When someone new lands on your site, you want them to stay a bit longer, browse around and when they like what they see, take some sort of action… calling for an appointment or signing up for your mailing list.

This however pose a huge challenge for website owners.

The reason?

Competition on the web is increasing daily.

You do not only compete with other websites in your niche. You also compete with Social Media, Email, Smartphones, Online Games, News sites… all designed to minimise the time people spend on yours!

And on top of that you also compete with the dwindling attention span of people these days.

According to recent research by the National Center for Biotechnology, the average attention span of people is about 9 seconds, and the average website visitor has an attention span of 3-5 seconds the first time they’re on your site.

Not very good news for us as solo-preneurs…

So to use your website as a client attraction tool, you have to grab your visitor’s attention within the first couple of seconds, because only when you have their attention they’ll be persuaded to stay a bit longer and hopefully take the action you want them to take.

So, here are 4 easy-to-implement tips to grab their attention and get them to stay longer.

1. Know Who You Want To Keep on Your Site

In the first 3 seconds when someone lands on your site they ask the questions:

• What is it?
• Why should I care?

…and you have to instantly answer these questions through your logo, your headlines, your images and eventually every word you write.

Knowing your target audience, who you write for and thus want to keep on your site…PLUS  understanding their needs, wants and desires, will make it easier to convey your unique value proposition in those critical first 3 seconds.

So, write your website with your ideal client in mind. The thing is, you don’t know where your visitors will first enter your site. It may be the home page of your website, a blog post, a sales pages or even your contact page. Every single webpage therefor has to convey the message of what you do, who you serve, what their problems are, and how you can transform their lives.

2. Use Striking Headlines

Headlines, and titles, are one of the most important parts of your site, whether it is on your home page, a blog entry, a standard web page, an article, or your sales copy.

Why?

Because your site visitors use headlines to decide whether or not to read further.

And if they don’t read past the headline, it doesn’t matter how good or bad your actual content is, it won’t get read.

So, write headlines that are clear, relevant, exciting and contains a solution to a pain point or challenge your audience have.

3. Make Your Content More Readable.

People don’t read everything on your site. They usually just scan the content. So help them stay longer and encourage them to continue reading by…

• Breaking your content into shorter paragraphs;
• Using subheadings;
• Using lists and bullet points;
• Formatting text with bold, italicize, and underline to emphasize important points
• Creating more white or open spaces.

4. Use Relevant Images

Humans are visual creatures and images help your visitors connect and feel comfortable on your site. It is important to use images that are relevant to the content as it is a way to attract attention and help your reader to visualize the information in a simple way that makes sense to them.

Also select images that align with your audience because remember you want to grab their attention. Thus your images should be appealing to your target audience and not only to you.

Even though the odds are stack up against us in terms of competing with big brands and everything else out there that demands the attention of our ideal clients, these easy-to-implement changes can make a world of difference on your website to help you attract and win more clients through it.

So go out today and create a jaw dropping website to wow your ideal clients, keep them longer on your site and attract them into your client pipeline.

And if you’d like support on crafting a powerful and effective message that magnetizes and gets your web visitors to take action on your site, schedule a free Business Breakthrough Session. Let’s talk.

To Your Success

PS:  If you use other easy-to-implement tips and tricks to keep visitors on your site, Please share it with us in the comment section below.

Feel free to use the buttons below to share…

The post 4 Easy-To-Implement Ways To Keep New Visitors On Your Website appeared first on CreateClientChemistry.com.

Are you like me?

When I started my business, I had clear goals of what I wanted to achieve – e.g. how many clients I want to work with and the income levels I want to reach. But at the time, I didn’t really create a solid marketing plan around it.

It was just easy to go with the flow and do what feels right in the moment. Can you relate?

If so, is it working for you?

After my first year in business, I knew this hum-ham approach wasn’t working for me. At all.

What I found, was that without a plan, important projects were often put on hold, or they crept up on me and there was simply no time to create effective marketing campaigns around them, or things were simply forgotten, and at the end of the year, I didn’t reach my business goals.

But then I got a little bit smarter and decided that it is important for me, for my business, and for my life to create a written, yearly marketing plan of what I want to achieve within a given year.

I am not talking about a plan incorporating ALL the little details. I’m just talking about a plan where I can see the whole year at a glance. A plan to make sure that I schedule the most important business and marketing activities, so that I…

• don’t forget about stuff,
• give myself enough time to pull things off and
• easily monitor the progress I make against my goals.

