If you are an entrepreneur you have likely heard the term “attracting clients”, but this is not the only way to get clients to your business. There is one other really powerful way!
Method 1 – Attracting clients
The first way to get clients into your business is obviously to attract them online. How do you do that?
You give a lot of value. This is called “Permission Marketing”. They get an incentive in exchange for their email address.
If someone doesn’t know you yet, you start by offering them a freebie. Then, if they find it valuable, they are going to get interested, and this is one of the ways you create leads. Next – with a series of curated marketing activities – you can convert them into clients.
You start by attracting their attention which is a really scarce asset in today’s world. Once you have their attention, you want to create trust and authority. How do I do it ? – you may ask.
You send them a sequence of emails with even more value. It can be in a form of your live streams, webinars or articles. This is how you establish your authority. You show them yourself, your personality and your brand. With time a small percentage of people who signed up invest.
Method 2 – Creating clients
A second way is a way which is based on time. It requires you to invest yourself a little bit more personally and is called “Creating Clients”.
Creating clients is very different way from attracting. When you attract a client, you very often remove yourself from the process, it happens automatically online. Whereas when you create a client, it requires some of your effort to be actually present for the client.
It may be through an incentive such as a longer strategy session, it may be through specific meeting. A good thing that comes out of creating clients is the relationship, that you build with this person.
Online you will often see that when potential clients are attracted to you, they don’t know you at all. It takes some time to get to know you. In terms of creating clients, it can take you much less time. If you decide to try it, make sure that you’re offering a premium service and that you have pre-qualified your lead with an earlier conversation or a set of questions.
Which way is better: Attracting or Creating?
How do you attract vs. create clients?
When you are attracting clients you can use webinars, live streams, free content such as blog posts, videos or freebies.
When you are creating clients you are physically spending time with them, so they can get to know you right here, right now. Creating clients may also take another form. It is getting in touch with someone through a networking event, meeting through a shared social circle and then letting them onto your online presence. This way they can follow you for quite a while and then eventually become a client. Once they have figured out that you are the person they want to work with.
So, which way is better? Attracting or creating?
Well, I’m not going to say which way is better, because I use both successfully in my business. The difference between them is that when you create a client you get a client “for life” (or for a really long time) most of the times. If someone gets to know you on a personal level and if you can provide them a transformation throughout let’s say a free 2h strategy session. Then they are much more likely to invest. Because they know that you can create results within the first 2 hours. So, what’s going to happen when they invest in a program or in a course with you 1 on 1, that will bring them even better results.
Whereas when you’re attracting clients, first of all, the retention rate is much smaller, because some people will come for freebies only (The Freebies Hunters). Some people will come simply just because you are there and they need you right now. When they don’t need you anymore, they’ll discard you (like a used box of sweets) and move onto the next person. And that’s why you need a strategy to continuously be at the top of their minds.