One of the biggest difficulties that almost every independent professional faces when offering their services is how to capture the attention of potential clients. This is vital because it allows your business to spin, sales to occur, and so you can truly have a business (no customers, no business). But what happens most of the time is that the focus is only on sales when, in fact, customer attraction is as important and fundamental an activity as the sales process will be later.
Attracting clients is not an easy task, but it can be systematized in such a way that you achieve a constant flow of potential clients evaluating your services (and you, of course) in a constant and regular way. However, this requires many promotional and marketing actions, but it is also essential to have a series of well-stabilized steps in your business. Without these steps, any promotional and advertising action you launch will not achieve the results you expect and will not meet the objective of generating a constant arrival of potential customers eager to know more about you and your services:
First Step: Identify, communicate and position your specialization in the market
In other articles we have talked about this topic. Your client must identify with you and with your business. Their goals and needs must have a correlation with what you solve or what you do. Especially in a first phase of your business (the first 3 or 4 years, especially if you are not associated with someone else) your focus must be to position yourself as an expert, as a "solver" of a certain type of problem in a certain market. Once you have identified your differentiation and position in the market, you should start communicating it. Communicating means making known and deepening. The vehicles you use are not as important as what you have to say. Correct communication will help you position yourself as an expert and as such, people will seek to follow you because what you have to say,it is what interests them for their own personal growth, business growth, etc.
Think of some of the people you follow, who you have as a model and who you want to look like. Ask yourself, what is your specialty? How do you differentiate yourself from other competitors who do something similar? Why have I decided to follow this person and not her competition? When I read your articles and posts, what does this mean to me? You have to do the same so that your potential customers are attracted to you.
Step Two: Build a long-term relationship with your potential clients
People love to buy, we do not like to be sold. That is essential, remember that the purchase decision is always on the customer's side, it leaves power in the right place and takes terrible pressure off the seller, in this case, yourself. But what you can do is prepare the conditions for that client to make his decision and lean for you. But, what are the keys that will help you in this process?
Number 1 - Let him get to know you
It is impossible to ask a client to buy your professional products and services if they do not know who you are and why your services can help them. This is fundamental and that is why I always motivate my clients who sell their professional services to have a website, not with the aim of selling, but as a promotion for themselves. To share who they are, what their history is, and what makes them ideal for their clients to know who is behind their services and products. Especially when what you sell has a lot to do with you, with the way you carry out your profession and how you put your talents into action, it is essential that your clients know more about you. How about an example? Take a look at my personal story page: Meet Gabriela.
Number 2 - Connect with him or her
The relationship between a customer and a supplier or business partner cannot be a cold relationship. It is essential that there is a relationship back and forth. This generates greater trust, openness and sincerity even in a business relationship.
An example of connection with your potential clients? The newsletter that I write so carefully every Tuesday for you is an excellent example that allows me to also connect with those who are not yet my clients. In this way, I can offer them my knowledge, my experience and my advice through the articles I write, while they learn more about me and how I help people with similar problems. This is a very modern medium because it allows me to use internet tools to achieve it, but no matter what the vehicle, the important thing is that you manage to generate a relationship with your potential clients so that they feel comfortable when they are ready to buy your services. professionals.
Number 3 - Help him understand why he can trust you
Sharing true stories of other people or companies with whom you have worked, will allow your new and potential clients to know what else is there for them. For someone who has just met you and is considering hiring your professional services to help you achieve your goals, it is natural to doubt or wonder if you will have results, when and how. So showing some cases of clients you have worked with, who have been in the same situation and then got what they expected, is an excellent reference. Also if you have a website it can be an excellent opportunity to show some of these testimonials and success stories. If you want an example, I invite you to visit the stories that some of my clients have shared with me: My clients say.
Step Three: Focus on generating added value that trains you
There are clients who are ready to move to the next level and purchase professional service today. But most don't, it's not. And that does not mean that they will not be good customers. Often the reason why they are not prepared is because they do not know what steps they must take to achieve their goals. So their goals seem very distant and not very tangible, and they are difficult to achieve.
The last step with which you will be able to capture your clients and differentiate yourself in the market is to help them make that journey, step by step, until they know that they can count on you to take that leap to the next level.
Also on other occasions a client does not even know about the existence of a need in his life, business, career and what you can do to help him is show him the possibilities of what he could achieve (or the impacts if he does not achieve it).
One of the favorite activities that I usually do in my business to accomplish this step is to encourage my potential clients to read an electronic book or special report on a topic that I consider can help them clarify their current situation, discover strategies that will help them take action and thus solve their problems. This is a job that they can do for themselves, and then if they want they can work with me to put into practice what they have learned or to enhance the results. But they feel much safer because they have more information on what is the way to go.
Think about what kind of information you can share with your potential customers (even for free) so that you can educate and train them in everyday life. Then, they will be in better conditions (and certainly more motivated) in being able to access other types of services with you that are more transformative for them.
I hope you have found these 3 steps helpful. Remember that all the promotional and advertising activities you do to attract customers will not work if you do not have these 3 fundamental factors well established. Which of them has resonated with you the most? What small actions can you do this week to bring the offer of your professional services closer to a customer attraction system?
