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Why Aren’t People Showing Up?

Dear Anne:

I really want to start offering programs to my clients.  I love what I do and my clients really get a lot of value from our sessions together. 

The challenge is that I don’t have a whole lot of clients and when I do offer workshops, they are either sparsely attended or I end up cancelling them, which frustrates me and makes me want to give up. 

How do I get to the point where I am successfully offering programs to my clients and people actually show up for them?

 

Dear Divine One:

I love this question!  I hear it frequently from spiritual entrepreneurs.  Why?  Because so many of them see other people offering classes and they see people attending those classes and then wonder what is wrong with them that they can’t get people to attend theirs.

Here’s the truth:

There’s nothing wrong with you.

What you may need, however, is the following: 

  • training in how to message your work. 
  • training on how to market strategically.
  • training on how to hold a sales conversation with a potential client.  

Many spiritual entrepreneurs want to leverage their time and energy by holding workshops.  And it’s a very good idea.  But whether it’s the right time for you to do workshops is another question altogether.

Building your business is like building anything.  You have to build the foundation first. 

For example, here is a picture of the beginning stages of a garden I created in 2001.  What was the first part?  Learning about gardening.  Then preparing the soil.  Then planting the plants. (And celebrating with my daughter.)  It took several years for plants to grow and mature.  Just like your business.

ChristinaSpring01

During the first several years of building your business, your job is to: 

  • get very, very clear about the work you do, the transformation you offer, and the benefits your clients get from working with you. 
  • learn how to market your business more effectively,
  • learn how to have successful sales conversations, and
  • get your income stable enough so that you can then leverage your time by offering workshops. You do this through developing your skills as you work with your clients one-on-one. 

But you don’t do workshops and teleseminar programs until your income is stable.  You don’t do them until you have enough clients. 

Because the amount of time and energy it takes to fill a workshop is greater than the amount of time and energy it takes to find another client.

But the real reason is this:  if you are struggling financially in your business and if you struggle in your sales conversations with your prospects, then one of two things is going on: 

1) either you are not very good at what you do (which I seriously doubt), or

2) you haven’t learned yet how to speak about what you do in a way that causes people to understand it and to want it. 

The latter is the far more likely scenario. 

Trying to fill a workshop before you have enough clients and stable income is like trying to put the cart before the horse and then expecting the cart to move.  It ain’t gonna happen. 

For now, let go of the idea of workshops and instead focus on building your list of clients.  Have those sales calls – you know, the ones where you have a fabulous conversation with a delightful new prospect and then they say yes to working with you.  

Don’t try to wiggle away from having sales calls just because you’re scared, or because they are difficult.  

Learn how to make them undifficult.  Learn how to have them with ease. 

The only way to do that is to … well, uh …

Just. Do. It. 

If you don’t learn how to be successful at selling yourself, you will always have the challenge of getting people to your workshops and getting them to work with you.  So start with building up your private client base first, sell them, and then sell your workshops. 

Selling is fun, intimate, and very, very sacred – not sleazy.  Your business depends on you to learn how to experience that as your truth. 

The sooner you do this, the quicker you will be able to offer those workshops again.  And fill them! 

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Now go get your Divine ON!

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How Do I Keep the Money Flowing In?

 

Dear Anne:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-senior-woman-phone-image26504974

I really want to learn how to attract more clients.  And better clients! 

My income goes up and down depending on what’s happening in my business and how much marketing I’m doing.

Sometimes, I feel very overwhelmed, because I know I’m not doing enough marketing. 

How do I get better clients (and more of them) and not be so overwhelmed while doing it? Help!

 

Dear Divine One -

This is such a challenge for so many spiritual entrepreneurs. They are so gifted and make such a difference in the lives of their clients, but their clients don’t seem to fully realize the transformations they’ve experienced … or they don’t stay long enough with you to understand what has happened to them because of your work together.

The thing is, when it comes to working with your clients, you have to understand that you have to train them. 

Seriously. 

  • Part of working with someone is helping them understand the power of your work.
  • Part of working with someone is helping them understand the transformations they’ve received.
  • Part of working with someone is helping them to see what you see.

It is unfair to them if you don’t share with them what you see they have received.  Not only is it unfair, it’s downright stingy.

Because they need to understand how your work is helping them.  If you don’t get that across to them, then they won’t fully see their results. 

And if they don’t see their results, they won’t continue to come in to see you and do the work with you.

And if they don’t continue to come in to see you, they won’t get the bigger transformation that they ache to get – the one they came to you for to begin with.

Woman In Sun

 

You see, it’s all about you standing up powerfully and claiming ownership of your incredible work. 

(Babe, if you won’t do that, then who will?)

