Are you ignoring the goldmine in your business?

Assuming you have been in business for a while, you will already have customers or clients. Do you view them (and treat them) as your goldmine?

No? Here’s why you should.

It is 6-8 times easier to sell something else to your existing clients than to find new ones. And if it’s 6-8 times easier it is probably going to cost you 6-8 times less in time, money and effort to get the same result.

Surprised? Well think of this way. Once you’ve gone to all the hard work of getting yourself a new client, and proven to them they can trust you to deliver them a good service, they are more likely to buy from you again. Depending on your business, that could be the same service again, or something else that you offer. Either way, your existing clients are the goldmine in your business, just waiting to be tapped.

So what’s the easiest way to get more business from existing clients?

The easiest way to sell something else to your existing clients is by simply asking them how else you can help them.

This could be as simple as calling them up or sending them a letter or an email.

Are you concerned that this might feel too much like ‘selling’ your services?

The key is asking your clients how else you can help them. Find out what else they need or would benefit from, rather than just trying to tell them about what you’d like to sell to them. The emphasis should always be on them, not you.

If you are in a 1 on 1 conversation with a client, this could be as simple as asking them a few questions related to the areas in which you work – do they need help in any of these areas at the moment? If so, maybe you can recommend an article or guide for them that might help them? Or maybe they should arrange a time to discuss this with you further?

If you want to send an email or letter to your database of clients, then here’s what I recommend to avoid seeming ‘salesy':

1. Identify one service or one client problem area where you’d like to generate more work (leave the others on the ‘later’ list for now)

2. Identify the key things your clients need to know in order to know why they should get help in this area (e.g. consequences of not fixing a problem they have, or risks of not getting expert help to achieve a goal they have)

3. Write a helpful blog post, email, article, or guide to this topic, which explains what problems or challenges your client may have and what they can do about it (but not the ‘how’). This will provide them with valuable information, so you won’t be seen as ‘selling’ but instead ‘educating’. At the same time, you’ll be letting your clients know that you actually offer this service – you’d be surprised how many of them don’t know about the other things you can offer them

4. Send the blog post, article or guide to your client database (or part of your database, depending on its relevance)

5. Include an invitation for your client to contact you if they need more help or advice in this area (this could be for a free consultation or informal chat or coming to an event)

6. Repeat this process from time to time – the clients who don’t have this particular problem or goal at the moment may well have it in 3,6 or 12 months’ time. You can’t expect them to remember your email or letter from months ago – they need to see it at the time when the issue is already on their mind

7. Rinse and repeat: use the same process for another service or client problem area.

Follow this simple formula and you’ll be able to get more business from existing clients by educating them about the other services you provide and why they might need them.

About Author:

Michelle is a registered and approved Growth Coach for Growth Accelerator, providing expert, tailored advice to help ambitious businesses achieve rapid, sustainable growth. - For more information: www.thebusinessinstructor.com

Do you tell your clients why?

If you don’t tell your prospective clients ‘why’ they should buy from you, or work with you, then chances are that many of them won’t.

And why should they? Let’s face it, if you don’t know the answer to this question, or don’t tell them the answer, there’s no reason why they should work it out for themselves, or put their trust in you and hope it turns out for the best….

Telling them ‘why’ starts with explaining the benefits they get by using your service.

Many businesses concentrate on telling clients about the features of their product or services. They proudly list all those features or detail the amount of time that will be spent, or the documents that will be produced. They then expect the clients to work out why that is a good thing for themselves.

This is definitely not the best way to sell your services. Not only do your clients not translate those features into benefits in their minds, but your marketing looks just like your competitors’. I call this ‘me too’ advertising, and it’s the no.1 reason why most marketing doesn’t work.

The next ‘why’ you need to answer is why a client should choose you.

 

Once the prospective client is convinced of the benefits of your service, the next question in their mind is going to be ‘are you the right person to provide it – why should I choose you?

Do you know the answer?

I know lots of business owners struggle with this. Last week I worked with a lawyer who told me he could only think of one reason why a client should choose him over his competitors, and as he sheepishly told it to me I could tell he didn’t feel it was a strong enough reason to even mention. And he was right – it didn’t differentiate him. But by the end of our session, we had uncovered 5 compelling reasons why a prospective client should choose him. (We didn’t have to invent anything, we just had to go looking through the right lens – that of the client).

Action Steps

 

Next time you are communicating with your clients (whether by letter, email, advert, or presentation) take the time to answer these questions from the perspective of your client:

• “What result/benefits will I get from your service?”
• “Why should I buy from you specifically?”

What is all boils down to is you must answer the fundamental question going on in every prospective client’s head…. Which is “what’s in it for me?”

Answer that, and your client will give you the answer you want – a ‘yes’ to working with you.

See more at: http://www.thebusinessinstructor.com/do-you-tell-your-clients-why

Are your team members the biggest threat to growing your business?

You need a team to help you grow your business – whether that means employees, freelancers or virtual assistants. Without them, you would end up trying to do everything yourself, and be limited by the number of hours in your day (which should be 8, not 16!).

So without a team, your business cannot grow.


But your team can also be the biggest threat to growing your business.

Why? Because you hire them, train them, invest your time and money in them until you can rely on them and then, at some point…they leave. And then you are back to square one, having to hire someone else and repeat the whole process. If you’ve experienced this, it can feel like one step forward and two steps back.

So what’s the solution?

The solution is to make sure you do not have to rely on a particular member of staff for the success of your business.

If all of the important information and knowledge about any part of your business is in one person’s head, then you are relying on that person for the success of your business. If they leave, so does that knowledge. You are two steps back.

But what if all the important knowledge about that part of your business was contained in a system, which was operated by one of your team members? So instead of the information being in someone’s head, it was written down in a document, instruction manual, or checklist, which explained exactly how to operate that particular part of the business? For example, how to set up a new client account, or how to pay your suppliers. If the person who operated that system left, the information would still be there, in the instruction manual or checklist. Now you could hire someone else to operate that system. Yes, they would still need some training, but because you have a system to follow the training would be much quicker and simpler, and you would be relying less on the skills of the individual because there was a system for them to operate.

So systemising your business is key to growing your business without being reliant on particular members of staff for your success.

But what if your team members resist systematization?

The bad news is that not everyone in your team may not be as enthusiastic about systematization as you are. Some may see it as a way to make their working life easier and welcome it. But others may relish the idea of being ‘the only one’ who knows how to do certain tasks in your business, and worry that if someone else can do their job, they won’t be as important to your business. But the reality is that if your business operates on systems, rather than individuals, there are benefits for the employee too, such as:

• When they are on holiday, someone else can do their job – meaning they don’t come back to a pile of work that no-one else could deal with and don’t end up working more hours before and after their holiday to make up for the time they were away.
• Equally, if they are unwell and need time off, they can do so knowing someone else can do their job in the meantime.
• They are more likely to get promoted – once their role is systemised, and can be done by someone less skilled than they are, they can be promoted to a more interesting and challenging (and financially rewarding) role.

So if you find your team members are resistant to systemisation, remember that you need to sell the benefits of it to them, just as you have to sell the benefits of your product or service to your clients. Once you staff realise what’s in it for them, they are more likely to support your systemisation project and help, not hinder, the growth of your business.

Post a comment below to let me know your experiences in getting your team to support your systemisation project.

See more at: http://www.thebusinessinstructor.com