This is a reprint from Barb Wade, M.A. who specializes in teaching Coaches to create thriving, 6-figure practices in under 20 hours a week! For a FREE “How To Get Clients” BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH KIT just for Coaches, visit BarbWade.com today and tomorrow gain new clients and customers.
Please note: Even though this post is targeted to coaches, every business owner needs to market their business. Remember, “You’re in business to solve a problem and market your business.” If your web content, blog posts, articles, newsletters, marketing materials, etc. aren’t working, perhaps it’s time to evaluate your target market and analyze if you’re targeting the right market. You may need to ‘tweak’ your market, even if it means losing Twitter followers, Facebook fans, etc. Think about the long-run versus the short run.
Some coaches just don’t like marketing. They don’t like to promote themselves and they may even find it distasteful! In fact, until I learned that marketing was nothing more than letting others know how I could help them with their biggest problems, I thought marketing was a “necessary evil” at best.
On the other hand, there are some coaches and entrepreneurs who have no problem with marketing – or so it seems. BUT they use it as an excuse for not moving forward or to “hide out.”
Do you know what I mean? It’s the endlessly tinkering with your website.
Or taking forever to craft your “elevator pitch,” and then never actually using it!
Or spending tons of time, energy, and money getting just the right logo… or business card… or… well, you get the idea.
Of course, doing this comes from good honest intentions. Those things do help support spreading the word about your services. But it’s all too easy to get stuck in an endless loop of tweaking and fiddling with the minutia.
The truth is, doing so can actually keep you from getting clients!
Here’s the big news: your clients aren’t attracted to your coaching practice because of your business card, logo, website, or any other collateral. Even if they are really beautiful and elegant and “cutting edge.”
Yes, those things can help get your potential client’s attention, but that’s not what holds them or compels them to come back.
Ultimately, your clients will respond to the connection you create with them. Those people that you are meant to help will resonate with your authentic and unique brilliance. It is you being willing to share your experience and expertise – in the way that only you can – that makes an impression on people.
Your clients want to be seen, acknowledged, heard, understood and helped by you. And the more they get to know the real you, the more they will want to continue to work with you.
This is the concept behind the “Know, Like, Trust” factor you may have heard of. It works like this. First, your potential clients hear about you somehow – on the Internet, at a live event, on a tele-seminar, etc. And the more they get to know you, they more they begin to “like” you (note: this is not a popularity contest. Instead think of “like” as “appreciate” or “value”) And the more they like you, they more they begin to trust you as a teacher, advisor and friend.
And what I have found is that when you cultivate that kind of connection with your market, it actually accelerates your ability to attract clients and it makes your work so much more joyful!
So, if you find yourself spending too much time “crossing all the T’s and dotting all the I’s,” try adopting this mantra that was taught to me by one of my mentors: “Completion Not Perfection.”
Get into action and get it done – perfection is highly over-rated!
Barb Wade, M.A. who specializes in teaching Coaches to create thriving, 6-figure practices in under 20 hours a week! For a FREE “How To Get Clients” BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH KIT just for Coaches, visit BarbWade.com today and tomorrow gain new clients and customers.
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