It’s game over.
You’re lying there thinking that’s it. You’ll never find any clients.
You’ll have to forget about being an entrepreneur and continue being a corporate employee working at a job you hate.
You just don’t get what’s going on. You’re doing everything you’re reading and hearing about but nothing seems to work.
You have a veritable library of free and valuable resources – cheat sheets, guides, video training courses, webinars, demo sessions – just name it.
But still nothing’s working.
It feels like you’re the only one unable to make money while others are posting about their 5- and 6-figure launches. You see so many successful business owners celebrating big wins. But not you!
You lie awake in bed in the middle of the night wondering what it’s going to take for you to land a few clients – well, even one will do right now.
You’re an introvert and you hate being on social media or on sales calls.
Something’s gotta give. But what?
Because you can’t take this anymore.
Let me tell you that it’s not game over … not if you keep pushing but in a different direction this time.
The problem possibly lies in the offer you’re making to your audience. And a problem offer is really a result of a problem with either your target audience or the words you’re using to attract that audience.
Ready to see how you can use these three insanely simple ways to land your next client and then the one after, and then the one after that … and so on?
1) Sneaky Way to Get Inside Your Prospect’s Head –
All the while that you’re still learning about them.
Are you wondering that if it’s sneaky, it can’t be ethical?
Let me reassure you – it’s so ethical, you’ll be doing your clients a disservice if you don’t do this.
Because, if they really need your product or service to either live a better life, or profit more with their business, and one of these things happen, you’re depriving them of what might be critical for their success:
- You don’t even get to the stage where you can offer your life-changing product or service to them because they weren’t paying attention to what you had to say, or worse still,
- You make an offer but they don’t understand it’s value and what it could mean to them. Why? Because they’re comparing you to the 1500 other exact same things they see being sold to them. How is yours different and why should they buy from you?
So, the most important thing would be to first figure out who might be a good fit for your offer.
I can hear you ask the next question – how do I know who’s a good fit?
Well, the best way would be to conduct user research.
This is something you should be doing in your business anyway, but if you aren’t doing it yet, it’s time to start.
Because when you’re doing user research and you figure out they would be the perfect candidate to benefit from your product or service, you could ask them for permission to stay in touch with them.
Not only do you learn about them but you also get to stay in touch with your target audience.
Follow up with them within a few days and offer your product or service with utmost respect and humility. Show them why you think they would be a perfect fit for your offer and what your offer will do for them.
If you’d like an easy way to save all your research data, here’s a spreadsheet you can use for that.
Remember that trying to sell on a user research call is an absolute no-no. Staying in touch with them to offer them your service because you can see how much they’ll benefit is a necessity.
Not offering them something they could benefit from is doing them a disservice. It’s like you see someone is drowning and you do nothing to get them out of the water.
2) Reverse Engineer This Boring, Traditional Process of Starting a Conversation –
And get people to start a convo with you (especially if you aren’t much of a conversation starter yourself).
If you’re shy and introverted, it’s quite understandable that you have a hard time starting a conversation with a stranger.
If you’ve been at the receiving end of strangers sending you unsolicited messages and offers on social media, you know exactly how creepy that feels. It happens all the time.
The worst part is that a lot of marketing gurus are actually asking you to do just that – they tell you to get into peoples’ DMs.
How about if you could do this backward and get people to talk to you instead?
There’s a really great way of doing that – post on social media or send an email to your subscribers list if you have one, and ask for people to self-identify as your ideal client avatar.
Wondering how?
You tell them briefly who your target audience is, so they can decide if they fit your criteria.
Let them know that you’re conducting some user interviews as you’re looking for information on what would serve your client base.
Most people are happy to raise their hand and help out wherever they can.
This is what your post might look like –
“Hi! I’m trying to find out what kind of product or service to offer my audience. If you’re a female entrepreneur between the ages of 35-55, with kids and a full-time job, I’d love to chat with you for 20 minutes. Please let me know and I’ll reach out to you over DM. Thanks!”
