Create Results in your Business

A new client comes in, and the session is great.

At least you thought so, but she doesn't book a follow up appointment with you. So, as usual, you put your energy into finding as many new clients as possible with low-cost promotions, free samples at the mall or an event happening in your town, and big signage outside your office.

Let's face it. This is a never ending cycle of despair. All this work to keep your practice booked with new clients who often don't come back after the first session is frustrating, disappointing and exhausting.

There's got to be a better way!

Thank goodness there really is a better way. It happens when you design your practice around results oriented services. These services not only benefit your clients by helping them reach their goals; they also benefit you by keeping your appointment book filled with repeat clients. This means you no longer have to spend all that time and energy at street fairs trying to attract new clients with a free sample and coupon to try your services.

Take a nice big breath and let go of that cycle of despair! You are going to find this approach liberating and exciting. It will take a little pre-planning, but it's worth every second.

So let's explore this in a little bit more depth. So what are results oriented services? This is when you offer your clients a service package or program designed to help them meet their goals.

Here are some of examples:

• Instead of your usual one hour $80 massage, you offer your clients a "Relieve your Back Pain" package of 5 sessions for $350 (normally $400).
• Instead of that deeply relaxing one hour $70 Reiki or Polarity session, you offer a "Replace Chronic Stress with Chronic Relaxation" program of 6 weekly sessions for $360 (normally $420).
• Instead of a weekly drop-in yoga class for $15, you offer a "10 Weeks to a Better Body" yoga series for $125 (normally $150).
• Instead of new clients dropping in to try various services at your wellness center, you offer an "Introductory Package" that includes admission to 2 yoga classes, a 60 minute massage and 45 minute reflexology or reiki session for $140 (normally $170).

See where I'm going with this?

Results oriented services get your appointment book filled with repeat clients who pay in advance.

How awesome is that?!

While some clients are going to stop coming in at the end of the package because they have achieved their goal successfully, others will sign up again because it makes their lives that much better.

Either way, you have some happy clients on your hands who are going to tell their friends and family about how great they feel when they work with you.

Approaching your services this way is going to get you out of that promotional cycle of despair very quickly, as it fills your pipeline with happy repeat clients and the people they refer to you. 2010 is a great opportunity to introduce some results oriented services to your clients, so see how to do it below.

Your Transformational Homework:

• Look over your notes about your special gifts, talents and skills and your unique niche. Use this information to start crafting results oriented packages or programs that will let clients experience your best work.
• Ask your current repeat clients what benefits they get from seeing you regularly and use this information to craft a special results oriented program just for people like them.
• Put together a couple of results oriented packages (no more than 2 or 3 to start) and email to your list, put up on your website or on a flyer.
• Talk about them to everyone you meet. Explain the value and invite your current and potential new clients to sign up for a program.

PS. If you find these steps valuable, and you're an emerging heart-centered entrepreneur looking for the keys to transform your business into an authentic, heart-centered, profitable business, there's a workshop for you on August 24th. If you'd like to know more about how to apply these steps to transform your own emerging business, join me at Learn the Six Steps to Success here in Beverly, MA.

Find your Niche

Does this resonate?

You are so excited and passionate about the healing benefits of your techniques or products that you often describe your business by listing all of them to anyone who will listen. You are certain in your heart that anyone and everyone will get amazing results if they would just get involved with your business, so you make sure your marketing materials are inclusive for everyone.

How is that working for you?

It's probably not working super well, and that's because it is one of the marketing mistakes that heart-centered entrepreneurs make from the heart. The truth is that we (myself included as someone who has done this) want to advertise the benefits of our business as a panacea (cure-all) for everyone because in our hearts we know our services or products can help others, and we want to help as many people as possible feel better as fast as possible. We really do. We sincerely care about everyone feeling well, and it's hard to wrap our minds around the idea that this kind of marketing does not help us attract the clients that we need to make our practice financially viable.

This is a really crucial step, so I want you to stay with me here. Please pause for a moment and take a deep breath and allow yourself to be open to this information I am going to share. If resistance comes up, don't judge yourself or this information.

Keep breathing, and keep an open mind. Ok, ready? Put down your sincere passions (but it really can help anyone!) for a few minutes and come with me to explore the kind of heart-centered marketing that will attract the clients and customers that your practice needs to float financially.

Bring to mind a product or a service that you purchased recently and think about what motivated you to invest your money in this way. It was either because you needed it to help you feel better in some way or because you wanted it to treat yourself in some way. In addition to your reason, I'm supposing that the product or service that you chose over other products and services resonated in your heart as the right product or service for you. It was right for you - that's why you purchased it. It spoke to you and you recognized that it would fulfill your need or desire.

Let that sink in for a minute.

The marketing and advertising that gets the sale is the marketing and advertising that speaks to people so clearly that they easily recognize that it will solve their problem, meet their need or fulfill their desire.

Now how does that apply to you?

Well, it's not your job to solve everyone's problems, meet everyone's needs or fulfill everyone's desires. It's your job to do what you do best, and do it for the people whose needs and problems are resolved through your best work. When you look at it that way, it's actually a relief not to have to be everything to everyone. You can just be the best you can be for the people who will appreciate it the most. Talk about fulfilling and satisfying work!

So how do you do this?

Last week's step in identifying your special skills, talents and gifts brought you part of the way to this type of resonant marketing. It helped you figure out what you do best. So now all you have to figure out is who your best work serves in the most successful way. This is called identifying your ideal client. It's honing in on the type of person who will resonate with the results you produce when you do your best work. These are the people who will become your best clients and biggest fans who rave about you to others because you give them what they need or desire so well that they can hardly believe their luck in finding you.

Once you know who you serve with your best work, you combine it with your special gifts, talents and skills to craft marketing materials that make it easy for your ideal client to recognize and resonate with how your services solve their problems, meets their needs, or fulfills their self-care desires.

Your Transformational Homework this week:

• Honestly assess your current marketing materials and the way you describe your practice to others. Have a good friend go over these with you to let you know, gently, if what you're saying hones in on a specific group of people or tries to be a panacea to everyone.
• Take some time to do a walk through of a session with you. Identify what you do that's special and what results you produce that are exceptional.
• With a picture of your best work in mind, spend some time envisioning the type of person who will benefit the most from it. Really jot down some specifics that include what she needs & how she feels when she chooses a session with you, what she values, how your exceptional results resonate for her, and how she wants to feel when she leaves.
• Write up some marketing content that speaks to your ideal client directly, and then run it by one of your current clients who fits the profile.
• Get an honest opinion about whether your words speak to her from the heart or not and tweak until they do.

PS. If you find these steps valuable, and you're an emerging heart-centered entrepreneur looking for the keys to transform your business into an authentic, heart-centered, profitable business, there's a workshop for you on August 24th. If you'd like to know more about how to apply these steps to transform your own emerging business, join me at Learn the Six Steps to Success here in Beverly, MA.