Why we are struggling to attract more clients?

You’re not attracting enough clients to your business for a very simple reason because you’re not doing the right things. Not only are you not doing the right things, you actually think you know the right things you ought to be doing. You most likely think you should be doing more networking, have a better web site, and do more speaking engagements. You think you need to “get out there more.”  But those are not the right things.  After all, you’ve tried all of those things to some degree, haven’t you?  If they really worked, how come you’re not doing them consistently? If they worked, they would bring you all the new business you needed.  Doing the right things first means understanding how the marketing and sales process actually works and then following a proven system for attracting new clients. Perhaps one of the best ways to look at this is through the game of baseball. To win at baseball you need to do four main things. You need to throw the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball and run. It sounds pretty simple, right? But consider this: if you take a bunch of people and put them on a baseball field and have them throw and hit and catch and run and you don’t necessarily have a baseball game going on. You just have a lot of activity that leads nowhere. You get some exercise but that’s about it. And that’s how most Independent Professionals approach marketing! They get on the field of business and do some networking and calling and mailing, but not a whole lot happens. They certainly aren’t playing the marketing game correctly. But if in baseball you’d never settle for those kinds of results, why would you settle for it in something that’s responsible for your livelihood? Being in a business of providing information isn’t about episodic marketing that happens between projects, it’s about consistently sharing valuable ideas as long as you’re in business. And since your focus is not on getting something but on giving, it starts to become a fun, even joyful activity because you know you’re making a contribution. And a wonderful side benefit is that you’ll attract all the business you’ll ever need. In fact, it seems that the more you give away, the more business you get!   But first and foremost you need to know who buys your service, what they are actually buying, when they buy and why they buy. Also differentiate your clients with two broad categories to start: Demographic and Psychographic. You might ask why it’s so necessary to identify your potential clients so specifically. One of the reason is you will know exactly who your potential clients are, and you can more effectively zero in on them through your various marketing efforts. Secondly, by clearly identifying who you work with, your potential clients will identify themselves.  The first reason might be the more obvious to see.  If you don’t know who or where your ideal clients are, you won’t know where to network, speak, mail to them or otherwise properly engage.  Thus, try to concentrate on this one first. The second reason is just as important.  In fact, many positioning strategies are built on the simple fact that the services sold are for a particular category of buyers. And just by emphasizing that point, you get an automatic “that’s for me!” response. I know that it sounds counterintuitive but it works. Try it and you will see! 2008-01-19T00:21:39Z