Marketing can often feel like a pain in the neck, isn’t it?
As a services professional, you know you need to market your business consistently to get more clients and greater returns on your income, yet it’s like you just never really get to do any effective marketing. You always find something else to do instead…. and in the end, your day went by and you didn’t get to do any marketing, right?
I know… I used to feel like that too, but not anymore.
I came to realize that as a service provider it is actually your responsibility to do as much marketing as you can.
The truth is: you have unique skills, abilities and experiences that can help so many other people who are looking for exactly what you have. In other words…
You have solutions to other people’s problems!!
So if you do not market your business and tell people what you do, you deprive them from the solutions to their problems that they are searching for!
When I realized this truth, my whole outlook on marketing changed and as a result, I felt more confident and open with my marketing and also started to see many positive results in my business. Results such as more focus, more self-discipline, more clients, better quality clients a higher income…in fact, my whole business became much more fun.
Understanding what marketing really is, helped me get so many things I want … and you can too.
There is however ONE big pitfall.
You can have the right intentions with your marketing, BUT if you do not have the right marketing FOUNDATION, it will still be an uphill struggle to get more clients and help the people you want to help.
In all honesty, it took me some time to figure that one out, but eventually I did and now I want to pay it forward…
So, I’ve developed a training program to show you step-by-step how to implement the right marketing foundation in your business and how to build on that foundation with a rock-solid marketing plan to attract more and more clients to your business – consistently. With the information of this training program you can start create marketing momentum that will bring you the clients and income you want.
Do you create, do or give something to your clients that lift your business up above your competition? In other words, does your business have that something that makes you get the clients while your competitors don’t?
That is called a “winning edge”.
Let me try to explain this by using an example of horses running a race.
As you know, horse racing is not only a prestigious sport; but there is also huge prize money involved and the horse that wins the race walks away with the bulk of this prize money – even if he only wins by a “nose”.
In some races, the winning horse can receive up to ten times more in prize money than the horse that comes in second. This however doesn’t mean the wining horse have to be ten times faster than the second horse. He just need to be a little bit faster or a little better trained for this race or has a skilled jockey that can make a racing decision just a little bit better than the other jockeys.
It is the same in business. People who become successful and prosperous are sometimes just a “nose” in front of those who don’t! They do things just a little bit better or do things just a little bit different than the rest which then leads to extraordinary results.
Create prosperity in your business and give yourself that winning edge, by focusing on one or more of the following:
1. Distinction
Be noticeably different from your competition. Luckily, it’s not really that difficult to create distinction, to stand out and be different from a crowd of anonymous competitors. You only need to do 1 of 3 things. You either need to
Deliver a unique service that not many other solo-preneurs do, or
Deliver a common service, but do it in a unique way or even
Deliver a common service in a common way but then specialize in a particular audience.
2. Excellence
Strive to become excellent in what you do and be brave enough to set the standard in your industry.
Do everything to the best of your ability. When you sell a service, you need to fulfill with excellence – like dinner depend on it. Be a person of integrity and don’t manipulate the truth or cut corners to make a buck.
Excellence enables you to become trusted in you market place and not only to attract loyal clients, but also loyal partnerships and creating thriving partnerships give you the leverage to spread your message even further and helps to create quantum growth in your business.
Regardless of what you do, always put your full effort behind it and don’t do anything halfway.
3. Service Value
Always serve your clients with value in mind. Give them more value than what they’ve bargained on because satisfied clients are the foundation upon which you can create more prosperity in your business.
Businesses with satisfied, loyal clients enjoy greater customer retention, repeat business, more word of mouth advertising and consequently greater profits.
The art of giving your clients value boils down to finding out what they want or what they consider to be of value, then persuading them that what you offer will deliver that value.
Your Assignment for today:
With all 6 Success Strategies in mind, give yourself and your business the opportunity to become prosperous, Break away from the trap of only doing enough to “get by,” or being content with being “good enough”.
