Booked out for months! More clients than you can handle!
These are some of the promises I see on my Facebook news feed. (Don’t even get me started on the “six months to six figures” nonsense).
Can I be honest with you? I can vividly remember what it was like to be scrambling for clients and having no idea how I would even handle them once they came.
Oy…
It sucks feeling like everyone else’s businesses are soaring to roaring success while you sit behind your MacBook freaking out about how you’re going to buy basic needs like coffee and pasta that week.
On the one hand, you want clients.
And on the other hand, you have no idea how to manage having clients.
More “sales calls” doesn’t seem to be the answer when you’re running around like a chicken with your head cut off.
I have been to the land of “I have no clients, no money, and I’m freaking the F out”, my friend. Frankly, I’m still scarred from the voyage.
Though I lived in Paris and was constantly traveling, I spent most of my 20s in a full-blown poverty mindset. On top of that, I wasn’t exactly practical when I started The Rule Breaker’s Club. Rather than saving up before quitting my part-time jobs, I pretty much just up and decided to be a full-time entrepreneur before I had the revenue to support even a modest lifestyle.
Sacrifice and suffer mode is not fun. And you certainly don’t want to get into the habit of thinking that it’s normal.
My friend, I’m not ashamed to tell you that I wanted success and I wanted it bad. Like you, I’ve always known that I would “do something big” with my life. As you can imagine (or maybe experienced), this can leave you feeling a bit ashamed when you launch offerings and no one buys them.
It stings.
Before I get into the specific steps to take to launch a service and get your first 3 paying clients, I need to saturate this blog post with the following bold words:
IT TAKES YEARS TO BUILD A BUSINESS.
STOP TRYING TO SKIP STEPS.
IT TAKES AS LONG AS IT TAKES.
BE WHERE YOU ARE NOW.
DO THE WORK.
Look, I’m not saying that you can’t have a windfall of success. It’s just that I don’t want you to bank on it. I’m all about expecting the worst and preparing for the best, so let’s get into what it really takes to create a service and book your first 3 clients.
Also, if you already have a business and paying clients, there’s still an enormous amount that you can glean from this article if you aren’t booking as many slots as you’d like.
How to get clients coming to you:
These days, I rarely do much of anything to promote my signature service, Sales Page CPR. Almost every time that I have an opening, a new application seems to pop into my inbox from the perfect person.
I’ve never done a cold call in my life and I don’t believe in pouncing on people at networking events (though I do think attending events is useful). I don’t think you need to do those things either.
My clients come to me. Period.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have people begging to work with you? Don’t get me wrong, it’s still business and they’re not always begging… but I’m serious when I say that you never have to go “hunting” for clients ever again.
Not sure you are capable of having clients come to you? I didn’t think I could either. However, my service Sales Page CPR is now consistently booked out 4-8 weeks in advance. In this mega blog post, I’m going to tell you exactly how to do the same thing by analyzing how I’d launch a service like Sales Page CPR if I started my business from scratch today.
Before we get started, I recommend grabbing the monster of a workbook that I created for you to go with this post. It’s an exhaustive guide to packaging up your passions into services that will sell like hotcakes:
That said, let’s dive in:
#1 What passion and expertise are you bringing to the table?
The smartest place to start when creating a new service is with y-o-u.
With each service you create, you need to be able to answer the following questions (the workbook will help you to do this all in one place):
- WHY are you creating this service?
- No but really, WHY are you doing it?
- Based on your answer to the above questions, I have one follow-up question: “So what? Why do you care about that?”
You need to answer these questions like your life depends on it, because it does. This is your life’s work we’re talking about here. Not some silly hobby or soul-sucking job.
And then come the questions that everyone dreads yet you TOTALLY need to answer (again, the workbook will help you with this!):
- What makes you qualified to do this work / work in this industry?
- What skills are you bringing to the table?
- What experience do you have doing this particular work?
In short, you need to be both super passionate and super skilled at the thing you are doing. If you don’t have enough passion, that’s a red flag. If you don’t have enough skills, I suggest working on that. Take a course, do an internship, get a part-time job to get paid to learn the skills you need to do the work you want to do.
