Communicating What You Do To Entice New Clients

Here’s the scenario:

You‘re at a gathering and you come across someone who would be a perfect client for your business. You engage in a conversation and the inevitable question comes up. “What do you do?”

You get excited, your eyes light up. “This is it. This is my shot! I’ll get him now,” are the thoughts racing through your mind.

“Well, I am a small business coach,” you say as you anxiously await for your prospect to tell you how you are the answer to his prayers.

“Oh, I see...uh... I think I left the lights on in my car... It was nice talking to you. Bye.”

And you watch your perfect client rush away to find someone else to talk to.

It’s important that you are able to communicate what you do in ways that will help your prospective client understand that you are a solution to his problem.

How you position yourself is the difference between getting that “deer stuck in the headlight” look from your prospect or having someone ask you for more information.

Positioning revolves around your core marketing message that clearly states who you work with, what problems you solve, what solutions you provide, what benefits you offer, what results you produce, what guarantee you give, and what is unique and special about your particular service.

Positioning is the foundation that you build the rest of your marketing upon.

Here are two things that you must NOT do when telling prospective new clients what you do:

1) Do not use your label. This is a sure-fire way of ending a conversation quickly. How many times have you told someone, “I’m a coach” and they say, “Oh, what team?” or “How nice” and then quickly change the subject. Chances are that when you open with your label, if you get a continued conversation, that person is only being polite.

2) Do not use the process, for instance, a coach might say: “I help people discover their excellence by co-creating the positive environment needed for a powerful conversation by having a two-way structured dialogical process that goes beyond basic listening skills and includes multilevel hearing and co-active interaction by the coach.” If your strategy is to have the “deer in the headlights” look in every prospect’s eyes, this is the one for you.

When you, the business owner, communicate the process of what you do, you are still not reaching your prospects by communicating what’s in it for them. They will be confused and they will run as fast as they can.

Package your services verbally so that you can communicate in a crystal-clear fashion what you can do for your prospective client in a nutshell.

Here is one thing that you MUST do when telling prospective new clients what you do:

Communicate the problem, then the solution. This approach works so well because people are living in, thinking about and totally immersed in their problems. So, if you relay a problem clearly and quickly and show that you do indeed understand that, you’ll get their full attention in a heartbeat.

Be as specific as possible.

“I work with organizations that are facing the many challenges of the slow economy” will not get you the same result as, “I work with small to mid-sized business owners who are struggling to get clients”.

Now, you’re getting your prospect's attention.

Then you follow up with the flip-side of the problem... the solution. If you can now show your prospect through logic, examples, testimonials and case studies that you do indeed have a solid solution to this problem, you will get that person’s ear - and business.

Here is an example of a good answer to “What do you do?”:

“You know how a lot of small businesses struggle to find new clients? I have a service that guarantees them new clients.”

Bingo!

You’ve gotten their attention. You notice now that their body language changes. They lean toward you as they talk, there is a warm glow in their eyes. You’re speaking to a small business owner who happens to be struggling to find new clients. He asks you, “How do you help small businesses get clients?”

“Good question...”, you say.

Again, I caution you to stay away from your process. Continue talking about the benefits that working with you will provide. The processes are for later... much later.

If you remember that this is about your customer, and not about you, and you engage your prospect by asking connecting questions about his problems and linking them to the benefits of working with you, you will have the perfect opportunity to explore a great business relationship.

Irene Brooks is the Founder of 3-D Success Partners, a firm that specializes in helping small businesses attract as many clients as they can handle, as well as Senior Editor of the 3-D Success Newsletter. To get your free lifetime subscription go to http://www.3-DSuccessCoach.com.

How to build your Business by helping your downline

Before you decide that your membership to an affiliate program
should be cancelled because you're "not doing any good", here
are eight simple steps to utilise to build your business by
helping your downline build their business. Give it one more
month and see the difference it can make.

1) Email your downline once every week
By sending one email per week, you will be giving your downline
a chance to get to know you and to build a trusting
relationship. Always identify yourself and the program as some
downline mailing systems don't show this and most people belong
to more than one program. Remember, as their sponsor, it is
your responsibility to provide a service to them and be there
when they need you.