Focus on those things that can give you the winning edge in your business. Be distinct, be excellent in what you do and deliver exceptional service value to your clients to become prosperous and to take your business from merely surviving to thriving this year
Love & Success
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Since starting my business a couple of years ago and working with many entrepreneurs in the process, I’ve noticed that numerous solo-businesses struggle with getting more clients due to the fact that potential clients do not know about them.
It’s often the case where entrepreneurs excitedly start their online businesses. They know they have a service that will make a difference in people’s lives and because they are excellent in what they do, they often expect people to naturally know how good they are and how they can help clients.
What happens is many solo-preneurs get everything just right to perform business and then …they wait!
They wait and think “Oh, the clients will come to me”… and when the clients do not line up and are not eagerly waiting to work with them, they get discouraged and start wondering if being self-employed was the right decision to make?
The truth however is: if you want to take your business from merely surviving to thriving, you HAVE to get out there in a really big way and consistently market & promote your services.
It sounds simple enough, but people often shy away from marketing and promoting their services due to inherent false beliefs that it is ‘sleazy’; or you have to ‘sell’ yourself – much like a door-to-door salesman trying to sell you something you don’t need.
Marketing and promoting your services however doesn’t have to be sleazy at all. When it is done authentically, your marketing simply offers the solutions your clients are already searching for.
Therefore it is actually your duty to inform people how you can take away their pain and problems with the services you offer!
To effectively market and promote your services:
Get your message and your services in front of the clients you want to work with;
Go to the places where your clients are already gathered for you.
Actively meet new people, speak to them and start engaging in conversations. Don’t wait and assume clients will come to you. You need to give them a reason to do so.
Have confidence in yourself, your services and your business. If you don’t have a genuine belief in the importance and the value of your services and don’t know that it can really help your clients or even change their lives, you clients won’t have confidence in you either.
Realize that when you promote your business, you’re not pushing people to buy what they don’t want. Instead, you’re offering them a solution to the problems and pain they experience.
Make every marketing action count so that it helps to achieve your ultimate goals. Don’t just do marketing for the sake of marketing. Do the necessary planning and follow a structured plan that gives you a diversified outreach and maximizes your returns.
Market and promote your services daily, consistently and persistently. It doesn’t help much to only crank out a couple of marketing activities when the appointment book looks a bit empty.
Marketing and promoting is like planting a seed. It rarely gives instant results.When you plant a seed in the ground, it needs constant attention in terms of water and pruning to help it grow into a lovely tree that will eventually bear fruit.
Thus your marketing needs daily attention to bring consistent results.
Mastering the marketing aspect of your business is the best skill you can learn to take your business from merely surviving to thriving.
To your success
P.S. Your assignment for this week: Have total conviction about what you do and from this moment forward consistently market and promote your services. I guarantee you’ll start attracting more clients than you are now. It works!
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If you don’t package your services, you probably leave money on the table.
One of the biggest challenges in selling services is that what you offer is intangible. Thus, the most common way people charge for services is to charge by the hour. The client pays for your time, and they keep paying until the project is complete or your work with them is done. But there are 2 inherent problems with this:
First, clients are often resistant to pay for hours. You will hear them say, “I don’t want to leave it open-ended” or “That seems very high for an hourly rate“. We hear these excuses on a daily basis.
Second, there are only 24 hours in a day. Eventually your income will reach a ceiling because you won’t be able to increase your number of hours and/or increase your hourly rate indefinitely.
A strategy to overcome this time for money trap is to package your services.
This simply means that you group a number of tasks or services that you regularly perform into a service package and sell it at a fixed price. This help to make your service looks more like a product and make it more tangible because you can now better explain the benefits and results a client will get from it.
Even though you perform exactly the same services as when you do it on an hourly basis, by grouping some complementary services together into a service package and offering it at a fixed rate, you can focus the client’s attention on the outcomes and results of working with you and not on the time it takes to perform the tasks.
