Winning Clients with Ease – Part 1: What Impression Are You Making On Others?

Hi there and thanks for stopping by :-) My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re either curious (which is always good!) or would like to find out more about making a memorable first impression in order to win clients. Maybe you run a small business and your income is generated by a stream of clients and customers.

Of course, learning and applying marketing methods and having a clear business plan is a must and is fundamentally important. But aside from those factors, what’s the difference that makes the difference between a prospect choosing YOU or one of your competitors, that goes beyond price, qualifications or experience?

It’s YOU! And how you put YOURSELF across!

Here’s what I discovered.

I realised and learned that there is so much more behind gaining new clients than by just learning the latest business strategies and marketing techniques (which are of course absolutely necessary but this is not an article about marketing or business strategies!).

It’s what lies beyond..…

I was having a chat the other week with a business colleague of mine over a cup of steaming hot café latte (with lashings of whipped cream on top, I know very naughty!), and she asked me how business was. So I was sharing with her how I’d landed myself a few big clients, seemingly out of nowhere and where ‘landing the deal’ was so simple. And so I find myself currently in the middle of writing proposals for a charity, an SME and a large corporate who are curious and interested in hiring my services in the near future. She also asked me how I attracted these clients. “Did you try hard?” she asked. Trying? No. Trying hard? Definitely not! Keeping it simple and not over-complicating matters? Yes. Taking action? Absolutely!

Have you ever been in a situation where someone was trying to push their services onto you when you didn’t really want them? Either on the phone or in person? If someone ‘tries’ too hard and is ‘over-pushy’, there will be a whiff of desperation. Not attractive is it? Hard sell is soooo off-putting!

I sat and deconstructed my ‘strategy’ so I could share it with you – the person who is reading this! There are 7 simple key strategies I’ve been using and teaching others to generate results:

1) letting people know you exist

2) making your message to those people clear, congruent and compelling

3) make a magnetic & memorable impression on others (for all the right reasons!)

4) create curiosity and intrigue

5) being clear of your outcome and the results YOU desire

6) nurturing your relationship with people who are potentially interested (prospects)

7) finally closing the deal with a prospect – whether it’s with a an organisation or with an individual.

I currently run a training & coaching business in personal development ‘soft skills’ which I’ve been running for the last 4 years or so where I help people just like you generate the results you want and create higher levels of success and fulfilment both in your personal and professional life through various methods – whether it’s to help you make a powerful first impression on prospective clients, boost your confidence, create a positive state of mind, teach you how to become a master of communication and understand how to tap into the power of your mind to get the results you want.

I don’t come from a sales background (TV Production in fact!). I haven’t previously built a multi-million pound empire so I can tell you the business strategies for doing that (and building a multi-million pound empire is not my main motivation!).

My motivation for running my business is this: (a) authentically doing what I love (which is helping people) (b) make a positive impact on others & help them get the results they are after (c) the income flows from doing a job that I love which means I must be glowing with enthusiasm and passion when I’m engaging with prospective clients! :-)

What I wanted to share with you is this.

I realised a little while back that spending 11 years as a freelancer (working up to Producer level) in TV Production taught me valuable insights in how to land clients – clients being the TV companies. Freelance contact work in telly would only last a few months at best. Then I would have to find another contract/client. When that finished, I had to find another. It was the nature of the industry – 90% of TV people were freelance. So seeking work every time the contract ended was the norm. TV companies essentially were my (rather large!) clients. They sought my services to help put a TV programme together (within a team).  What I realised was that there was more to being ‘hired’ than just your qualifications, experience and fees.

Fast forward to present day, I thought to myself, it would be really good to put together a presentation which combines my current skills as a mind coach and how I go about winning clients together with the skills I learned around attracting and securing large clients from my 11 year TV background and call it, “Win Clients with Ease”.  I did this because I wanted to let others know what I’m doing to attract clients and share it with other small business owners to help them develop valuable insights around the concept, give them food for thought and to learn how to do the same.

So I did.

And the first invitation came. To deliver this particular talk to a local business group. Then the invitations snowballed from other regional directors in other business groups who heard about my talk through the grapevine. And then… the 1-1 coaching bookings skyrocketed! All from word-of-mouth or from people who had attended. Phew! :-)

The truth of the matter is that people mostly tend to make buying decisions whether to hire you or not based on emotion and instinct rather than by a list of criteria. That’s right! (Although yes, there are some who have preferred methods of making decisions but let’s keep it simple for now!)

For example, say you have 8 accountants in a room at a networking event. Which one of them will stand out the most to prospective customers that will make those prospective customers choose only one of those accountants above all the others? (Hello to any accountants reading this!!!) :-)

Firstly it’s important to say there is no magic formula or one clear cut answer to win new clients. It’s a combination of things. And some of those things I found out during my time when working in TV and during running my current training & coaching business.

So that this article doesn’t become too long-winded I’ll share those things in the next entry which will come very soon, Winning Clients with Ease – Part 2: The Things that Make The Difference!

Keep your eyes peeled on my posts and check my latest blog entries on my website to make sure you read it!

Bye for now,

Love Desi x