One of the most frequently asked questions I get is: “How do you get clients fast”.
So today I want to share the “warm letter” strategy with you to help you get new clients in the next 30 days, or less.
The best thing about this strategy is you can do it when you just start out and need that very first client. It doesn’t cost a lot of money, you do not need to be a marketing guru, and you don’t need a fancy pansy website to have this work for you.
This strategy is about making a list of everybody you personally know. Then write and send a warm letter to this list.
What is a Warm Letter
A warm letter is a letter that you send to all the people you know to tell them what your business is all about. It’s like sending a letter to a friend and informing him about your new business: what you do, the typical clients you work with and how you help those clients. So it is written in a conversational style, and has nothing “salesy” about it.
When you write to someone you do not have daily contact with, you can just quickly remind them how you know them and then continue to inform them about your business, what you do, how you help your clients and how your clients benefit from your services.
Then end the letter with a specific purpose you have in mind: e.g. asking if they know someone that can benefit from what you offer (i.e. getting a referral) or asking the person to get in touch with you for a short discussion or discovery session to learn more about what you offer.
Who do you write this warm letter to
1) Everybody you know
This includes family, friends, previous colleagues, members of your church, fellow members of clubs and associations, even your hair stylist, personal trainer, etc. It should be quite a number of people, because on average most of us know more that 100-200 people personally.
The thing is, your family and friends and also the people you come in contact with on a daily basis have no idea what your business is about, but they can be a great potential source for referrals.
So the purpose of writing a warm letter to your family, friends and connections is to ask them if they know someone that can benefit from what you offer. Some people will be delighted to hear more about what you do and will have a referral or two ready to send your way.
With a simple strategy like this, you can have many new referrals to follow up with and convert into paying clients. You might even pick up a client from someone who received this warm letter from you.
2) People you want to work with
Perhaps you’ve identified people who you would love to work with and you know your services can be of great benefit to them. So, send them a “warm letter” and tell them about it! You’ll be surprised at the feedback you received.
The same sentiment applies here in that the letter is conversational and non-salesy. It merely informs them of what you do and that you really think you can help them. Even if you are hesitant and afraid to send out warm letters to people you want to work with, just think about it like this: What do you have to lose? Absolutely nothing! But you have a lot to gain! So send out those letters.
Here are a couple of real life responses you might receive.
1) “Thanks for the letter, but I’m not really interested.” Well, a response like that is okay. Not everybody will work with you anyway.
2) “Thanks for the letter, but right now I can’t work with you – perhaps at a later stage.” This is a great response, because this is now a hot prospect that you can follow up with later on.
3) “Thanks for the letter. I’d love to have a discussion with you to take this further!” This is a fantastic response, because now you can turn this person into a paying client during your follow-up discussion.
4) And from some people you’ll receive no response at all – which is also okay (you still didn’t lose anything)
Benefits of a warm letter
Using a warm letter is an easy, simple and cost-effective marketing strategy that works. Some of the reasons are:
You can do it when you just start out to spread the word about your business.
You can do it even when you are years in business.
You can do it for every new offer / service / product in your business, to update your network about changes in your business.
Through your letter you educate your “world” about what you do and this can have long term benefits.
You get referrals – sometimes from the most unexpected places.
You get many new leads that you can follow up with to convert into paying clients.
It gives instant results, but also has long term benefits and can send clients your way for years to come because people in your life now know what you do.
So, what I want you to take away from this article is that getting clients doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive… and sometimes your best clients might be right under your nose. So go andmake a list of everybody you know. Draft your warm letter. Put a personal touch to it. And send it out. That’s it!
To Your Continued Success
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It’s easy and comfortable to network online, right? You can sit in front of your PC, with no make-up, still in your PJ’s and have ground-breaking conversations with clients, prospects, partners, colleagues and friends.
However it is important for us as solo-preneurs who primarily work from home, to regularly break out of that “online” comfort zone, get away from the house and meet and network with like-minded people face-to-face at live business conferences, networking events and workshops.
Attending live events can be one of the most inspiring and transformational ways to boost your business results. It completely remove you from the pressures of your daily business activities, and give you an opportunity to get inspired, revitalized and motivated to take your business to the next level.
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Attending live events is an inspiring and transformational way to boost your business results. Click here to tweet.
