To make sales, you have to make offers!

Ask Me Anything, Segment 17

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In this segment of Ask Me Anything, I fill in the final piece of finding coaching clients. You have to make offers! If you don’t actually give your audience a chance to say yes and make a purchase, it’s much harder for them to say yes to working with you. This is Segment 17 of the Ask Me Anything Series.

Summary here:

In this video, I cover the importance of making offers for your coaching services and for other products or services.
It’s not enough to just have a website and hope people will visit and purchase.
After building an audience and regularly communicating to them with valuable content, you have to actually make an offer for which they can pay you.
Some offers are for a free item such as a webinar or teleseminar, however at some point you must make a paid offer in order to make money.
Takeaway: After taking the time to grow an audience and nurture your relationship with them, you have to make clear and specific offers for your coaching services.
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How to communicate with your audience

Ask Me Anything, Segment 16

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Once you start building an audience for your coaching, consulting or service business, you’ll need to communicate with them on a regular basis to build credibility and demonstrate your ability to help. This tip talks about how to communicate with your audience. This is Ask Me Anything Segment 16. Link mentioned in video: www.michelechristensen.com.

Summary here:

This is Segment 16 of the Ask Me Anything series, and it’s a continuation of segments 12-15, in which I answer the question of how to find coaching clients. You will get the most out of this video by watching segments 12-15 first. You can find all segments of Ask Me Anything here.
In previous segments, I taught how to build an audience for your business and how to attract just the right people to that audience. In this video I talk about how to communicate with that audience.
The short answer is that the best way to communicate with you audience is however they like to receive information! However, email is the go-to tool for my own business and for most of my clients.
Specifically, I am referring to building a list of people who have signed up and actively said they want to receive emails from you.
Never add someone to your email list without their clear consent. It’s annoying, it’s against the law in many countries, and it makes you look like you don’t know what you are doing.
Once you start a list, you can start establishing your credibility by delivering valuable content to them.
You will also need to make offers at regular intervals so people can actually buy from you.
With an email list, you’ll never have to try and sell your coaching services to a “cold” audience. You can keep in touch and demonstrate your worth before you ever offer something for sale.
Having a list lets you control the timing of when people hear from you, and lets you take full responsibility for making sure you stay in touch. You don’t need people to remember you and your website in order for them to see what you are offering.
Takeaway: Keep in touch with your audience regularly in a way that is appealing to them. Email is a great tool for making sure you communicate with your audience regularly.
If you liked this tip, go to www.michelechristensen.com and enter your name and email address, and I’ll send tips and strategies like this for solopreneurs right to your inbox!
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What kind of clients do you love to work with?

Ask Me Anything, Segment 14

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When building an audience for your coaching business, it’s important to focus only on attracting those people who you love to work with and who get great results from your work. In this video, I teach how to spot those people. This is Segment 14 of the Ask Me Anything Series.

Summary here:

This video goes further in answering the question “How do I get coaching clients?” It’s a continuation of Ask Me Anything Segments 12 and 13. If you haven’t read or watched those, I suggest you do before reading or watching this segment because you will get more out of it. Click here for Segment 12.
In the last segment of Ask Me Anything, I talked about building an audience of people interested in the work you do. In this segment, I help you get very focused on a specific subset of those interested people, your ideal client.
There are lots of terms you could use to describe the people you really want to work with – people use target market, niche, demographic, etc. but your ideal client is a specific subset of these terms.
I could teach an entire series on describing your ideal client, and some people do, but in this video I’ll present a short list of characteristics to think about in describing your ideal client.
Your ideal clients are the people you love to work with. For me, that is super-creative “right brain” people. I’m very concrete and linear, so working with right-brain people creates magic!
They get great results when they work with you.
They have a specific challenge that you totally geek out on! They struggle with the one thing you love to talk about.
They value you and your expertise.
They are able and willing to pay for your service.
They follow your advice and love the results they get.
The final and very important characteristic of your ideal client is that you like them! Don’t fill your practice with people you don’t like. Neither of you will get good results.
Now that you know what kind of people you are looking for, in the next segment I’ll teach you how to attract those specific people.
Takeaway: Get really specific about the kind of people you want to attract to your coaching business.
If you liked this tip, please go to www.michelechristensen.com and enter your name and email address, and I’ll send tips and strategies like this for solopreneurs right to your inbox!
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Build an audience of interested people (Ask Me Anything Segment 13)

Ask Me Anything, Segment 13

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Instead of trying to sell to people right away, focus on building an audience of people who are interested in the services you provide. That way, you can build credibility and connection before you try to sell anything. Link mentioned in the video: michelechristensen.com.

