have a lead magnet? Do you have something that are value that you can offer?
Then making sure that you are doing that invitation and that it’s clear because often we think we are being clear. And then you hear somebody say, oh yeah, I’ve just hired a one on one coach and you go, oh, that could have been me.
So making sure that you are consistently letting people know that you have these opportunities, say it. Say it clearly.
Authentic Conversations Build Clients
Well, do you feel salesy when you are just having a chat to your friend about what you’ve been doing? You might have a case study or something like that. Probably not. So just think about the way you talk normally when you are just excited about something, it doesn’t have to be salesy. Just start a conversation and get that rapport going. Making sure that you are actually building a relationship rather than just getting in there and trying to sell all the time. We all know what that feels like and it’s not nice, so make sure that you don’t perpetuate that and remember to set your boundaries.
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Getting Clients Without Burnout
So just pick one action out of today’s podcast, listen to it again, perhaps and then work out what you are going to do. But the main things are to be visible, to follow up, to have invitations and do what works for you.
Listen to the full episode of Small Business Talk episode 337.
You can also find the video versions of the Small Business Talk Episodes on YouTube.