Then we can move on to the step that so many people skip…
#2 – Who are you trying to help with this service?
Write down the names of 2-3 people who are your perfect, ideal, target clients for your service.
If you don’t have anyone immediately in mind, you are not ready to create a service.
Businesses solve problems at a profit. In order to make a profit, you have to solve a problem. In order to solve a problem, you need to know who your target client is and what kinds of problems they have.
- Write down the names of 2-3 people you want to help with your service.
#3 – Get clear on the problem you’re solving.
You’re cute and wonderful. Everything your mother ever told you is absolutely true.
The problem? No one else cares. Their mommas totally told them the same thing. It’s a moot point.
No one cares that you have a big heart and are super talented at design, cooking, nutrition, life coaching, Instagram, web design, yoga…
Yes, you do need to figure out what you do better than anyone else. But once you’ve done that, it’s time to forget about you and think about the person who you’re trying to help.
What is the one specific problem that your service is going to solve?
- What are all of the problems that your target people have that you could help solve? (Be really freaking specific here).
Alright, so at this point you’ve figured out what you’re great at, what you love to do, who you want to help, and the problem you want to solve.
Next it’s time to…
#4 – Declare the tangible results I’ll get from working with you.
Key word: Tangible.
Things that are tangible are time, money, weight, clients, sales, list growth, conversion rates, something birthed.
Things that are tangible are things that I can see or touch or count.
Things that are NOT tangible are happiness, confidence, success. Way too vague. Not good enough.
What are the tangible things that show that the intangible things are happening?
For example: what is someone specifically being / doing / having when they are happy, confident, or successful?
A great example of this is Sarah Jenks’ “Success Stories” for her program Live More, Weigh Less. The testimonials talk about intangible things but they also have tangible outcomes attached. The tangible outcomes are the most compelling.
The best testimonials tell stories of specific things that have happened since people did the program. The intangible words are still there, but it’s the specific examples that pull you in.
What do you want your clients to be saying in their glowing testimonials about your work?
- What are the specific, tangible results someone will get from working with you?
- What will someone be, do, or have as a result of working with you?
- Why should they care about that? No really, why in the hell should anyone care?
- How can you make results more specific? Can you paint a picture of them? Do it!
#5 – Create your signature method
Now (and only now) that you’ve figured out where your target client is right now and the results they want to achieve, you can design a service to help them get there.
There are several benefits to having a signature method:
- Position yourself as an expert instantly
- Save yourself time (and take more profit)
- Stop doing the parts you don’t like doing (we’ll talk about this in #6)
When you create a signature method or formula, you instantly position yourself as an expert. It’s so much more comforting hiring a career coach who has already defined the “5 pillars of landing your dream job” than someone who says “we’ll figure it out as we go”.
So how do you develop a signature method? How do you know what features + benefits to add to your service packages? Grab the workbook for a list of ideas and recommendations:
#6 – Automate + delegate so you can be the genius
Having a signature method also allows you to systematize, automate, and delegate parts of your work that are outside your “zone of genius” as they say.
Have you ever been to a small-town coffee shop where the lattes are made differently every day?
Have you ever gotten an amazing haircut at a salon only to go back and have a completely different experience the second time?
It sucks, right? Clients love consistency. If you offered me tea the first time I came into your shop, I’m expecting you to do it the next time.
Now that you have a signature method, you need to create systems and processes to follow to make sure that things happen the same way every single time. (Psst! A great resource for this is The E Myth Revisited)
For Sales Page CPR, I have the entire process automated or delegated including:
- Sending contracts and invoices
- Checking in / following up with clients who we haven’t heard from
- Sending pre-work
- Scheduling calls
- Editing final sales page copy
- Following up for feedback / testimonials
There are always more ways you can systematize and outsource aspects of your services to free up your time.
But here’s the really cool part about having a systematized service:
Your clients will love it!
When you have a step-by-step method for getting from A-to-Z, you become consistent and dependable.
Please answer this question in the comments:
Of the 6 steps, which one are you going to focus on MOST to get your next 3 clients?
And don’t forget to grab your workbook so you can implement these strategies!
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