Here Are 8 Great Benefits of Attending Live Events
1. Spending dedicated time on YOUR business.
We are often so focused on doing great work and helping our clients, that we do not spend the same amount of focus and time on growing our own business. Attending live events is a great opportunity to give 100% attention to your own business. At these events, you are the focus and can explore new strategies and plans to implement in your business.
2. Learning valuable information.
Live events usually have one or more keynote speakers who share their information and knowledge freely. This is a great time to learn from the experts and to stay updated with new technologies or trends in your industry while enjoying the company of others.
3. Meeting the experts
It’s a great opportunity to meet the experts. You might be following someone for a while and are just dying to meet them in person. At live events you can do that! As this might be your only change, make the most of your time and go introduce yourself. You never know where that connection may lead.
4. Meeting like-minded individuals.
People who show up to live events are the ones who are serious about growing their business. They are searching for solutions, open for new connections and are willing to take the necessary action to make things happen in their business. It is therefore so refreshing to have a conversation with someone who shares some common goals with you or people who are in the same industry, because they understand what you do and where you are coming from. For me it’s so inspiring to be around others who are just as passionate about their business as you are about yours and to have open discussions about it.
5. Getting Inspired and Motivated
When you go to events with an open mind, it provides a ton of inspiration and motivation. You not only get inspired and motivated by the speakers, and can go away with a ton of new exciting ideas to implement, but you also get motivated and inspired by just being in a room full of advancing entrepreneurs.
6. Sharing best practices
The really exciting thing about live events is that you can have really good, relaxing conversations with people and still learn a lot from others. Everybody talks about the content of the presentations and shares their own experiences, tips and strategies openly. It is thus a good place to find out what is working for somebody else that maybe you haven’t applied to your business yet. Getting all these new ideas and valuable learning from others are often priceless.
7. Making high-quality connections
Attending a live event give you the opportunity to come in contact with some amazing people that you may never have had the chance to meet in your office or even while networking online. Some of these people can become a potential joint venture partner, a new colleague, a client, someone you can refer to others or who can refer you, or even just a new friend. The collaboration and camaraderie from these new acquaintances, friendships and joint ventures helps to keep you motivated and excited about moving forward.
8. Receiving discounts on materials, courses and programs to deepen your learning
A really cool benefit is that the speakers at live events typically offer special discounts and promotions on their products and programs to attendees. This makes it a great opportunity to get access to their training programs and products at more affordable rates.
So, here is what I hope you take from this article: One of the best investments you can make in your business is to invest in continuous learning by attending events because it complements and supports any investment you make in high-quality training products and programs.
Attending live events, such as conferences, workshops, and networking events will empower you to go bigger than you’ve ever thought possible. It will expand your thinking and open you up to many new opportunities that otherwise may not be available to you…and once you’re back home, you’ll be excited and recharged to jump in and take your business to the next level with all your new knowledge and connections!
To Your Success
PS. At my Purpose to Prosperity Networking Events on July 3rd and July 18th in South Africa, you’ll experience all 8 of these benefits! ;-). Register to attend here.
Thank you for reading my blog!
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“9 Essential Tactics to Get More Clients”
It’s easy enough for most women to be friendly and helpful with people we meet for the first time in a social setting … but when we are confronted with doing the same in a business-like setting, it’s unnerving and it makes us feel uncomfortable.
So, let’s be honest for a moment. In the beginning, face-to-face networking and deliberately going out to meet new people (peers, clients, colleagues etc. ) is tough…. perhaps because we associate it with “hard labor”… (You know…net-“working”) …..and because it sounds like a “business activity” it’s easy to think that we need to act in a different way than when we meet people socially.
But, what if you can change your mindset about networking?
What if networking is not about what you can get out of it (new clients, more sales, higher income etc.) but about what you can offer to others (help, assistance, information, friendship etc.).
This is a Tweetable
Networking is not about what you can get out of it but, about what you can offer to others.
This might seem strange at first, but there’s a very powerful saying telling us “What you sow, you will reap”.
So, when you do networking with the mindset of helping someone by simply sharing your knowledge, listening to others, connecting people, giving referrals etc. etc. you will become a powerful resource for other people. You will not only gain business trust and credibility – which by the way is the basis of any long-lasting and profitable networking relationship – but also reap the benefits from forming powerful business relationships that in the end will benefit your business.
