5 Systems to Simplify the Process Of Getting Clients

by Francis | Business, Marketing Tips | 3 comments

You can save a lot of time, get more clients and run your business more effectively when you use systems for everything you do.

Doing marketing, drawing clients into your pipeline, staying in touch with prospects and clients, scheduling client consultations, converting prospects into clients, keeping records of client communication, billing clients, tracking income and expense etc. etc. are all tasks you do on a regularly (even daily) basis. Creating a system around each of these tasks or activities, makes it easier to do, saves time and can even put your business on autopilot when you are not in the office.

So, what is a system?

Without going too much into details, a system is a set of steps, methods or procedures you follow to carry out a specific activity, perform a task or solve a problem.

Thus, to create a system for a specific activity in your business you’ll need to know all the specific steps you follow – from start to end – to complete that activity.

In practice, creating systems do not need to be complicated. The only requirement is the systems should work best for YOU and YOUR business. Ultimately the purpose of a system is to save you time and to put most of your repetitive tasks on autopilot so they can take care of themselves with no to minimum involvement from you.

Systems save time and put most of your repetitive tasks on autopilot.
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Here are examples of 5 systems to simplify the process of getting more clients.

Doing Marketing: If networking and frequently attending live events is one of your marketing strategies, a system can simply be to schedule the dates of all the networking events in your calendar. This way you do not have to remember everything as your system will do the work for you. You can even set a reminder for a couple of days before the event to allow for any preparation, if needed. This way you won’t forget about the event and will be well prepared when you attend. Scheduling is a simple system that can help you stay consistent in attending those in-person events, saves time because you know it is scheduled and you’ll be reminded in time, and you’ll feel more confident when you show up, since you had ample time to prepare.

Filling your Client Pipeline: An example of a system to fill your client pipeline is to use your website, email marketing software and a free offer to capture the contact details of visitors to your website.  You can direct all your marketing efforts (the people you meet at events, all your off-line and online marketing) to your website and let your well-oiled system takes care of getting these web visitors into your client pipeline so you can stay in touch with them. This is a system that can be set up once. And best of all, it runs on autopilot while you sleep or are miles away on vacation

Staying in touch: It is important to ensure your prospects don’t forget about you. When staying in touch you continuously build relationships with your prospects and keep your services and offerings in front of them. One way to stay in touch is to publish a regular e-zine (electronic newsletter). An example of creating a system around your e-zine is to create a list of topics you want to share with your audience on regular intervals and then to schedule those topics into an editorial calendar of when each will be send out. An important part of this system is also to schedule the time in your calendar to write the content and populate your email marketing system. When you use email marketing software like Aweber, you can write your content in advance and schedule it to go out on a specific date. This saves time and have the added benefit that your communication are send even when you take an extended vacation.

Convert prospects into clients: Once people are interested in working with you, a new client conversion procedure or system can do wonders for your business. An example of a system here is to have a form on your website where prospects can inquire about your services. Once they’ve filled in the form, they receive an automated email to set-up a complimentary discussion where you get together on the phone. For the discussion you can use a specific, pre-developed script or format  to lead your prospect from just inquiring about your services to becoming eager and willing to work with you. The system is taking care of all the pre-work and you only have to be there to conduct the discussion and convert the prospect into a new clients.

New Client Intake: When a prospect becomes a client, it is good business practice to give them all the information they need for working effectively with you. An example of a system when a client says “yes” is to have a client information pack (or welcome pack) ready to send to this client. The bulk of this information pack and regular client communications can be pre-developed and only customized per client. This saves a lot of time and prevent you from re-inventing the wheel for each new client.

With workable and automated systems in place, you can simplify and streamline the process of getting clients and accomplish most of your daily client related and administrative tasks in a matter of minutes, not hours.

Systems put time back into your day – time that you can spend on growing your business with clients and income and/or taking a well-deserved break.

Your assignment for today:

• Pick one thing. . . just one thing in your business and create a system around it.
• Start documenting all the steps you take to complete that.
• Evaluate what you can do to automate / facilitate all the repetitive activities to help you save time with this in future.

The ultimate goal is to create systems that don’t require your attention every minute of the day.

To Your Success

P.S. Do you use systems in your business? Tell us about it in the comment box below.

Make A Difference Through Service Excellence

by Francis | Business, Marketing Tips | 2 comments

A business that attracts lots of clients is a business that focuses on service excellence.

Anyone can give a service and find some clients, but someone who focuses on service excellence, will have a business that prosper and will attract clients into long-term relationships.

On vacation to Romania last year, I started to understand what service excellence really means and how it can practically put your business on a totally different level than your competitors.

