Lisa Mininni, Author at Excellerate Associates

3 Effective Mindset-Shifting Strategies to Attract More Clients

February 16, 2012 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

Your mindset is your internal mental attitude and influences the way you view life, relationships and your business. It determines how you interpret and respond to situations and can completely transform how you perceive the world.

Your mindset can also influence if others decide to do business with you. If, in your mind, you’re constantly playing, “they will never do business with me” you’ll get what you’re thinking. There is good news if you find yourself in this self-limiting thinking. There’s a way to change it. Throughout the years, I have found three effective mindset-shifting strategies to attract more clients:

Mindset-Shifting Strategy #1: Success by Gratefulness.

The way you start your day can be the most important indicator of how you’ll spend the rest of your day. If you start negative, you’ll probably spend the rest of the day inviting negativity. Instead, make a conscious decision to spend the first five minutes every single morning taking inventory of all of the blessings that have come into your life.

Even life’s challenges can bring gifts you wouldn’t have otherwise have seen. Over a decade ago, I was starting my business and pondered if starting a business was the right decision. As I was driving to my networking appointment questioning this path, something popped up from the freeway and headed straight at me. I put my hands over my face and waited for what I thought would be a very painful event. I heard this big whooshing then dinging sound in the front seat of my car. I peaked, put my hands on the wheel and saw a shattered windshield, a softball-sized hole in that windshield, and a four foot, five pound semi-truck’s tire iron in the front seat of my car. As I got off to the side of the road, I eventually parked in a parking lot where I called the police.

While waiting for the police to arrive, I got out of the car and shook off the shards of glass although there was not a scratch on me. After further inspection, I noticed a six inch gash that the sliced open the steel hood of the car like a hot knife on butter. Since the tire iron hit the hood first, it changed the original trajectory of that tire iron missing me by about four inches. Each police officer came on scene that day, looked at the original trajectory of that tire iron, looked at me and said, “Lady, you must be on this earth for a reason.”

Just moments earlier I had been asking if starting a business was the right decision. Even in the most challenging situations, you can find something to be grateful for. I was grateful for those three messengers who reinforced that I needed to continue on this path showing other people how they can build a business they love.

Mindset-Shifting Strategy #2: Success By Association.

If your parents told you to carefully choose your friends, they were on to something. If you spend your time with negative and lazy people who look for excuses, you’re going to find it hard to become anything other than negative and lazy looking for excuses. First, raise your awareness point of the people you hang around. Notice if they exemplify the kind of life you desire to live.

Second, just notice where you need to shift your energy and relationships. Just as quick as you make the decision to move away from relationships that hold you back, you will start to see how new relationships come into your life.

Mindset-Shifting Strategy #3: Success by Completion.

All too frequently, people are focused on too many things. Before too long, you’re left with a lot of unfinished projects collecting a heaping pile of clutter. If that describes your scenario, you may be trying to do too much and need to change the way you work.

One of my new clients was in constant overwhelm. After listing all of her open projects, she quickly realized she could not do it all alone. After hiring an intern, she was able to get projects completed and be more present with her clients. By adopting a mindset of completion, her dream work became her reality simply by following through and asking for help.

When you implement these three mindset-shifting strategies, you’ll begin to see how your life, relationships and business flow magically and profitably. It all starts with your mindset and making these strategies a habit.

What mindset-shifting strategies have you used that have made all the difference in your life?

How to Use This One Handy Piece of Marketing Real Estate to Get More Clients

February 9, 2012 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

There is one piece of handy marketing real estate that you may have forgotten about that can easily attract more clients. It’s something you look at every single day. It’s that space right below your email signature. When this space is used in the most optimal way, you will entice your reader to take action, establish credibility and get more clients.

Unfortunately, over and over again I see many entrepreneurs make an easily correctible mistake when utilizing this marketing space. They believe they are giving a call to action when they write, “Visit our Website” or “Sign Up for My Ezine”. Yet, those statements simply do not compel the reader to take action.

The best way to keep it compelling is to describe the benefit to them when they click on your link. Ask yourself, “what’s in it for them”? If you’re a chiropractor, do you give weekly health tips that will help your ideal clients lose weight or become more fit? At the end of email, you might write, “For life-saving health tips, click here” rather than “Sign up for my Newsletter”. If you’re a speaker, instead of the standard “Visit Our Website”, write “Watch This Audience’s Reaction When I Told Them About [insert the benefit and include a compelling video of your speech on Youtube].

