get more clients Archives - Excellerate Associates

The No. 1 Thing You Can Do Right Now To Get More Clients

September 11, 2014 by Lisa Mininni 2 Comments

In his book, The E Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber said “…great businesses are not built by extraordinary people but by ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” His statement couldn’t be more on point especially for business owners.

Ask any successful business owner and they will tell you that they create extraordinary results by doing things consistently, which, in turn, produces their tipping point. A tipping point is that moment when something reaches a critical mass. Applied in a business context, it can also be seen when the line on the chart starts to shoot upward.

When you have a systematic way of doing things, you produce consistency. These consistencies pay off in big ways. To illustrate this point, I was recently asked what was the one thing I did to produce my own tipping point? As I look back, it was consistency, especially in networking.

The problem with most business owners is that they get on the networking bandwagon when their client load decreases. As soon as they get some clients, they forget about networking! They are often shocked when I show them that their up and down cash flow mirrors their up and down marketing and networking.

The number one thing you can do right now to get more clients is to be consistent in your marketing especially your networking. The first thing you want to do is make sure you’re networking in the ideal places.

Once you identify your preferred client, identify all of those places where you can meet your clients. Then, take out your 12-month calendar and put all of the networking appointments on your calendar.

Even though my client load expanded, I always made sure to consistently network in the very places where I met my ideal clients.

When you identify that systematic schedule of events and have aligned marketing, you’ll notice your own traction as the referrals start coming in regularly. When your prospects see consistency in your marketing and marketing messages, they start to develop trust and are drawn to your offerings.

Score More Clients with Cadence

November 14, 2013 by Lisa Mininni 3 Comments

Have you ever been absolutely mesmerized by the rhythmic nature of a drum line? If you have, there is that defining moment when the drum line comes together to create an amazing show leaving the audience captivated by their cadence.

As a business owner, it is important to captivate your audience. Your consistent action creates a cadence. The cadence creates a connection with your prospects. Saying it another way, you get on a roll and get noticed.

I was honored when a fellow professional speaker remarked how much she loved seeing my blogs and the consistent messaging. That cadence left an impression on her.

A business is a lot like a drum line. While musicians have their sheet music, which tells them when a note should be played, the next note to be played, and the end of the song, an entrepreneur has their strategic plans.

The problem is many business owners are simply missing a step in their strategic planning process to create that cadence. They may begin the year with a plan, but they don’t create a regular habit of referring to their plan. After a while, you get so far off the plan, it feels like you’re part of a really bad band rehearsal.

No matter how great the plan, nothing happens until you operationalize it. It’s that consistent action of referring and executing your plan that starts the rhythmic flow.

When you plan your work and work your plan, you have distinct advantage. When you get clear on your direction and develop consistency through the execution of it, you create your cadence. By the nature of your cadence, you create momentum. That momentum is attractive energy.

Every year, one of the key appointments I keep on my calendar is my Strategic Planning Day. Like musicians have sheet music to guide them, business owners need to have well-orchestrated plans and consistently review those plans throughout the year.

This is the perfect time of the year to map out what you want next year to look like. During my Strategic Planning Day, I will:

Review the accomplishments throughout the year and compare them to the plan
Finalize next year’s goals – and review how the following three years line up
Operationalize the action plans

Adding this process to your business will do wonders for creating your cadence. When you operationalize your strategic plan, watch as you double your influence, impact, and income.

Don’t Work So Hard: A Quick Way to Get More Done

November 7, 2013 by Lisa Mininni 1 Comment

As you work in your business, have you suddenly had that avalanche of new business or projects and become easily overwhelmed?

Yes?

Many small business owners make the mistake of working in their business by wearing multiple hats rather than working on their business. What’s usually missing? The systems and resources.

Ultimately, your small business can only grow to the maximum amount of work you can personally handle. It’s important to grow your team so you get more done. Growing your team is a lot easier than you may think.

A quick way to get more done is through interns. According to a survey of almost 10,000 college graduates conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), approximately 63 percent participated in internship programs as part of their undergraduate studies.

There are both paid and unpaid internships and there are specific legal requirements for unpaid internships. An internship program serves as an economical way to staff your company. Interns also give you the flexibility and cost-effectiveness you need to manage your growth.

There are many other benefits to having an internship program for your small business. In addition to having additional hands to help out, having an internship program helps you to give back to your community.

Early in my career I participated as an intern so when I started my own business, I found it important to give back by working with an internship program. When a client of mine had human resource-related question, it was rewarding to be able to show my intern how to apply the theory she learned in her human resource program at college to a real-world situation. She also benefited by receiving a realistic view of the profession.