Of course, the above blurb is just an example and you’ll have to adjust it to fit your audience.
You’ll be surprised how many people will volunteer to help out, especially if you do this inside a highly targeted Facebook group.
But please be mindful of the group’s posting rules because the last thing you want is to get banned from the group, right?
Don’t waste their time or yours and let them know who you want to speak to.
True story – if you end up talking to the wrong person who isn’t within your target audience, you’ll never make an impact on them.
That just boils down to a waste of time for both you and them.
And you already know that time is the most precious resource you have – you can lose a client and gain another, but you’ll never get back the time you lose.
So, be completely clear about who would be the best kind of person you’d like to speak to.
I’m going to assume that you already have an ideal client avatar or client persona that you’re really clear about. You’ve spent time finding out all about them and you can tell right away if they’re your ideal clients or not.
I have to add here that knowing just their gender, location, age and a couple of pain points isn’t enough. You have to really know them like the back of your hands. If you want a little help with how to do that, check out a tool I’ve created to quickly construct your ideal customer avatar here.
This is a great strategy you can use that’s going to help you start a convo without feeling uncomfortable and nervous.
Voila! You’ve just put the onus on someone else to start the conversation. Easy-peasy!
3) Give Them Exactly What They Ask For –
Because want is way stronger and more palpable than a need.
Did you know that most people have no idea what they really need but they’re very clear about what they want?
It might seem tough to know how to gauge what your prospect truly wants.
But it’s not hard when you pay attention to what they say on a certain topic.
During user research or strategy sessions, if you allow the prospect to speak long enough and help them loosen up a little bit with your well thought out questions, they’ll start dropping solid hints.
Some people take a little longer to open up than others but it also depends on the types of questions you ask.
The better the quality of your questions, the better their answers.
Always prepare a few questions before getting on a call. Make sure your questions are open-ended so your prospect cannot answer them with a simple “yes” or a “no”.
When they start taking a little longer to ponder your question, they will start qualifying their answers with more information. This is when you need to listen very carefully. When they begin to let you in on their real challenges, try to remember the exact words or expressions they’re using.
Ask them follow-up questions – don’t just stop at the questions you’ve prepared.
Once you come to the point of making the offer (if you’re on a strategy call), use the words and phrases they used so they are crystal clear about the meaning of what you’re offering them.
If you’re in a user research interview, remember to write down the words and phrases. But better still request to record the interview. Most people will allow you to do that if you reassure them that it’s strictly confidential and will only be used as research material.
So, now you can go back and study their answers. See what you can do to improve the offer using their own words and phrases when you follow up with them after a few days.
They not only understand your offer better, it’s made more meaningful because now you’re literally echoing their own thoughts and words and their need to resolve those challenges becomes more real.
Until that point, it was all inside their head!
But now, they’re face to face with the real enemy – the things that are holding them back from achieving their greatness.
Doesn’t this sound simple?
And it is – you just have to put it into action and watch the results roll in.
Now …
Imagine lying in your bed after a long day of meetings and client consultations but this time it’s not draining or tiring.
In fact, it’s been such a fulfilling day of working with amazing clients – you signed up more new clients than you ever remember doing – ever!
You’re excited because you know you’re helping them feel more hopeful and confident about achieving their own goals.
You lie there and think about the keynote you’ve been invited to give. You can already tell it’s going to be a hit because you’re seen as an expert and an influencer.
Your mind wanders and you start imagining your next vacation with the family – will it be the beach or the mountains?
Maybe somewhere you’ve always longed to visit but couldn’t fit into your budget in the past – but not anymore. You can afford to take time off from your business and treat yourself and your family to this much deserved time off.
Does this sound like a pipe dream? It’s not. Victory is yours.
Just get started – right now!
Don’t wait for a better time because there’s no better time than right now to pick one of the insanely simple ways of finding your clients and helping them say “yes” to your offer.
The surprising thing is that not only do you get to serve them, you also get to live your dream life – the main reason you started your business in the first place.
Your amazing clients are waiting.
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