In this new way of networking, set the intention to…
Just be you
Meet interesting people and helping others. Thistotally changes the dynamic and makes is so much easier. It will also boost your sense of purpose and self-worth and lift that overwhelming pressure of getting a new client.
Create value for others. You do that by being genuinely interested in what people are doing. Listen to what they say and then offer friendly and helpful suggestions when you can. The more value you create, the more it will come back to you many times over.
Understand their needs and what’s important to them first, before you tell them about yours.
Build mutually beneficial relationships. Even when you may not directly be able to help the person you meet, you may know someone else within your current network who might. And vice versa, they might not be able to help you directly, but they may introduce or recommend you to people who might be able to help or become a client.
Be a connector. Network with people on different levels and in different industries. Growing your network outside of your industry will make you more valuable to people in your immediate industry. With a broad network you can be the person that connects people across industries.
Before you know it, you’ll find yourself having a good time, developing strong relationships and attracting loads of referrals and new clients.
Some Practical Tips
When you meet someone, repeat her name, e.g. “Pleased to meet you, Jane”. This will reinforce her name into your subconscious and help you remember it better.
Appear Confident- even if it feels you are falling to pieces.Don’t stand around the edges of the room, waiting for someone to approach you. Purposely walk towards a person or a group that has already formed and ask: “May I join you?” The answer will always be yes.
Smile. By smiling you become more approachable, warm and inviting to others. A genuine smile will also put your nerves at ease.
Wear an outfit that is comfortable and makes you feel confident.
Prepare and practice a 30s introduction for when people ask you what you do. Your 30s intro is just a short snapshot about you and what you do. Try to include a major benefit of how you help your clients (e.g. I’m Francis van Wyk. I’m a marketing mentor and I help women entrepreneurs to get more clients). Keep your 30s intro simple, natural and in plain English. Your goal is for anyone to understand and connect with what you’re saying…. and when your 30s intro hits home, they’ll immediately respond with something like “Wow, I need to speak to you…” 🙂
Prepare a couple open ended questions that gets people to talk about their business. The truth is, people love to talk about themselves and what they do. When you ask the questions and then listen carefully, you can learn a lot from the answers and also identify more opportunities to be of help.
Never, ever scan the room while talking to someone. It is just plain rude.
Rather make good eye contact and have sincere conversations.
Never fill both hands with a snack plate AND a drink. Have at least one hand free for greeting people and/or accepting a business card.
Mingle and move around. It doesn’t help to chat only with people you know or with only one person for the entire event. Approach people who you don’t know and start a conversation. (Trust me, it gets easier.)
Have your business cards within easy reach when someone asks you for one.
Use the cards of the people you meet to write down something interesting about this person or something about the conversation you want to remember. You can mention that in your follow up.
Make it a point to follow up, but be strategic in how you do it. Think about what benefit you can bring to them and always ask what will be the best way to stay in touch – whether it be email, phone or via social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.
Here’s what I hope you take from this article:
Networking is great for business. It’s doable and it becomes easier the more you do it. PLUS, when you enter the room with the intention to help, it reduces the pressure and you’ll often be amazed at the quality of the conversations and the quality of business relationships you can create. You can do it!
Happy Networking!!
Grab your copy of my FREE report: 9 Effective Ways to Get More Clients
Did you know that you can save a lot of time, get more clients and run your business more effectively when you get organized and start using 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. When you create a system around each of these tasks or activities, it makes it easier to do; it saves time and can even run on autopilot when you are not in the office.
But let us first clarify what a system is…
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 you can put most of your repetitive tasks on autopilot. Click to Tweet
So, let’s look at a few examples of how you can get organized and use systems to get more clients, while saving a lot of time.