2) Make sure they know you are there to help
Let them know in clear statements that you're quite happy to
help them in any way they need it. Eg. "I'm always here to help
you."

3) Let them know what works for you
Share the ideas and method you utilise yourself that work.
Eg. "I used this ad and received a great response! Why don't
you try it? Here is the ad copy."

4) Don't focus on upgrading
Your downline doesn't want to hear your suggestions about
upgrading. They want to hear how to build their business first.
Once they build up their business, the next natural step for
them is to upgrade, without your prompting. Focus on building
their business instead of upgrading.

5) Provide value
Give them something of value to use in their promotions with
each email. Eg. "Here's a splash page that you can download and
use" or "Here is a follow-up series you can copy and paste into
an auto-responder." Make sure you provide full instructions.
It's safe to assume that they're a newbie - even if they
aren't. It will be easier for them to understand and you won't
receive as many emails asking more questions that you could
have answered in your instructions.

6) Provide Encouragement & Recognition
Make sure you give your downline who progress another level or
reach a certain goal a public pat on the back. They deserve it
and it's encouraging for the other members of your downline.
Keep encouraging them. Eg. "Keep promoting consistently and you
will succeed."

7) Always be yourself and leave out the hype
These are real people you're talking to. Leave the hype for the
ad copy and speak to them honestly like you would a friend.
Never be negative about the program! If there is something that
needs fixing, turn it into a positive by suggesting a
workaround. ;~)

8) Don't brag
It's okay to tell your downline that you're doing well and they
can be too - just don't say "I've made $600 this week, how are
you doing?" It can be a real turnoff... especially when someone
has only just joined a program and hasn't had a chance to start
promoting.

Dianne >:o)

National Do Not Call List

I got the following information off of one of the groups that I belong to:

Some of you may already know this, but as of Jan 1, 2005
telemarketers may call cell phones. You have until December 15th to get
your phones on the Do Not Call list. Go to www.donotcall.gov or call
888-382-1222 (from your cell phone).

This is being backed up by a report found here.

Pretty scary stuff considering most of us pay for our cellular airtime and don't need junk calls running up our bills!!

Dianne

Our All New Affiliates Program!!

You can now register as a Wahms United affiliate and earn 20% commission on all sales made through your unique affiliate URL.

AND.. you'll also earn 3% commission on all 2nd tier affiliates. What does this mean exactly?? If someone visits Wahms United via your affiliate link, and they register for our affiliate program, you'll earn commission on all sales from THEIR affiliate link!

Sign up here to start earning today

Dianne >:o)

Holiday Membership Special

2004 was the start of a great joint venture for Wahms United. We formed an alliance with the Small Business Referral Network in order offer WU Members some fantastic new benefits for their membership. Nancy and I are dedicated to helping YOUR business grow, and together, we have a very special offer for you this holiday season.

We are offering you a year of Support, Exposure, Benefits, Discounts, and more when you join these Two Communities right NOW.

The cost normally the fee for joining is $40 a year. Right now you can Join for JUST $25!! But you need to hurry - this offer expires at midnight on December 18th and the price will be going up in the New Year!!

Apply Here

Wahm News December now Online

The December issue of Wahm News, the official E-Zine for Wahm's United is now online - have a look - December Wahm News

In this Holiday Issue:

1. Happy Holidays from Dianne 2. Featured Holiday Freebie 3. Explode Your Holiday Sales With An Internet Marketing Campaign 4. Holiday Solo Ad Sponsors 5. Holiday Recipe Fun 6. Holiday Treasure Trove 7. Special Offer 8. Ye Olde Holidaye Gift Shoppe 9. Subscription Information

Subscribe to Wahm News

Dianne

Co-Operative Advertising

I firmly believe that there is a way we can all succeed. But we have to think smarter.

What am I talking about? Well, I moderate a Ryze network for Canadian work at home moms and on several occassions I've talked about creating our own Canadian version of the Mom Pack within our group. Very few members (and there are approx. 130 members) took me up on this offer - I'm talking maybe 5 people.