I call this my annual marketing and event calendar.

It’s a  1-page document that incorporates the weeks of every month to give you a full-year at a glance.

Every year, I populate this document with the most important events and projects that require any sort of marketing activities. I also make sure that there is at least one event or marketing campaign each month that can lead to new clients and new income.

Within this plan, I don’t put down specific dates; just a rough idea of when I want to implement or do something. Then, I print a copy and keep it next to my computer (a printed copy is handy for making quick notes and for referencing where I am currently).

The results of this?

For the past 3 years, I not only reached all the goals and activities on the annual plan. I’ve doubled my income year on year.

So for me, a yearly written marketing plan – even if it is just a basic overview of the most important activities – is an absolute must in any business.

Here are 7 reasons why I believe an annual marketing plan is important:

1. An annual plan will help you clarify your ideas and most important priorities. It will help you determine what you want to focus on for the year, and when you want to focus on it.

2. An annual plan will help you make crucial decisions. With your plan, you know what is important, and is now in a great potition to say “yes” or “no” to opportunities coming your way. With your plan in hand you have more clarity – and the courage – to manage new opportunities rather than to be managed by them.

3. An annual plan will enable you to maintain balance. You’ll be able to quickly see which months are extremely busy and which months are not. It will help you spread out activities so that you do not overwhelm yourself and have enough time to complete things. Also when you are not able to move things around, it will help you to plan in advance on how you will manage those busy times. And, when you find some months are completely empty, it will give you the motivation to find opportunities and activities to grow your client base for that given month.

4. An annual plan serves as a road map for accomplishing what matters most. It gives you a quick glance of what is coming in the next few weeks or months and prompt you to start thinking about those things that will need attention in the near future. It’s like identifying the markers and waypoints along the journey, so that you have enough time to create an action plan for completing them successfully.

5. An annual plan is a valuable financial tool. When planning out your projects and marketing activities per month it is easier to make projections about the number of clients and income per month to ensure it all adds up to your yearly financial goal . Then you can simply evaluate your actual income per month against the projected income to see if you are still on track.

6. An annual plan measures your progress. It tells you where you are and what you still need to do to reach your ultimate goal.

7. An annual plan helps ensure that you don’t finish the year with regrets. For many entrepreneurs, their years are not turning out like they had hoped. They are disappointed, confused, and discouraged. But it doesn’t have to be that way. While you can’t control everything, you can manage your business with a plan and dramatically improve your chances of closing the year on a high note.

So, get started today with creating your own annual plan and let’s make this year your best year, yet.

To Your success

*Photo courtesy of  twobee | freedigitalphotos.net

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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.

The post 5 Systems to Simplify the Process Of Getting Clients appeared first on CreateClientChemistry.com.

This speaks for itself, because the better you know your clients, the better you can tailor your marketing message to solve their biggest problems, the better they’ll relate to your message – making it easier for you to attract them and convert them into paying clients.

Thus, knowing your clients is critical to your business success….and it starts with your ability to put yourself in your clients’ shoes – to truly understand who they are and what they need.

So, here are 8 important things to know about your clients that will put your business and client attraction on an upward success spiral.

1)    Who are they?

Everyone talks about the importance of defining a target audience and ideal client…yet very few businesses actually do it. However, the clearer you are about who you work with, the easier it will be to get to know them AND to identify places to find them.

2)    Where do they spend their time?

Knowing where they spend their time, helps you to also be present – either in person or via your marketing materials.

3)    What do they struggle with?

Every business has a number of frustrations and struggles that they want to get rid of. What are those struggles for your clients as it pertains to what you do? Knowing what they struggle with can help you position your business to become their problem solver.

4)    Why are they struggling with it?

There is always a reason why people struggle with something. E.g. do they have these struggles due to time constraints or lack of specific knowledge and skills or lack of technology and equipment? Finding the reasons can help you tailor your services and marketing to solve those problems.

5)    Why would they work with you?

Do you stand out from your competitors? What will be the deciding factor to help your clients decide that you are the one to work with?

6) Why do they need your services?

Understanding why a client needs your services means that you can approach him at the right moment when he is ready to work with you. E.g. if you provide financial tax support, you can start promoting your tax related expertise during the start of tax season, increasing the likelihood of attracting clients searching for tax help and advice, because they might not feel confident enough to do it themselves or they want to save time.

7)    What do they expect when working with you?