Doing Marketing: Let’s say you frequently attend networking events as one of your marketing strategies. A simple system to develop around networking is to schedule the dates of all the networking events in your calendar, set a reminder for e.g. 2 days before the event to allow you to prepare if needed. This way you won’t forget about the event and will be well prepared when you attend. That is a simple system that can help you stay consistent in attending in-person events, saves time since you know it is scheduled and you will 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 and email marketing software to capture the contact details of visitors to your website when they sign up for your free offer. You can direct all your marketing efforts (the people you meet at in-person and networking 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 you can set up once and then almost forget about… and the best thing about it – it runs on autopilot while you sleep or are miles away on vacation
Staying in touch:This is extremely important to ensure your prospects don’t forget about you and for you to 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 ezine (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 to your list. 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 software like e.g. Aweber you can write your content in advance and schedule it to go out on a specific date, thus saving you time and still keeping the communications go out when you take a well-deserved 4 week 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 enquire about your services. Once the form is completed you can use an automated system to set-up an initial complimentary Discovery Session where you get together on the phone to see if you are a good fit for working together. Then you can use a specific pre-developed script or format to conduct the discovery session to lead your prospect from just inquiring about your services to becoming eager and willing to work with you. So you do not have to take hours to prepare for a first consultation, because your system takes care of most of it.
New Client Intake: An example of a system when a client says “yes” to working with you is to have a client information pack (or welcome pack) ready to send to this client. The information pack and client communications can be pre-developed and then customized per client to save you lots of time and prevent you from re-inventing the wheel for each new client.
With workable and automated systems in place, you can work more effectively, get more clients and accomplish most of your daily client related administrative tasks in a matter of minutes, not hours.
Systems save you time and much frustration. It also allows you to spend your time taking a well-deserved break OR getting more of those “yummi” clients and making more money.
Your assignment for today:
Pick one thing. . .just one thing in your business and create a system around it.
Start documenting and write down all the steps you take to complete that.
Then, 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
Grab your copy of my FREE report: “9 Effective Ways to Get More Clients”
One of the biggest challenges in selling services is that your services are intangible. Unlike products, it can’t be seen, touched, or tasted.
When customers buy a product, they know they’ll pay a fixed amount for that product and they pretty much know what they’ll get for their money.
Selling services however is a totally different ball game. When a client “buys” a service, they also know what they want to get from it, but they often don’t know how long it will take and how much they’ll need to pay in the process to get to the results they want. This is due to the fact that services are often charged for by the hour – the client pays for each hour or session they work with you until the desired results are achieved.
The problem is: charging by the hourly builds up some resistance and impacts on a client’s buying decisions.
Other negatives of charging by the hour include the following: it puts a limit on your earning potential because you won’t be able to raise your hourly rates indefinitely. There are also just a limited amount of hours in each day, week or year that you can work with clients so you can really only work with a limited number of clients in a given time period.
Furthermore, selling services by the hour makes marketing and getting clients more difficult because clients are often resistant to pay high hourly rates as they are uncertain if they’ll receive value for the amount they pay per hour.
So, what’s the secret to solving this dilemma?
The secret is to position your services as a product.
Today’s Tweetable Tip
The secret to selling services and making more money at it is to create services packages.
Packaging your services simply means that you group a number of services together and then sell them as a group deal or package. This transforms your services and makes it look more like a product; having a specific outcome and fixed price and thus making it easier for clients to buy.
Benefits of service packages include things like:
They help you to break away from the “time-for-money” trap;
Involves a fixed and/or longer time period;
They are based on the value a client will receive and typically “promise” a specific end result;
You can charge higher fees than charging by the hour;
The package has a fixed price, making it easier to buy.
To illustrate a services package, let’s say you are an image consultant. Previously you’ve been selling consultations at an average of $97 per hour and could effectively work with only 6 clients in a day. So your income was approximately $582 per day. It all went well for a while but eventually you feel you work yourself to death and your clients do not really experience the full benefits of what you can do for them.
This is when you decide to look at your services differently and rather create service packages where you group a number of your most popular services into one package and offer it for example as a “One-Day Makeover” package for $997. This package now includes a wardrobe assessment, color consultation, a 3hr personalized shopping trip and some other nice goodies. This package allows you to spend more time with one client; they experience much more value and way better results AND it almost doubles your income per day.
Take note that with a service package, you’re giving your clients a defined result (a “make-over” as in our example). It has a clear time frame and a set price. So clients know what they will get and what they will pay for it, making it easier for them to buy.
With service packages, you in effect raise your income per day, work less and can focus on the work you enjoy more. Your clients get better results. They love you for it and are happy to spread the word about you and your services. It is a win-win relationship.
Create Service Packages at Different Levels & Price Points.
