By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing
Since it's the beginning of the year, I thought I'd share the 5 things I recommend you do if you want to attract more clients in 2011. And I'll show you how improving your skills in these five areas can actually double your income.
1. Think Bigger
I have no idea what the economy is gong to do this year, but I do know one way to combat hard times is to think more expansively - set bigger goals, make bigger plans, involve more people. Above all, don't "hunker down" waiting for things to get better. Instead, be responsible for making things better.
2. Be More Visible
A very simple marketing maxim is that people like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. And that will never happen unless you're more visible. Marketing activities like networking, social media, publishing articles and speaking make you more visible to your target clients. You can never slack in this area.
3. Be Consistent With Your Message
If you ask your best friends and business associates what you do, you may be surprised by the answer! In almost all cases, they'll give you a vague answer, such as "something about finances." And it's not their fault - it's yours! Find a consistent and attention-getting message and use it in all verbal and written marketing messages. You'll get tired of it long before your potential clients do.
4. Do marketing campaigns, not random activities
It's not enough to be visible and use good marketing messages. That will only get you so far. A marketing campaign is an organized plan to communicate to specific potential clients about a specific service that you offer with the intention of setting up one-on-one selling conversations. The more qualified selling conversations you set up and the better your conversion rate, the higher your income.
5. Formalize your selling process
When someone is interested in meeting with you to talk about your services, the hard work of marketing is over. But the work of selling has just begun. Most don't have an organized step-by-step selling process that predictably converts prospects into paying clients. Don't leave this to chance. Start working on it now.
Formula for doubling your income in 2011.
If you apply the above ideas in your business, you can double your income this year. First, you start with where you are now. Here's a possible scenario:
Currently you have 10 clients who pay you an average of $10K each/year = $100K total income. To get there you did certain marketing activities and got a total of 20 sales meetings, of which you converted 50% of them into paying clients. (Adjust the figures to fit your actual situation.)
Here's the new scenario:
By improving your marketing activities you now are able to get 25 sales meetings. That's a 25% increase. And with a better selling process you are now able to convert 75% of those meetings into paying clients. That's a 50% increase, and very doable, especially if your marketing is now attracting better prospects.
Finally, you increase your fee per client to $12,000 per year, a 20% increase. When you add all this up, you now have 17 to 19 new clients paying you a total of over $200K per year.
This is an approach that really works. It's called working smarter on your marketing. Yes, you need to improve your skills in several areas, but isn't the result worth it? Your alternative is to simply work harder and see only incremental gains.
I challenge you to look at your current marketing activities, your selling process and the financial results from last year, and set a goal to double your income in the coming year with this strategy.
For those very serious about doubling your business this year, I invite you to apply to the Marketing Mastery Program where I work with you hand-in-hand to learn the skills and implement the steps that will produce the results.
You can learn more about the program and listen to a few introductory audios at this link. Next week, on Thursday, Jan 13th we'll be opening the program to applications.
http://actionplan.com/apmmm.html
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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you'd like to double your income this year, you need a plan. You can't leave it to chance as most people do. However, this simple plan results in better marketing, leads to more sales meetings, and turns those meetings into more clients. Add a modest increase in your fees, and doubling your business is a reality.
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What is your plan to increase your income in 2011? Please share on the More Clients Blog.
I'm definetly tracking with doubling my income in 2011. I have laid out goals and objectives to reach those goals. I also set a month to month and week to week goal sheet in order to double my income.
I have a feeling I will be marketing more than ever in 2011.
I'm working towards double the exposure and doubling my networks.
Lastly, it's not that I didn't know this but after I wrote out my plan I realized "I have to take action steps!" Once the new year began it's been 5th gear action steps!
Here's to a double profit 2011!
Posted by: Steve Knerem | January 13, 2011 at 08:33 AM
Hi Gordon. Thanks for your comment. This example was only an illustration. There are many ways to do this. I more than doubled my income by doing group programs (and cut my client hours in half). Others might decrease their clients but get better ones at a higher fee as you are doing. My friend and coach, Patrick Summar, has 6 to 8 clients at any given time and charges $2500 or more per month. The point is that we do very little planning to raise our income. We usually settle for much less than is possible. So I think your strategy is good, but just as a "thought experiment" what would you need to do to double your income? - And not that doubling your income is the "right" thing to do either. But most would find good use for that extra income!
Posted by: Robert Middleton | January 06, 2011 at 10:39 AM
But watch out. How many consultants can actually HANDLE 17 to 19 new clients a year? I certainly can't. I'm planning to increase my income this year with almost the opposite tactic: by cutting DOWN my number of clients, being more selective so I don't get involved with less profitable projects, increasing my fees slightly, and asking for more repeat business from my existing clients.
For anyone already working at close to capacity, I believe this is a more workable approach than adding that many more clients.
Posted by: Gordon Graham | January 06, 2011 at 07:12 AM