Understanding client expectations means you can encourage a positive customer experience from the start and maximize the chance of repeat business. E.g.when you know what they expect, you can bring that into your very first client conversation to put them at ease about working with you. Then ensure you do that to retain their business.

8)    What are their top 3-5 priorities / goals?

The more information you have on what your clients’ top priorities are, the better you can position your marketing and your services to assist them reaching those goals faster.

Knowing your clients is a powerful way to propel your business forward.  It allows you to make positive changes in your own business to accommodate their unique and varied needs. This helps you stand out and makes you much more client attractive.

To Your Success

The post 8 Important Things To Know About Your Clients appeared first on CreateClientChemistry.com.

People will only react to your marketing message when it is directed to them specifically.

Let’s look at this practically.

According to statistics, we receive on average anywhere from 200 – 3000 marketing messages on a daily basis. This can be via email, on TV, over the radio on billboards, in magazines etc. It is quite a lot when you think about it.

The question however is: Do you take note of ALL the marketing messages you receive?

No, off-course not.

But then, when DO you take notice of a commercial or ad?

The answer to that is obviously: When it speaks to you. When you have a specific need or problem or when you want something specific at that moment, you can’t help to listen when someone mentions they can help you with what you want or need. Then you are all ears. Right?

It’s just human – we are programed like that.

The truth is: if a marketing message you see or hear isn’t directed to your SPECIFIC needs at the time you are AWARE of your needs, your mind automatically filters out 99% of all those messages and you simply ignore it! You don’t take action on it.

So what does this mean to you if you want more clients? Or rather what does it mean if you are in the shoes of the clients? Well, hopefully you’ll agree that your ideal clients will probably be the same and only hear your message, but more importantly take action on your message, if you are talking to them and their specific needs.

Thus, for your marketing message to be heard and to get the response you want, it should be addressed to a specific audience who has a specific need you can solve.

I’m a visual learner and to get new ideas, I like to see how things work in practice. So here is a commercial of how a company, Duluth Trading effectively directed their marketing to a specific need of a specific target audience.

While you watch this funny commercial, see if you can identify the target audience as well as the needs it addresses.

Can you see how specific this marketing message is? If you work in an environment where you need strong pants, want to protect your legs or if you’ve ever encountered the sharp teeth of an angry beaver while working, you’ll be interested in getting a pair of these work pants, won’t you? So this is a great example of effective marketing that’s directed to a specific audience and a specific need they have.

So, what I want you to take away from this article is this:

To get more clients,  develop a marketing message that will resonate with your potential clients, ensure that it is very specific and addresses the needs / wants of your audience.

Identify the group of people you can serve best with what you do (your target audience). Then, step into their shoes and try to find out EXACTLY what they want and need so you can develop a message that speaks to them.

So, grab a pen and paper and go into as much detail as you can. Be sure you understand the exact problem you’re solving for your clients AND understand how to communicate it clearly to them.

To Your Success

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The post Get More Clients With A SPECIFIC Marketing Message appeared first on CreateClientChemistry.com.

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.

PS: “If you enjoyed this post, the greatest compliment you can give me is when you share this with others. It’s really easy! Just use the buttons below. Thanks! I sincerely appreciate it.”

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People can’t work with you if they don’t know about you.

This is the first and most important principle in the expression, “people buy from people they know, like and trust.”

When it’s spelled out this way, it all sounds pretty obvious, right?

Yet, there are so many entrepreneurs who don’t have enough clients, simply because they are unwilling or even afraid to share their message and to take action on their marketing.

I’ve literally had women say things to me such as, “I don’t like to go around telling people what I do. I rather prefer to wait until I know if that person is a good fit for my business and then I let them know that I’m a coach / consultant / trainer / therapist / virtual assistant etc.”

My response is sometimes: “So how’s that working for you?” 🙂

The thing is, whether you have a professional services business, sell physical products or sell information products or some combination of those, one of the critical ingredients to growing and sustaining your business is to get your business / services / products in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

That means getting in front of many more people than just the few hundred or even a few thousand people who subscribe to your e-zine list, your Facebook fan page, follow your tweets or happen to stumble across your website.

Thus, to truly be successful and grow your small business, your marketing must include tactics and strategies that put your business and your expertise squarely in front of your ideal clients.

Every day.

It is extremely important to actively extend your reach to more and more people within your target market on a continual basis.

So, how do you know which marketing and client attraction tactics are best for your business?