The idea here is to offer different services packages to give clients options to work with you. E.g. you can create 3 different packages – Package 1 at a small investment, Package 2 at a medium investment and Package 3 as your top of the line option. You’ll often see these presented as Gold, Silver, and Bronze packages, but you can be more creative with your package names.
For example: Let’s take the image consultant again. She can for example create the following packages.
Package 1:Colour analyses (lowest priced package)
In this package she includes for example:
An evaluation of the 12 different colour groups you fall in.
What fabrics and patterns suit you best.
Hair colour and Eye colour analyses.
Face shape analyses to help you select eye-wear, hairstyles, earrings, hats etc.
Package 2:Figure and Style Analysis (mid-level investment)
This package can include for example:
A full color analyses (everything from package 1) PLUS
Figure and style analyses
Wardrobe assessment
Package 3: The New You – One Day Makeover (most expensive)
This package can includes for example everything from package 1&2 Plus
A personalized shopping trip
Make-up lessons
**Please note I’m not an image consultant, and the ideas / examples presented here might not be spot on for a professional image consultant business. They are just used for illustrative purposes 🙂
The reality is that creating different packages at different price points make it simpler for someone to buy a service package that meets their needs at a price point they are willing to pay. It is also easier to “upsell” people into your higher priced packages because they can easily see the added value.
Thus, working with service packages makes marketing much easier. Your clients will perceive more value from working with you, and you will reap the benefit of greater sales and income.
And by the way… even if you think you don’t, you do have package solutions in your business! No matter what services you provide or what type of business you have – in some way, shape, or form you can package your services to solve one or more of your client’s problems!
Love & Success!
P.S. If you want more support with structuring and creating products and service packages to leverage your time and income, get in touch! I help my clients create offerings that sell, so that they not only make a difference in their clients’ lives, but in return are handsomely rewarded for making that difference!
But, if you want to CONTINUE making this difference and reaching more and more people to help, you need money to do so. Thus you have to continuously “sell” the things you offer. In other words, you need clients who want to work with you or buy your products.
Working with clients, allows you to impact their lives positively, but it also provides you with the necessary money so you can stay in business, repeat the process and continue making a difference in more and more peoples’ lives.
In principle, this sound like pure logic, but this is where the problem starts.
Many women entrepreneurs do not have a problem with the first part of the statement – helping more people and making a difference in people’s lives. That just comes natural.
It is the second part of that statement – the “selling” part that makes them totally uncomfortable, because women often put a negative connotation on the word “selling”
I can totally understand that, because you do get many people that are in business purely for the money and use marketing and selling techniques that leave a bitter taste in your mouth. We’ve all experience that and these bad and negative previous experiences make us uncomfortable with the idea of marketing and selling in our own businesses.
I however want to put a different spin on marketing and selling today.
1. Marketing And Selling Enables You To Make A Difference!
When you know in your heart, your business exists to help other people and to make a positive difference in their lives, then marketing and selling (when done right) is a tool and the process on how you can reach more people to make that difference!
Marketing and selling then becomes a passion and not something you dread doing anymore. Just think about it…what can be more fulfilling than telling people about what you do and making a positive difference in someone else’s life when they work with you or benefit from buying your products?
2. You Make A Difference, When You “Sell” and Earn Good Money.
A bold statement. I know. Let me try to explain…
Earning more money is great; no-one can denies that. And in business, you can really only get more money, by selling more.
But, I believe the overall purpose of business is not to make more and more money and become stinking rich (although, that would be really nice :)).
For me, the purpose of business is to make a difference in people’s lives through the products and services you sell.
So, the money you earn through selling your services and products just enables you to do what you are supposed to do – using your Godly given talents in a meaningful and creative way through your business to make a difference in this world!
Bottom line: when you ‘sell’ and earn good money you can stay in business. When you grow your business, you can help more people, improve your own life and the lives of those who are closest to you. Earning good money even allows you to reach out and help those who are less fortunate than you.
So, “selling” when it comes from giving, is not an evil thing to do.
You can make a pretty big difference through selling your stuff and then using your money wisely to change your life, and the lives of those around you.
To Your Success
P.S. Now, let’s hear from you… How do you see marketing and selling. Share your thoughts with us in the comment box below. Oh by the way…. it’s also easy to share this article, using the buttons below.
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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