Sharon McRill, CEO of the Betty Brigade, a concierge company in Ann Arbor, MI (and who is a media magnet) uses it for added value. After her signature, you’ll see “As seen in Women’s Day Magazine” and a link to the article where she contributed organization tips. Part of the secret to her success is that when she is responding to media requests, the writers get to see the other articles where she has been quoted. What a great way to repurpose her PR and establish her credibility!

There are many marketing messages you can place in this space, including:

An upcoming event you’re hosting
An announcement about a book you’re launching
A description of your ideal referral

Remember to optimize this space by including:

Regular updates to your message so it stays relevant and fresh.
A different color font than the rest of your signature to attract the reader’s attention.
A compelling call to action with an active link.

Each time you have a new event, published article, or new product, include a short message about it in your email signature. When you regularly use a compelling phrase in this valuable and handy piece of real estate, it will leave your reader so intrigued that they can’t help but click on that link helping you to get more clients.

3 Tips to Get More Leads Every Time You Speak

February 2, 2012 by Lisa Mininni 2 Comments

There it is – you just made the decision to add speaking to your marketing mix so you get in front of your ideal prospects. You work hard at securing your first gig and are thrilled because you have your first real shot at getting in front of a room filled with your ideal prospects.

So, you work for hours getting your speech down cold. You spend a lot of effort working out the slides and you think you’re ready. You deliver your speech and are quite pleased with your presentation. You’re relieved to finish your presentation, people clap, and some people take your card.

Then you wait. And wait. And wait. You even check your phone to make sure it’s working. Confusion turns into frustration. You simply don’t understand why you’re not getting calls because so many people came up to you and loved your message. All of that time, effort, money, travel and nothing.

If you added speaking to your marketing mix and wondered why you’re not getting leads, you’re not alone. Many experts add speaking to their marketing mix so they can get in front of their clients. Unfortunately, they are missing out on some important parts on keeping the flow of the moment going.

Use these tips to get more leads when you speak:

Be Crystal Clear – Start with getting clear on what you uniquely offer because that’s really the key to everything. You need to be crystal clear on who you work with, the transformation that you provide, and the outcome that your clients get when they work with you.

When you are clear on exactly who your ideal clients are, it makes it easier to develop your presentation, demonstrate the outcome they get when they work with you, and target organizations whose members are interested in your topics. It’s not efficient or strategic to call organizations and then customize your talk. Organizations are looking for speakers with topics already developed that will serve their membership. When you present your topic over and over, you’ll refine it, and position yourself as a subject matter expert. You will reverse the speaker selection process, too. They will choose you because of your topics rather than you chasing them!

Create Topic Titles that Sizzle – After attending my Entrepreneurial Edge System 3-Day Intensive, Chiropractor Kinesiologist, Stacey Francis, Owner of Specific Wellness, added speaking to her marketing mix. First, she asked her clients some of the health topics they wanted to hear more about. Then, she delivered on what they asked for. One of her first talks, “The Sexy Side of Cholesterol: Revealing the Dirty Little Secrets” became a huge success with her patients. Now, she can use the same topic when speaking to other organizations whose members are interested in lowering their cholesterol and preventing heart disease.

Inspire Follow-Up Action. It’s simply not enough to present your information without giving audience members who are inspired to step up. With a steady stream of messages filling up their day, your words simply will not last in the minds of your audience members. Think about how you can continuously connect and engage your audience. At the end of your speech, give them a way to keep in touch. If you don’t give them a way to keep in touch and give continuous value, you’ve missed out on a key outcome of serving your audience as a speaker – to inspire positive action.

When you make the decision to add speaking to your marketing mix, be sure to include these elements into your speaking process. When you do, you’ll approach your speaking more strategically, create excitement about the transformation they’ll receive by attending your talk, and engage your new prospects ultimately turning them into invested clients.

Lisa Mininni is a best-selling author and President of Excellerate Associates, home of the sought-after Entrepreneurial Edge System, showing business owners how to automatically bring in pre-qualified prospects and turn them into invested clients. Read her blog for additional tips on keep-in-touch systems or pick up her free ebook Get Ready, Get Set, Go! at www.freebusinessplanformat.com.