For example: Let’s say you are a social media specialist, and you work with clients on an hourly basis to set-up and maintain their social media profiles. When you package your services, you can for example create 3 different packages at different levels and price points.
The lowest priced packages can include some basic level tasks such as setting up a specific social media profile, but the client still have to do the bulk of his social media activities himself.
The mid-tier program can include all the tasks to set up different profiles, integrate them with his website and create a unified brand for your client across all his profiles.
The top tier packages can be a ‘done-for-you’ and include all the tasks from the other packages plus you take care of his total social media strategy and updates.
Each of these packages thus caters to a different segment of your market.It gives prospects a choice that suites their budget and individual needs better.
Packaging your services therefore:
Makes it easier for clients to say yes and work with you.
Removes the element of uncertainty (which is inevitably present when you charge by the hour)
Gives you the potential to raise your rates and increase your income as you can charge more for packages than for hourly services and clients will still be happy to pay because they focus on the outcome and results they will get from it.
Service packages put the money back into your pocket.A well-structured package can elevate your income and is a great strategy to take your business from merely surviving to thriving. It is also a fun step in business because you can start discovering the untapped potential and profits in your business.
To Your Success
P.S. Your assignment for this week:Think about the services can you group together in your business. Then create a services package around it.
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Did your position your business correctly to attract more clients and make more money?
What is the right position you may ask?
Well, being in the right position is where you have products and services that effortlessly attract the clients you want to work with and your clients are extremely happy working with you because you provide solutions to the problems they have. They therefor readily pay your fees, enthusiastically recommend you to friends and colleagues and never even think of exchanging you for your competition?
Is that at all possible?
Yes, it is.
But before you can create this favorable position, you need to answer the following strategic questions.
Q1: Who do you really work with? How do you help them?
Sometimes, we think we know who our clients are. But do we really?
For example: Do you work with a specific group of people who can be clearly identified and who have some common characteristics? Do you know what they struggle with and what their particular issues are? Do you know how your services can alleviate those issues?
A secret behind effective positioning is that it always starts with the client in mind.
It starts with choosing a specific group of people you can help best with your talents and skills; then getting to know them really well and giving them exactly what they need.
That’s step 1 in positioning your business correctly to effectively attract client, earn a higher income and take your business from merely surviving to thriving.
Q2: What makes you and your business unique?
Why would clients work with you? What is your unique message? What makes you different from any other person who delivers the same services you do? What makes you stand out in the crowd?
In today’s overcrowded marketplace and trying to compete online it can often be difficult to find something that makes you completely unique, right. That is when there really are only three things that can help you stand out.
Your story – the good and the bad in your life that is useful to share with clients;
Your skill set – your previous experiences, knowledge and credentials;
Your style – your personality and the way you do things.
When you embrace your “story” and share it with others; use your skills fully and live out your style you can create a very unique position for your business in your market.
Q3: What are your clients really buying from you?
It is important to understand that your clients do not buy your products or services; they buy the solutions or benefits you offer.
The example most often quoted in marketing to explain this concept is the one of selling a drill. When you sell drills and drill bits, what your customer actually wants is a hole. So the drill is just a means of making the hole.
It however does not stop there. Why does he want the hole? Lots of people really want a hole so they can put a screw through it to fix something. So, the customer is actually buying a way of fixing things and you are in the business of selling ways of fixing.
When you understand what your clients are really buying from you, you can provide them with better ways or different ways to get what they want and as such better position your business to thrive.
Answer these 3 strategic questions, can help you position yourself and your business skillfully to create a unique position where you become the go-to person in your niche, attract more of the right clients and as a result increase your income to live the lifestyle you want.
To Your Success
******
P.S. What will you will do to position your business better this year? Share it with us below…. and as always, if you enjoyed this article, don’t keep it a secret :). Use the buttons below to share.
Francis van Wyk is an experienced business and client attraction mentor who supports women solo-preneurs with planning and achieving business success online.
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