Rough-Rons
Hi, my name is Ron, a.k.a. Rough Ron, and I'm a recovering infoholic. And yes, Refer-On does sound like Rough-Ron. Cheeky buggers...
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Contributors
Philip Stanley
Marilyn Jeanne
James Harris
Improving Client Acquisition - a workshop
Client or customer acquisition is the one thing all businesses want, but it is an activity that comes with some heavy caveats regarding the cost of finding the right clients or customers. At what price, with what effort?
At our regular Refer-On meeting at Amersham on 6th September 2011, we ran an an exercise to look at the methods the local businesses around the table use to find and develop clients. We rated those methods, based on effectiveness, effort and cost of their contribution to the total marketing effort we usually put in.
Now, this is no MORI poll, but it was a collection of opinion, gut feel and practical comparative results, with individual extremes of experience tempered by the shared common-sense of the group.
And the results were very interesting, especially if you're looking at pushing a drive on finding new customers yourself and want to get the best bang for buck.
Comments to this would be:
- That the bigger value approaches ALL have a strong personal element within them BUT are also in more common usage than some mid-rated elements, so would be expected to produce more client sign-ups.
- Some internet marketers results within their local marketing would seem to support the same balance of effort.
- If you are already invested in these bigger value approaches, the message would be do more or/and/then supplement with the mid-range activities.
Why you're getting nowhere fast
A whole two years ago internet marketer Andy Jenkins published a very popular post, part of which I often suggest people refer to whenever they want to check how much time they're wasting learning stuff they should really leave well alone.
Of course, being a coach for local businesses I have no option but to embrace the stuff that 9 out of 10 business owners prefer to ignore, so that I can advise exactly what er, um, they can safely ignore... You'll see what I mean in a minute.
Mind-Map of Ultimate Woe
So here is Andy's blog posting of September 2009, http://www.andyjenkinsblog.com/2009/09/04/oh-hai-i-mind-mapped-ur-biznezz/ originally used as a teaser piece for a webinar it is going to bounce you to a defunct sales page. SO here's the PDF of his Mind-Map of Ultimate Woe, with a link to his blog inside the pdf http://andyjenkinsblogmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/MindMapofUltimateWoe.pdf.
My comment? Well, clearly it details elements of working and promoting on line and is aimed at information product businesses (courses, training, memberships, product creation, video sales pages, special interest blogs, etc.) rather than the predominately service businesses within Refer-On and the local infrastructure.
But, when some seminar junkie starts going on about passive income then at the very least, it gives an impassive wake-up call on why you're likely to be massively active and feeling overwhelmed, under-resourced and should (probably) get some help on your journey to the beach and your 4-hour week.
Of course, you could put more of your effort into getting more clients if you weren't spending so much time learning this stuff in quite so much detail...
Monstrous Objections
Of course, to keep the wolf from the door small businesses need clients and customers, but that means they must overcome fears, objections, ignorance and many other monsters and devils that sit on the shoulders of prospects whispering into their ears... which is why a silver bullet or two comes in handy.
With so much of the larger value acquisition activities being personal, we spoke about scripts in connection with following up on calls, networking etc. and how EVERYBODY tells you that you should handle objections etc. but NOBODY explains how.
Eric Dombach's silver bullets
Eric is a coach who markets to other coaches on how to improve their business, who posted http://blog.mycoachescoach.com/bid/43063/Business-Coaching-Tips-How-to-Explain-Your-Value-As-a-Business-Coach-so-that-Prospects-Cut-You-Checks-On-the-Spot. Because the original link given in the article is broken, I've built a mind map from Eric's original sheet.
Now, considering that the business coach's view is essentially moving from high-level to detailed action on other people's businesses, you may find the content in this immediately useful in defining some possible action points to talk over.
So? what are you waiting for.. read and act, pick up the phone, now that you know what to ask about... ...Oops. Sorry about that, mind wandered, slipped into client acquisition mode for a second. What were we talking abou... Oh, yes, client acquisition.
Right, this is what you do:
Produce your own version of Eric's silver bullet cheat sheet for moving your prospects to customers based around common things you hear and need to address; you'll be making what you do and the benefits you provide crystal clear for your audience.
Don't wait until it is perfect, just print it out, and stick in front of your desk. That way you'll be obliged to change it and make it better as you pick up new knowledge and you'll be able to use it as the backbone of your service offering.
Workshop results
I'm hoping the workshops have been useful in identifying where best to place your effort for client acquisition, given you confidence that your effort is in line with current thinking, and removed some of the self-doubt and isolation small business owners and their representatives often face when asking themselves am I doing the right thing(s).
Your peers are doing the same things, with similar results, and there is great opportunity for improvement and adding worthwhile activity.
Take heart in the fact that a strong differentiation in your business is almost certainly yourself, and I hope that these tools and resources will help you to assess what you are doing, so you can change the balance of your own effort to activities which strengthen and support rather than dissipate and diminish.
Those at the first meeting felt the full shock of Andy Jenkins Mind Map of Ultimate Woe accompanied by my nicking Eric and Ernie's material for a misquote about how we're often doing all the right things, but not necessarily, in the right order...
Here's the beautiful original with Andre Previn, 40 years on:
Amersham Refer-On Workshops
Workshop sessions set over two weeks is a format that I hope as Amersham Hub Manager makes the value of your Refer-On membership worth the commitment to an early morning start, participation and of course, the fee.
If you're reading this and aren't a member of Refer-On, then ask yourself why..
Philip Stanley
Amersham Hub Manager
Refer-On
tel: 08450 178767
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by Philip Stanley
