One of the biggest questions people ask us is, “I’m just getting started. What should I do first to get clients?”  People may tell you to do one of the following:

• Create a website,
• Try to get speaking gigs,
• Create a business card,
• Brand yourself or
• Start building your email list, for example.

It can be totally overwhelming! While all of these things are important to consider, these aren’t the first steps to getting clients. And you can spin your wheels for months (or even years) working on the list above and get little or no clients from all of your hard work. We want to save you from the agony of working on the things that don’t really make much of a difference (contrary to popular belief) until you really understand what works to get clients fast. (BTW, the list above is an important list to consider…just wait to work on this stuff until you’re sure you have a sustainable business and you can count on yourself to attract the right clients.) We’ve made millions in our business over the last 10 years and we know what it takes to get clients. But 12 years ago, I thought that getting clients for my life coaching “business” meant hanging flyers all over town and waiting for my phone to ring. This strategy worked.  My phone did ring.  The only problem was that on the other end of the line was my mom… suggesting I get a J-O-B. Since I couldn’t even get one private client to pay me money, I took her advice. As I sunk into my depressing, full-time J-O-B, I found myself getting jealous when Sharla’s business started to thrive.  But another part of me was fascinated. Before my eyes, I saw a VERY simple, 3-step system to getting clients. You may be RELIEVED to know that you can successfully work this 3-step system, WITHOUT the following 4 things that most business coaches will tell you are necessary. You don’t need:  

• A fancy business card.

  In a Heartselling™ Conversation, it is MUCH more important to their card (so you can check in with them) than it is to give them yours.  After working with thousands of clients and making over 10 Million Dollars in our business, we STILL don’t have business cards.  If you don’t have business cards yet, and feel insecure about this, you can simply say, “I am in the process of creating a new card, but in the meantime I would love to get your card so I can check back in with you about ____________(something from your conversation that is check-in worthy).”

• A fancy website.

  Unless you are driving people to look at your website, it will get lost in cyberspace.  The best thing websites do, when you’re just getting started, is to give you a tiny bit of credibility.  But you can get credibility in other ways (that don’t cost anything) when you master the art of positioning yourself (you’ll discover more on how to position yourself in next week’s blog and in our new Client Attraction Mastery Home-Study Course that we’ll be unveiling soon). If you don’t have a website yet, “I am in the process of creating a new website, but in the meantime I would be happy to answer any questions you have about how I might be able to help you.”

• A fancy flyer or brochure.

  Brochures aren’t a bad thing.  But don’t expect your brochure to do anything big for your business.

• Fancy branding.

  When you are first starting out, you have 2 main jobs: 1. Get clients 2. Discover what makes your services unique.

You will actually discover your unique brand BY working with clients, rather than the other way around. Going through a branding process can speed up this discovery, but we would hate for you to brand yourself, only to discover that your business is different than what you thought it would be. 

After investing over $200,000 in total to re-brand our business, we can say that to go through a process like this when you’re first getting started might be premature.

A lot of people wait to get started until they have these 4 fancy things in place, not realizing whilst these 4 things are great, they are not necessary to attract clients. The best way to discover what to write on your business card or brochure is through having conversations with potential clients and noticing what inspires you and has your potential clients say “YES!” to you.  We call these types of conversations, “Heartselling™ Conversations.” This leads us to our simple 3-Step System:

1. Have a Heartselling™ Conversation with a potential client and discover how you can help them
2. Offer your Potential Client a Free Consultation
3. At the end of the Free Consultation, invite them to sign up for a package of your services.

When I saw how easy this could be, I set a goal to get 10 clients in one month so I could quit my J-O-B. I gave about 10 Free Consultations that month, and got 5 new paying clients.  I was so fired up and confident that I couldn’t wait another day to give notice. I quit my J-O-B that month.  Shortly after that, I got 16 clients in one month.  That was when I knew I had mastered Heartselling™. That was about 11 years ago.  I haven’t looked back since! Let us know what you got from this article by leaving a comment below. And share with friends if you found this valuable.

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