Well, it is those marketing tactics that:

• Effectively reach your target audience where they typically hang out.
• Easily reach a large number of your target audience with little time and energy from your side.
• You enjoy most and thus are most likely to stick with.
• Fit your time frame and budget.

A big part of this is also simple trial and error. So, don’t give up on a tactic after just one attempt. There’s always a learning curve involved, and marketing requires repetition, consistency and continuous improvement.

So, to get those creative juices flowing, below is a list of more than 30 ways to market and get your business in front of more eyeballs.

1. Know who you want to work with
2. Have a magnetic marketing message and 30s self-intro that engages people
3. Know how many clients you need, to reach your income goals per month
4. Have an effective marketing plan
5. Go to networking events
6. Hold a grand opening/re-opening of your business
7. Host your own live events and workshops
8. Invite target clients to a wine tasting
9. Join the board or organizing committee of 1 or more associations
10. Speak to groups at least once per week
11. Have a client attractive website
12. Place your URL in all your social media profiles
13. Write a free e-book, special report or e-course to give away
14. Use keywords to improve your website ranking
15. Submit your website to online directories
16. Blog regularly
17. Contribute guest articles to blogs
18. Hold tele-classes, webinars
19. Invest in pay-per-click advertising on sites like Facebook , Google, Yahoo! and Bing
20. Submit articles regularly to article sites
21. Post videos on YouTube showcasing your expertise
22. Join forums where your target market spends time
23. Send out a regular newsletter / e-zine
24. Create a direct mail campaign – newsletter, postcards, etc.
25. Call a client / new prospect each day
26. Contact a local magazine to do an article on you
27. Invest in “yard” signs
28. Pass out flyers
29. Have a custom iPhone App developed
30. Identify the 20 percent who can get you the 80 percent
31. Show up at places that scare you
32. Continuously improve your marketing skills
33. Have a coach / mentor

There’s truly no limit to the creative ways you can get your business in front of more people and attract more clients.  The above list is by no means complete, but it will get you started for now…..and remember, effective marketing and getting more clients ask that you only take one small step every day to expand your reach.

So, start small, take consistent action and expand from there.

I also want you to understand that when you offer a service or product that can improve someone’s life (which most of us do), then you’re doing a disservice to the world by not letting more people know about it.

So, go out there, do your marketing with confidence and create some awesome client chemistry this week!

To Your Success!!

Image source: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

The post 30+ Marketing Tactics to Fill Your Business With All The Clients You Need appeared first on CreateClientChemistry.com.

If you don’t stay in touch, people forget about you.

Your business card gets shuffled to the bottom of the desk drawer; your well-intended email gets deleted; your well-crafted introduction letter ends up in file 13. Yes, that’s right… the dustbin. Ouch.

And that great first impression you’ve made fades from their memory.

It’s the “out of sight – out of mind” phenomenon.

The sad thing is: it’s actually not their fault that prospects and clients forget about you. It is really your responsibility to stay in touch with them.

And we know that!

We know that in order to convert prospects into loyal clients and to have repeat work from existing and previous clients, we must stay in touch and build longer lasting relationships with them. We know we should follow-up. We know we should get in touch with people. We know we should STAY in touch.

But often lack of time or lack of confidence or even an overdeveloped fear of rejection prevents us from doing it.

So here are 7 ways to easily stay in touch with prospects and clients to ensure they keep thinking about you, your services and what you can do for them.

1.     Use a regular e-zine / e-newsletter.

For any online business (and even an off-line brick and mortar business) a regular e-zine is one of the easiest and most effective ways to stay in touch with your clients and prospects. Use the e-zine to share some great content or helpful tips with your subscribers. It will help you solidify your position as a credible and knowledgeable person in your industry and help you build the know, like and trust factor – which is critical in a services based business.

2.     Use social media

Social Media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn makes connecting and staying in touch with prospects and clients so much easier these days. For example, create a Facebook page or Twitter Profile for your business and ask prospects to connect with you on these platforms as well. Then engaged with them regularly and share interesting titbits so they can get to know you and your business better. Also comment, share and engage in conversations on the profiles of current and previous clients. This shows that you are taking an interest in them even after they’re not paying clients anymore. Social media is just a fun, inexpensive and effective way to constantly stay in touch with prospects and clients.

3.     Send the occasional “I thought of you” email

Send current and past clients an occasional email with a link and or an attachment of something you know they will find helpful. This can be an article you wrote or something you found on the internet. It can be a book you think they might enjoy or details of an event or speaker. Sending them valuable info even after they’ve worked with you shows you still understand their unique needs and keeps the relationship warm for possible follow up work.