When you claim ownership of your work and your gifts, your clients feel more secure with you. 

They understand the value you bring to them.  And they honor and respect it more deeply.

 

But…

You have to own your work. 

You have to own your gifts. 

You have to own your power.

Here are some actual steps to take that will help you do this. (This is especially true if you’re an energy therapist or healer.)

  • When your client comes in for their appointment, do an assessment of where they are, emotionally and physically.
  • Before they leave after your session, revisit that assessment and see what has changed.
  • Help them see the results of your session with them in their lives by telling them what to look for in their lives/bodies/relationships/business after they leave you, and before the next time you see them.
  • Make an appointment for the next time (or have this already systematized).
  • When they come in the next time, review the assessment with them from the previous session (briefly) and do a new assessment.

Rinse and repeat.

It is up to you to help them understand the effect your work has on them. 

Because if you don’t, they won’t get it and they won’t come back.

Money

 

By the way, your income will increase dramatically if you implement this one thing. 

 

And when you are ready to leverage your time even further, get better clients, and create even more consistent income, then it’s time to get some training on how to Create Your Divine Offer.  

Your business will never be the same.

 

 

Now go get your Divine ON!

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How Client Attractive are You?

 

Dear Anne:

stressed-business-woman-having-headacheI am so afraid I won’t be able to attract the clients I so desperately want (and need).  I have tried lots of things, and I find myself still having just a few good clients (and a few not-so-good ones, too).  I feel like I’m working hard, but things just don’t seem to be working… at least not very fast.

Can you help, please?

 

Client Attraction-Challenged

 

 

Dear Divine One -

Building a thriving business is a process – a process that begins with understanding the various pieces that make a successful business and then developing the skills within yourself to be able to put those pieces into place. 

Pieces like:

  • Your Brand
  • Your Offer
  • Your Message
  • Your Marketing Strategy
  • Your Sales
  • Your Systems
  • Your Team … and so on.

And that doesn’t even include your mindset – your confidence – or how you present yourself and your business to the world.

So what’s a Spiritual Entrepreneur to do?

Well, the first thing is this:

 

Get help.

 
Get help from someone who has been there, done that, and who understands not only the pieces that you need to put into place, but also understands how to help you put those pieces into place in your own business (and in your mind).

Then, put into place an action plan to get in front of your perfect, ideal clients.  Select from the following options, and start NOW:

1)    Put yourself out there.  Speak in front of your target market on a regular basis.

2)    Go to events that have people in your target market to network and then…

3)    Follow up with everyone.

4)    Create a monthly teleseminar or meet-up (or both!) to connect with your people;

5)    Put into place a solid social media program – connect online.

6)    Learn to speak about your business in a results- or benefits-driven way instead of talking about the process you take your clients through. (Here’s a hint: they don’t care about the process.  They just want the result!)

7)    Learn everything you can about building your business, about sales and marketing.  Learn everything you can about the work you do. 

8)    Do your inner work – clear out all the inner gunk that says you can’t do it and you don’t deserve it.  As you build a new business, you will be building a new you.  

9)    Don’t give up, tempting though it may be at times.  Dig your heels in and decide you WILL move past whatever it is that has you by the jugular today.  Period.  You will figure it out, and you WILL win!

Most of all, build your business by making a decision and sticking to that decision. 

You can move the energy that threatens to block you and hold you down by powerfully declaring to yourself and to the Universe the following:

 

I WILL create my amazing business! 

I AM figuring this out! 

I NOW draw to me the most amazing, perfect clients – clients who can pay me and who love doing so! 

 I AM the leader I came to be, right here, right now! 

 

Stand up and walk around as you say this.  Emphatically!  Powerfully!  Declaratively! 

No wussies here, ok?

You are declaring something very powerful, so say it like you mean it!

 happy-people

Then take action. 

And watch your Divine Client Attraction abilities transform!

 

 

 

Now go get your Divine ON!

 

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What the Rat in my Garage Taught Me about Marketing!

 


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As you reach out to your target market to share with them about your services, you’ll want to connect to their “pain.”  Their pain is the area in which they are struggling, and the area that you have the solution to their problem.

 

Here is a really great example of how my pain met up with a service provider’s solution … beautifully.

 

One night recently, as I was taking some trash to the garbage can which is stored in my garage, I saw a BIG rat crawling above the top of the garage door.  I hurriedly opened the garage door about a foot, and left it open for some time,  praying that the rat would run outside.

 

EEEEUUUUUWWWW!!!

 

Living in South Florida, rats are a part of the lifestyle here, and they get into people’s homes all the time.  Who can blame them?  It’s warm, safe and a great place to raise their young.  Still, this was MY home!  (My pain, right?)