It’s important that you create a real-world learning experience for your interns rather than having them make copies or fax documents. Before you call your local university or community college, think through the projects you can assign to the intern. When you call your local university to explain the details of the internship, have an idea which degree program would be the best suited for that internship opening. For example, if you want the intern to work your social media strategy, then contact the university to target the marketing students.

As a small business, you provide unique exposure for your interns. Your environment provides practical experience and access to an entrepreneurial environment not available in bigger corporations. Because that intern gets access to the owner of the business, they get to see firsthand how strategy becomes operationalized, an advantage not always possible in big corporations.

There’s nothing better than having a new pair of eyes in your environment. Because they bring a whole new generation of ideas, you may just find a refreshing perspective on how to get more done, get new clients and grow your small business.

Click here to discover more of the best practices and important cash flow systems we teach students in the Wake Up Profitable Intensive.

Lead Your Team to Victory with This Catchy Strategy

October 10, 2013 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

In baseball, there are special rules called ground rules. Ground rules are particular to each park in which the game is played. In baseball, each park is different relative to its positioning of fences, dugouts, railings, and other infrastructures. So rules are defined to handle situations where the play ball or the players interact with these objects.

The same is true for business. There are key advantages to setting ground rules. As an entrepreneur, ground rules increase your productivity and enhance your team’s interactions.

If you have constant interruptions and need to increase your productivity, set ground rules that address some of the constant disruptions keeping you from top performance. If family members constantly call you for unimportant reasons during work, set a ground rule around personal phone calls during the day.

If you have a team, the key to setting ground rules is to get your team involved in developing them. Assemble your team and ask each team member for input on improved ways to interact or increase productivity. Afterward, have each team member commit to those ground rules.

These ground rules may include protocols to keep interruptions at a minimum, like setting an appointment with a team member before you constantly disrupt their schedule.

Ground rules can be set specifically for running productive meetings. Common meeting ground rules include:

Keep cell phones turned off during meetings
Be on time
Distribute an agenda prior to each meeting

When setting ground rules, remember to:

Keep your list in the affirmative: That is, what you want to have happen rather than what you don’t want, such as “be on time” instead of “don’t be late”.
Get team input and commitment. The worst thing any leader can do is dictate the ground rules. Instead, involve your team in developing the ground rules. You will have better buy in and compliance that way.
Number the ground rules. If one is not followed, anyone on the team can simply refer to the number, saying “We need ground rule number 1.”
Enforce the ground rules. When you allow a ground rule to be broken, you have lowered the bar or allowed an exception. While you may have to adjust or add to your list, enforcement is key to hitting a home run with your team.
Set your system in motion. After creating the ground rules, my second stage clients post their list in their conference room for a consistent reminder of their team’s collective commitment.

When you implement a systematic approach to using ground rules, discover just how easy it is lead your team to victory.

Do You Have A Pre-Qualification System?

October 3, 2013 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

Does this sound familiar? You meet a prospect and play phone tag. Months later, you arrange a meeting, you give away valuable ideas and information during the introductory meeting and you wait.

You go through this process over and over and over. Eventually, someone does business with you. If you’re lucky, about a year later, you’re actually working with that new client.

The problem with this process is that you’re at a disadvantage for several reasons:

1. You are in pursuit mode. Unless the prospect has an immediate need, you are in a position of having to convince them.

2. You spend a great deal of time just determining if there is a good fit.

The bottom line is your time is valuable. Setting up a pre-qualification system just makes good sense because not every call, email or referral you receive is your ideal client.

Almost any piece of your selling process can be systematized and/or automated. With a well-defined pre-qualification system, you and your prospect can determine if there is a good match.

Implementing a pre-qualification system may be easier than you think, too! Here are some tips:

If you spend countless hours educating your prospects or answering frequently asked questions, use your marketing resources to help you serve them better. Include those frequently asked questions and the answers on your website.

You may even find that you can overcome objections simply by answering a question that your prospect hasn’t expressed but may have on their mind. How would you know what that concern is if they haven’t expressed it?

The answer is simple. Listen to your existing clients.

For example, one of my clients who has a successful hypnotherapy practice discovered that one of her existing clients hesitated doing business with her. Turns out her client attended a show where she saw an audience member being hypnotized and forced to bark like a dog on stage.

When my client discovered this perception of hypnotherapy, she addressed that very concern in a Q&A on her website. If you have a specific process, you may want to add a video which can also help explain the process you take your clients through. In the end, you will empower your prospect to make an informed decision.

When creating your pre-qualification system, remember to also put on your customer hat. If your system is too complicated, you may lose them. Create a user-friendly process that provides continuous value.

Begin by mapping out your entire sales process. Once you have that mapped out, consider how you can systematically and automatically pre-qualify your prospects. Then, watch as you increase your bottom line.

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