4.     Invite them to events you host or are part of

When you host an event or are participating as a speaker at an event (online or offline), you might receive a couple of complementary tickets when it is a paid event. Why not invite one or more of your best clients to attend the event with you. They will not only benefit from the content and networking opportunities, they’ll also hear you speak and experience your expertise in person.

5.     Congratulate them on their birthday

Everybody loves it when people remember your birthday. So send your prospects, clients and previous clients a note on their birthday. It doesn’t really have to be a formal or handwritten card (although those always give a nice touch). It can just be a sincere email or even a comment on their Facebook page to let them know you are thinking about them. And if you have their phone number, call them.

6.     Snail mail still works great

Snail-mail isn’t dead when it comes to staying in touch with clients and prospects. Well-crafted letters and cards can stand out from the mass of emails that everyone receives. A postal campaign that reaches out to people over a period of time can bring a lot of goodwill to your business. It shows you put some more effort into contacting them than sending out a mass email. It can also build your brand as well as relationships with your clients on a deeper level. One drawback however is that lengthy postal campaign can be pricey.

7.    Pick up the phone

Give your clients and prospects a friendly, no-sales call and ask how they are. They’ll be blown away by this. A phone call can also be a great strategy to follow up with prospects when you do not hear anything from them after sending out an invitation to work with you. The truth is we are relying too much on the convenience of email these days, but countless opportunities are missed when we fail to talk to people.  A simple phone conversation can lead to many new clients since it’s personal and it’s a lot easier to solve issues and answer questions when talking to someone than trying to do it via emails.

Incorporating some of the above suggestions on a regular basis will ensure prospects and clients think of YOU when they’re ready to move forward. If someone is thinking about you and your business there is a much bigger chance that they will do business with you. Vice versa, if they are not thinking of you there is NO chance they will do business with you.

Do you have a story of how staying in touch resulted into clients? We would love to hear it! Share it with us in the comment section below. It’s always great to hear from you!

Till next time, stay inspired!

The post 7 Easy Ways To Stay in Touch With Prospects and Clients appeared first on CreateClientChemistry.com.

Your mailing list is a huge piece of your success puzzle as it gives you serious leverage in your business.
Image source: Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

I believe having a growing and responsive mailing list of clients and prospects is one of your most valueable business assets.

Why?

Well, for starters, it is a huge piece of your success puzzle as it gives you serious leverage in your business.

It gives you a way to stay in touch with people. It enables you to start building trusting relationships with the people on your list. It makes getting new clients easier and it that can lead to growing your business faster.

Let’s look at an example to illustrate how a list of clients and prospects can benefit your business – even if you have a brick and mortar shop.

So, let’s say you have an offline business…. e.g. an up-market Art gallery in a bustling shopping mall. You get a decent flow of walk-ins but a good percentage of people who visit your store are simply browsing. Most people really admire your art work, but since it is their first time in your gallery, it’s likely they won’t be buying anything the same day.

So how do you let these brief encounters with your visitors “stick”?

How will you get them to remember you, and think of you when they are ready to buy some art?

Well as a start, you can ask people in your store to sign up for your mailing list so they can get regular free tips about art related topics, e.g. how to care for their art pieces, different aspect of art, how to recognize a unique piece etc. Also, if they sign up for your list they’ll be the first to know about sales and special events that you host. You can even offer them a percentage discount off their first purchase if they join your list.

With this, you have a way to lengthen that first “walk-in” encounter and actually start building a relationship with your guests.

Through your regular mailings, they get to know you, they like your tips, they see you have occasional sales. And when they are ready to buy some art, you’ll be the first person they think about. They’ll even tell their friends about you too.

Also, when you for example display the work of a new artist, or branch out into contemporary art or start providing art-classes, they’ll be the FIRST to check that out.

The same is true for an online business. When people first discover your website, they are basically “walk-in’s” and they’re not going to do much. Generally, 99% of your first-time web visitors will not buy anything from you, or even take any action – unless you entice them to sign up for your mailing list by making them some type of compelling offer.

This offer is usually something you give to them in return for their name and email address and thus, it should be prominently displayed on your website.

By having something you can offer your first time visitors, you get that “stick” factor. And when they sign up to receive your offer, it allows you to build a longer term relationship with them.

So, here is what I hope you take from this article:

Continuously building your list with more and more targeted subscribers gives you tremendous leverage as a business owner and it should be one of your top business priorities.

