At one
point, every business owner will find him or herself in a troubling situation.
Revenue is down. New clients are scarce. Profits are falling, and a peek at the
financials is enough to bring on a full-fledged anxiety attack.
Unless
you’re Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates, chances are you’ve experienced that
sinking feeling of a business that’s trending downward, too. But how you handle
it can mean the difference between continued success and business-killing
burnout.
Here’s where
a lot of business owners start to self-sabotage. They start to worry about
money, and that worry leads to poor decisions that ultimately have a negative
impact not just on finances, but—maybe more importantly—on morale, too. Or
feeling surrounded by competition and giving up the ghost. Maybe
you know what I’m talking about.
Wasting
hours of your life enduring Business Networking meetings and coming away with
nothing to show for it. Or fruitless
meeting after meeting and you dreading coming home for you partner to ask how
it went…
You Take On the Wrong Calibre Of Client
Let’s be
honest here – we might hate to admit it, but we all know there IS a difference between
low-end clients and high-end clients. In my experience, the customers who plead
poverty and haggle prices with you cause you the most grief and are the most demanding. The clients who didn’t even ask about price
are prompt, do their homework and are delightful. [Makes you wonder what kind of customer YOU
are…]
Now when money
is tight, it can be tough to keep your ideal client avatar in mind. Instead,
you jump at the chance to work with anyone who comes along. The trouble with
this scenario is you are so desperate that you pounce at the slightest whiff of
a sale. There’s an old saying that “Bad
salesmen have skinny kids” because the client can smell your desperation. That also makes you feel awkward and sleazy
in case you’re coming across like a predatory double glazing salesman from the 70’s. Then you can find yourself with a roster full
of clients who:
· Aren’t
willing or able to do the work you ask them to
· Spend all
their time telling you why your ideas and advice won’t work, or finding fault
with every detail
· Drain your
energy and make you dread your office, or cringe when their name appears on
your phone.
True story - When I wrote my first book “Ignite & Unshackle” in 2006
I had this one chap who hounded me to get one of the first copies. I mean he emailed me daily, phoned every
other day, chasing chasing chasing… for 3 weeks. As soon as the box arrived I carefully packaged
the book up in its cellophane wrapper, inserted a thank you letter and the 3
free CD’s that went with it into a padded jiffy bag and took it to the post
office, paid extra to send it recorded delivery and emailed him to say it was on
its way.
Three days later I got the book back in the mail, still in its
cellophane, with a post it note saying “I changed my mind.” But he kept the free cd’s! Jeez man if you just wanted the cd’s you
could have asked for them!
You Stop Creating
And who can
blame you? With profits down, you have to pull back. You can’t afford to spend
time and money creating new programmes or offers, so you recycle the ones
you’ve already produced.
Now, this
would be ideal if you were repurposing with a positive intent. Turning your e-book
into a group coaching course? Perfect! But that’s not what your fearful brain
is telling you.
Your fearful
self is saying, “Just re-release this same product again, so I don’t have to
have new sales copy written or record new videos.” And while this might help bring in a bit of
cash short-term, it won’t do anything for your reputation or your self-esteem.
Errr… no.
That’s no way to operate a business, but that’s just what a fear-based mind-set
can do to you. Better (much better) to make a MINDSHIFT and hold out for that
perfect client. And while you’re waiting, take what you’ve learned from your
drop in sales and create the killer product your audience is clamouring for!
That’s what
I’ve done – I’ve used the last few weeks to put together a FREE Cheatsheet and
video called “Why They Buy – How To
Attract More Paying Customers” which goes into the psychology of what makes
people buy stuff and gives you the exact criteria you need to pull in more
eager clients who are ready to buy from you.
Email me at admin@instantedge.co.uk
if you’d like a copy because it absolutely can transform your customer base if
you let it.
No more
wasting time on low probability prospects who just use up your time or suck you
dry. These 7 factors will get you more
yes’s, make selling feel more like helping and fill you with confidence knowing you’re helping
your ideal clients solve problems which they gladly pay you for.