 

I immediately looked on the internet about what to do, and I discovered that you have to rat-proof your home because there are myriad ways for them to get in.  I called a guy from a website, and he immediately called me back. (Score one for him!  Immediate response.)

 

He gave me more information which intensified my fears (or pain):  maybe I have rats in the attic or walls.  Listen to see if I hear scratching or movement.  Do you think I was listening that night?  HECK YEAH!  (I didn’t hear anything, but that didn’t necessarily mean that there wasn’t anything.)

 

When he came the next day, he checked our attic (nope, no rats, thank God!).  He then looked at our roof and took pictures of all the places rats could get in, and showed me how the rat had gotten into the garage.  Seriously, there was a 3/4″ x 3″ gap at the bottom of our garage door.  THAT was how it got in.

 

My pain had increased significantly!  I was so grossed out, and was now horrified that I could have a whole bunch of rats living in my garage.

 

Then, he took me through his sales process.  He could fix the places in the attic, set traps in the garage, fix the garage door gap, and just as a matter of caution, set traps in the attic – just in case.  (Score two for him!  Great service.)

 

Do you think I was ready to sign my credit card to him?  ABSOLUTELY!  While it was only $600, I would have paid more, believe me, to get out of my pain.

 

So, here’s the point:  My pain met up with his solution, and I readily – even happily – paid.  He set the traps, fixed my open areas in my roof, and now I feel MUCH safer.  (Score three for him!  Problem solved.)  My peace of mind was worth that and so much more!

 

We talked about his business, a little, too.  He said it’s pretty much recession-proof, which I can believe.  And he did all the “dirty” work.  I didn’t have to do anything.  (Score four for him!  Easy-peasy.) Was he of service to me?  Absolutely!  Will I tell all my neighbors?  Heck, yeah!

 

You see, pain is not a bad thing. And for your clients, their pain is not a bad thing.  We all go through pain of a various nature, depending upon our situations.

 

When I went looking for someone to solve my pain, I was clear that I wanted someone who specialized in this field, someone who could take care of my problem (and even tell me what my problem was, i.e., openings to my attic via the roof), and who would do it quickly.

 

When we market ourselves, we truly need to connect to someone’s specific pain, and be clear with them about our solution to it.  Once we do that, we invite them to take the next step in resolving their pain: hiring us.  If your solution meets their pain, I promise you, they will happily work with you.  Your job is to be clear about what you offer, and what your prospective client’s pain is, and then ask them for the business.

 

Score a BIG one for me!  I learned the lesson!

 

Hugs, Anne

 

 

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Got Clients?

 


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Years ago, when I began my practice, I found myself in a challenging situation.  I needed clients.  They were trickling in, but I didn’t have the level of clientelle I wanted.  So I began to do the usual marketing things: I gave talks, handed out flyers, advertised, told people what I did for a living, and so on.  But what I didn’t do (at least not right away) was to envision my practice filled with clients.

 

That was too big a step.

 

Ever hear the saying “You’ve got to walk before you can run”?  Well, this was a prime example of that.  Until I had a few more clients coming in my door, I couldn’t envision my practice filled.

 

So, I decided to begin where I was.  I started envisioning one more client per week.  When that happened, I began to envision two more clients per week.  And so on.  It worked.

 

I’m going to share some of the easy-peasy visualizations that I learned (and that worked for me) so that you, too, can bring to you more of the wonderful clients you are meant to serve.

 

Visual #1


 

This one I learned from Sanaya Roman (www.OrinDaBen.com):  Imagine you have a search light on top of your shop (practice, office, etc.).  Turn the light on, and imagine that search light going out into the world.  Imagine your clients (ideal clients now, not just any client) seeing it and finding you.  (You do NOT have to visualize HOW they find you, only that they find you.)  They will find you.

 

Visual #2


 

This one I learned from my beloved mentor, Wray Shelton:  Imagine you have a red carpet coming up to your front door.  Lay out the red carpet for your client.  Light up your red carpet.  See them coming to you, walking up that carpet..  (Again, they will, and again, you don’t have to visualize how they come to you.)

 

Visual #3

 

Another Sanaya Roman visual:  Imagine your heart filled with the Light of the Divine.  Now, see that light going out from your heart to the hearts of your new (even current, and old) clients, connecting the two of you.  See them coming to you, hear them picking up the phone and calling you and making appointments with you.  Feel the connection with them.

 

 

If you will do any of these visuals (whichever feels the most comfortable to you) or even all of them, you will begin to see your client list increase.  And not just with any clients, but with your ideal clients, with clients you are Divinely meant to serve.

 

Let me know how it works for you!


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