The Mom Pack in the US is HUGE!! I honestly believe that Canadians just do not understand what can happen with Co-Operative Advertising. And that's something that I hope to change.

What is Co-Operative Advertising? Great question and I'm thrilled that you've asked ;)

The bottom line is that co-operative advertising helps get your promotional tools in the hands of many potential customers at a fraction of the cost it would take you to do the same. You agree to supply a set amount of promotional material to one or even many other business owners. Those business owners will then include your promotional material in every order they send out, with every coupon pack they deliver, to every person they meet! In return, you do exactly the same thing.

Your material is then seen by many others. Request material swaps with others in similar but not competing businesses - complimentary businesses to yours. For example, a Pampered Chef rep could swap info with someone from Megan's Pantry or Watkins - one sells the tools needed in the kitchen and the other sells the complimentary products, spices, herbs etc.

This isn't the only form of co-operative advertising either. Even simple link exchanges is a form of co-operative advertising if it's done properly. Wahm's United is a resource site for work at home moms and I look for link exchanges with similar or complimentary sites. I receive exchange requests on a regular basis from Casino and gambling sites.. what those site owners see in my site is completely beyond me lol. I refrain from exchanging links with sites like those, regardless of their Google Page Rank, Alexa Rating or any other standard that you look for when exchanging links.

Have you ever participated in an online Bash or Festival? Numerous vendors participate and everyone promotes these events. Visitors to the events browse through all the vendor *booths* or *tables* checking out the sales and special offers - the potential is there for you to make sales from visitors that found the event due to another vendors promotion strategies.

Multi-Vendor parties both online and offline can work in exactly the same way. Co-operative advertising isn't just for online advertising either. Participating in craft fairs or markets is a great form of offline co-operative advertising.

Joining online communities to expand your network of contacts can also hold numerous benefits for every home business. The Wahms United community for example participates together with the Expo-Connector in monthly online expos. Every vendor has their own table to showcase their products and services and everyone participates in the promotion of the event. Our members receive table discounts and special pricing on numerous forms of promotion, allowing your advertising dollars to stretch further.

I hope this provides some insight into the world of co-operative advertising and how it can benefit your business.

Blessings,
Dianne

What are WAHM's to do?

Not long ago the wahm world heard about Kelly and her family - due to the mortgage holder going into a retirement home, Kelly was facing losing her home and in order to avoid that, she needed to raise $13,000 US. That's a heck of a lot of money to a single work at home mom with children and one child being autistic.

The good news in this story is that with all of the support the online wahm community provided, even though the goal was far from reached, Kelly and her family are now able to stay in their home. My personal thanks to all that were involved in this huge undertaking (and yes, I was a contributor as well).

Now I have another online friend, one that I actually met offline last spring, that is in trouble. She's already been evicted from her home and right now, at this very minute is homeless. It's not like she can't get credit either - in fact, she had just secured a loan which was going to pay off the original loan (and the creditor for the orginal loan is the one that evicted them from their home). Now they can't reach the lawyer involved with the original loan to get this cleared up and may still be homeless through Christmas.

I've talked to soooo many other work at home moms that are suffering from dire financial problems, and I've been there myself.

My husband is self employed, and trying to find the money every month to pay the bills became just too much for us. We ended up filing for bankruptcy. I'm not ashamed of that in any way, shape or form -- it's just a fact of life. We kept trading debt for debt and weren't able to pay anything off. Being self employed, my husband makes darn good money but it just wasn't enough to support a family of four and pay all the monthly bills.

I received an instant message one day from another lady in extemely bad shape - again a single mom that had to send her child to friends houses in hopes the friends family would offer her child a meal.

This just doesn't sit well with me -- at all.

I think it's high time that we all agreed to help each other - whether we're reps for the same company or *competition*. I don't believe much in competition anymore however. To me, I can find some way to work with everyone without competing.

Ok... I'm off to sit down and do some research on a few things.

Blessings
Dianne