While exploring the ski slopes of Poiana Brasov, a small town in Romania, we noticed one restaurant that was bustling with customers every single night, while others barely had one or two tables occupied. So, obviously we wanted to try it out. Due to a huge language barrier, we had to call in the help of our hosts at the B&B we were staying to make reservations for us for the second week of our stay. It turned out that this restaurant only take reservations and is normally fully booked for weeks in advance – even in off-peak seasons.

The wait was absolutely worth the while and here’s why.

Upon entering the restaurant, we were personally greeted at the door by the owner of the restaurant and taken to our table which was made of rough, solid sleeper wood and was beautifully laid out with sparkling silverware and fresh flowers (in the middle of winter in snow-filled mountains – that is a big wow). The chairs were covered with snow white sheep skin for added warmth and comfort. A big log fire blazed away in one corner and a traditional band with dancers kept us entertained with great lively music.  We were just seated when they brought us warm, freshly baked bread with real butter. We were served complementary glasses of spicy “gluwein” (obviously the price of the wine was worked into the food somewhere, but the mere fact that it was not reflected on the bill made it special). The waiters were extremely efficient. The food was delicious and the presentation was faultless. A small mint chocolate was served with the after meal coffee. The bill was reasonable. All in all one of the best restaurants I’ve ever visited.

So, what made this Romanian restaurant stand out above the other restaurants in that area as well as above many of the so-called five star restaurants we’ve visited in our life before?

Well, everything they did had one goal in mind: Service Excellence.

Making you feel welcome; making you feel good by just being there. Attention to detail and small things like the chocolate with the coffee, fresh flowers, the personal greeting at the door, the beautiful table, clean silverware, the festive atmosphere, the complimentary gluwein, good food and good service – all working together to ensure a full restaurant and customers coming back for more.

That made me think:  If a restaurant owner in the middle of nowhere can keep his restaurant fully booked for weeks in advance, how can we apply the same service excellence in our businesses as well.

For me, service excellence is about:

• Showing a great attitude towards your clients;
• Enjoying what you do and knowing how it can benefit your clients;
• Displaying exceptional behaviours and applying those to your client relationships.
• Finding ways to make your clients feel good about your services, your business and themselves because they simply feel good when dealing with you.

Here are some practical ways to create service excellence in your business:

Listen to your clients.

Let your clients talk and take the time to identify exactly what they need by asking questions and concentrating on what they are really saying. Listen to their words, tone of voice, body language, and how they feel. Show that you are listening by making the appropriate responses and suggestions or giving alternative options on how to improve things. By just listening to your clients, they not only feel heard and understood, but you also pick up on valuable nuggets that can help you improve on your service to give them exactly what they want and need.

 Be reliable and deliver on what you say.

Reliability is one of the key aspects to any good relationship. If you say, “Your report will be ready on Tuesday”, make sure it is ready and delivered on Tuesday. Do not “over-promise” and then “under-deliver”. Rather do it the other way round – under-promise then over-deliver.

 Always play open cards with your clients and be honest in all your negotiations.

Don’t tell a “half” truth or withhold information from your clients, just to “save face” or earn a few more bucks. When you are honest about situations, even when you’ve made a bad mistake, you’ll win the client’s respect and trust.

 Deal with complaints promptly.

No one likes hearing complaints, but when a client complains, the chances are there might be a problem or a misunderstanding that is causing it. Listening and solving complaints is an ideal opportunity to restore goodwill, keep a client and build stronger relationships. Handling complaints can also help you to improve your procedures thus eliminating or minimising similar issues in future.

 Pay attention to small detail and give them more than expected.

Be creative and give your clients what they do not get elsewhere. People love to get more than they thought they were getting – and it doesn’t need to be something big to be effective. E.g. send a small gift when someone start a big project with you; include a thank-you note when you’ve completed a project; send a message on their birthday– even when you’re not working together anymore; follow-up and thank them even when they don’t buy from you; send them information to help them in their business without expecting anything in return; give them a coupon for a couple of additional service hours. There are all sorts of ways to go the extra mile and to give them more than they expect. They may not say so, but people notice when you make an extra effort and will tell other people.

Creating service excellence in your business doesn’t cost much, but it can mean a world of difference to your clients and your business. If you deliver service excellence consistently, it’s a free form of marketing. Over time your business will become known for its good customer service and you’ll create a business that prosper and attract clients into long-term relationships.

Your take-away assignment for this week

How can you create even more service excellence in your business to make your clients come back for more? Please go ahead and share your ideas in the comment box below. Let’s all learn from each other.

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