Remember, your products and services will evolve and change, but as long as you have a list, you know you have a “built-in” audience – and all you have to do is keeping the relationship warm and continue delivering services and creating products that are perfect for them.

Start building your list today!

To Your Success

PS: If you enjoyed the article, the greatest compliment you can give me is to tell me about it in the comment box below.

The post Your Mailing List Is A Big Piece of The Puzzle appeared first on CreateClientChemistry.com.

The good news however: It’s often easier than you think. But, it does require you to spend some time upfront to get more clarity about what you want and need to do.

So, here are 3 easy and straightforward (but absolute key elements) to incorporate in your marketing when you want to reach more people.

1. Create A Plan

It sounds obvious right, but it’s amazing how many people work without a well-thought-through marketing plan.

And whether you believe it or not, a workable plan can have an amazing impact on your business because it provides clarity, purpose, and direction on how to attract and retain clients.

What I found it that without a plan it is difficult to have continuity in your marketing and you often find yourself doing a lot of marketing…. but you do it haphazardly… a little bit here and a little bit there, without getting real and tangible results.

Implementing and working according to a marketing plan, however gives you the focus you need and keeps your marketing consistent. It furthermore keeps you accountable to do what you’ve set out to do and inspires you to achieve the marketing goals you set for yourself. All this enables you to keep momentum and consistently reach more people – thus increasing the probability of getting more clients.

So, if you are running your marketing blindly, perhaps it’s time to think about creating a plan to do it more effectively. And remember, your plan doesn’t need to be a long, boring document. It can be a simple 1 page document outlining the basics such as:

• Who you work with
• Where you’ll find them
• What marketing methods you’ll use to reach them
• When and how often you’ll use each marketing method.

The journey to reaching more people and getting more clients always starts with creating a plan and working your plan.

2.  Have a Multi-Channel Marketing Outreach

If your business is doing okay with only one or two marketing methods, that’s great! But, just imagine what you can achieve if you use five or six proven marketing methods consistently?

By creating a multi-channel marketing approach, you establish more ways for potential clients to hear about you and eventually enter your client pipeline.

An added benefit is if someone doesn’t respond to one of your marketing tactics, they might respond if you present that same offer to them in a different way. E.g. one person may totally ignore an email (because he is just not a reading type of guy), but he might jump at your offer when it is presented in a video he can watch.

A multi-channel marketing approach can include many different methods e.g. your website, blogs, emails, social media, videos, collaboration partners and JV’s, speaking, live events, referrals, the media, paid advertisements, books, articles and many more.

The idea however is not to implement every possible marketing method in your business, but to use the 5-6 methods best suited for your business and your specific target audience.

Using different marketing methods and having a diversified marketing outreach ensures you reach more of your existing prospects in ways that suite their style best AND it helps you to reach more new people that can enter your client pipeline.

And by the way… include these methods in your marketing plan to ensure you do them consistently

 3. Put Your Business In Front Of Large Client Audiences

Having 1-on1 conversations with prospects are great and often a quick way to get one or two clients fast. But, it is often a slow and time-consuming way to grow your business.

When you however put your business in front of large client audiences, it makes your marketing easier, more cost-effective and help you reach more people simultaneously.

The important thing here is to ensure it is the right audience.

It is therefore important to know who you want to work with. Once you know who your target audience is, you can identify local businesses that serve the same market segments or identify who else in your industry or in another industry is already speaking / working with that audience.  This gives you a change to form a collaborative partnership or joint venture with those individuals.

Contact these potential partners and offer to add something of value to their audience. This way you not only raise awareness of your business, but you reach more people and increase the likelihood that they will end up on your doorstep because they’ve heard about you from someone they already trust.

Also think about organisations, events or places where your target audience regularly hangs out and then ensure you are also present there.

So, here is what I hope you take from this article:

Consistently reaching more and more people to grow your client pipeline and your business is not really that difficult. The important things to do, is to:

• Create a plan how you will do it…. and then work your plan.
• Incorporate different marketing methods to give you more reach and leverage.
• Reach out to possible partners who already did the work of gathering your audience for you.
• Be present in places where your audience hangs out in large numbers.
• Put yourself and your business in front of these larger audiences and wow them with what you can do for them.
• You’ll be amazed at the results 🙂

To Your Success

 
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The post 3 Easy and Straightforward Keys to Consistently Reach More People appeared first on CreateClientChemistry.com.