Just the Other Side of Effort

January 26, 2012 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

Quote:

80% of success is about showing up.

A similar saying was first printed in the New York Times and often attributed to American director, Woody Allen. If you remain focused and show up consistently, success follows.

Why, then, do so many small business owners have trouble showing up, fail to step out of comfort zones and take simple actions? When one of my clients was wavering on whether or not to show up for a monthly training call, he admitted he didn’t “feel” like dialing in. No matter how simple it was, he was hesitating.

Then he thought about what he would miss if he didn’t attend. So he decided to listen in. Although he must have heard a few nuggets of information in previous presentations he has attended, it finally clicked. While learning about the importance of lead generation systems, he realized how much easier his life would be if he had a system operating 7 days a week 24 hours a day pre-qualifying his prospects and continuously filling his prospect pipeline. He said, “It was as if a curtain had lifted.” He finally heard the importance of leveraging his business in a brand new way. He wouldn’t need to hire a staff of sales people just to grow his business. He could expand his business and broaden his reach easily.

Imagine what you could accomplish if you just showed up fully engaged? The next time you are overcome with fear and you hesitate or abandon forward action, think for a moment about what your life would look like from the other side of effort once you’ve accomplished your goal. Consider how you will be once you made the effort and moved through the challenge.

Because you made the effort, you’ll realize how much stronger and capable you have become. Your decision to move ahead helped you to grow. You’ll discover that your choice, persistence and commitment took you someplace special.

The next time you think something is overwhelming, you don’t feel like showing up, you don’t have enough (time, money, resources) or you’re saying something won’t work before you even try it, stop yourself and imagine what it will be like once you make the effort. Keep that “after” image in your mind as you work through the challenges. Remember to continuously invest in yourself and your business. When you do this, you’ll start to attract opportunities because you’re now prepared to receive them. You’ll notice a continuous flow and pieces start to effortlessly fit together.

Have you ever showed up (even though you didn’t want to) only to secure a new client or have an opportunity you wouldn’t have otherwise? Share it with us!

==========================

Lisa Mininni is a best-selling author of Me, Myself, and Why? The Secrets to Navigating Change. She is also the President of Excellerate Associates, home of the sought-after Entrepreneurial Edge System showing small business owners and to bring in a consistent supply of pre-qualified prospects and turn them into invested clients. Discover how you can pull in your ideal clients at www.freebusinessplanformat.com

How One Simple Tool Can Help You Keep Up and Keep In Touch With Your Prospects

January 19, 2012 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

If you’re trying to respond to every single customer by yourself or not keeping in touch with your prospects, you may want to review your internal processes to include autoresponders.

An autoresponder is a type of program that automatically answers emails that are sent to it. At some point when using email, you have received an autoresponder when an email you sent could not be delivered. You likely received a bounced message that your email “could not be delivered because”.

An autoresponder can help a small business owner keep in touch with their prospects, respond to customer inquiries, and provide immediate information to your prospective customer. It can also then follow up with them at pre-determined time intervals.

If you’re thinking that having an autoresponder message is impersonal, you’re missing out on a key leverage point. With carefully written messages, your prospects or customers will welcome your timely messages and appreciate that you’re staying in touch with them.

The key mistake entrepreneurs make is that they talk “at” their customers rather than “to” their customers/prospects. Consider each message in your series as an encounter. Let’s say the first encounter is that someone downloaded an ebook you offer. The first message welcomes them and directs them to how they can download your ebook. The second message, programmed a day or two later, might ask them if they have had a chance to read it. The third message might ask them how it was going or to connect on social media. Each time, you’re opening up the lines of communication and engaging them – not dissimilar to how you might connect with them through a phone call. They likely will respond to this pre-programmed message and you will receive their responses directly. You then can further chat with them or set up a phone conversation or other type of interaction.

Today’s messages through autoresponders should communicate as if you are writing each email individually. When you do, you’ll find that having this systematic way to keep in touch with your prospects is effective, leverages your business, engages them, and cultivates that relationship with them.

Get Your Free eBook: Elevate and Expand Your Brand

Get Your Free eBook:
Elevate and Expand Your Brand