Summary here:

This video goes further into answering the question “How do I find coaching clients?” You’ll get the most of out this video if you’ve already watched Segment 12 of the Ask Me Anything series because this video expands on that one.
In the last video, I made two points to start with finding coaching clients: don’t try and sell “coaching,” instead focus on the change your work provides, and second, know who is will benefit most from your work and tailor your message to them.
Building on those first two points, before you try to sell anything, start by cultivating an audience of people who would be interested in the services you provide. The people you want to be building a relationship with are people who may at some point make a purchase if the right offer comes at the right time.
You can build your audience on social media, speaking, by building an email list or a number of other ways.
By building an audience before you begin selling, you will have time to build rapport, show that you can help and demonstrate your expertise.
Takeaway: To find coaching clients, first build an audience of people who are interested in the change your work provides. In the next few Ask Me Anything videos, I’ll show you how to do this.
If you liked this tip, please go to www.michelechristensen.com and enter your name and email address, and I’ll send tips and strategies like this for solopreneurs right to your inbox!
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Book Review – Launch by Jeff Walker

This post is a review of the book “Launch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love, and Live the Life of Your Dreams” by Jeff Walker. In short, this book is great and has everything you need to follow his launch plan. You’ve probably seen product launches using his formula and just didn’t know it. That’s the beauty of “PLF” or “Product Launch Formula” style launches – they deliver great value whether the potential customer buys or not, and can be done without hype or aggressive selling tactics.

For an investment of less than $10, you really have everything you need to launch PLF style. There are a variety of case studies in very different niches, and these case studies had me continually saying “I can totally do this!” The case studies are a great way to show you the information in the book in action, but also a way to show you how different people use the PLF for their launches.

There are several types of launches presented in the book, but one of the most useful is the Seed Launch. This is, in my opinion, the most useful because it assumes you are truly starting from scratch. You don’t need a finished product, a list or even a website. Of course if you have any or all of those things, your launch will be much easier but the Seed Launch chapter demonstrates that you don’t need any of them to launch your first product. In fact, a seed launch can help you create your first product, start your list and make some money if you need it to get your website built.

One of the errors I see business owners making in launching is thinking that if they put something for sale that somehow people will find it and want to buy it. Once you realize this isn’t true, you are left with a problem of how to let potential buyers know you have something for sale and why they might want it. If you are like most people, you don’t want to sound like too pushy or sales-y. The Product Launch Formula gives you a step by step method that overcomes all of these problems. You’ll also have plenty of time and space to say what you need to in order for people to understand your product or service.

In short, this book delivers huge value for the money and has earned a spot on my Solopreneur Reading List. Grab a copy on Amazon here.

Image of Launch Book cover from Amazon.com

Discover the hidden gold in your email list!

Today I’m sharing some wisdom on email marketing from one of my personal mentors, PJ Van Hulle! Enjoy, and be sure to check out List-a-Palooza which starts today!

You’ve probably heard that, “the fortune is in the follow up,” but if you’re like most of the 1,000’s of entrepreneurs I’ve worked with over the last 14 years, your follow up systems leave something to be desired.

Here’s why “the fortune is in the follow up,” and what that looks like…

According to my friend and online marketing expert, Vrinda Normand, in most niche markets, or the specific group of people you serve:

3% are actively shopping for what you offer

7% are aware and open to your services, but not looking

30% are not aware of their problem or your solution

30% may know you exist, but it’s not the right time

30% are simply not a fit

This means that if you’re not following up, you’re leaving behind the 67% of people that might be ready to sign up for your products or services down the road!

When you follow up consistently, you will stay in front of these people. Maybe they’re not ready now, but when they are ready, you’ll be at the top of their mind and therefore you’ll be the one they hire over someone that didn’t follow up.

Imagine how much more money you could put in your pocket just by staying in touch with those 67% of people who may need you in the future.

The easiest and most effective way to follow up and nurture those relationships is to build an e-mail list of clients and potential clients who have “opted in” and given you permission to send them e-mails.

A good rule of thumb for monetizing your list is to shoot for $1 per subscriber, per month. So if your goal is to generate $10,000 per month in income, focus on growing your e-mail list to 10,000 subscribers.

With a profitable e-mail list you can:

● Attract more clients and sales

● Turn current clients into repeat clients

● Fill your seminars and programs

● Promote other peoples’ programs that you believe in and earn $1,000′s in affiliate commissions

Building your list is like taking advantage of compound interest. The sooner you start, the better. And the longer you nurture your list, the more profitable it will be.

To quantum leap your e-mail list to the next level, I recommend participating for FREE in the List-a-Palooza 90 Day List-Building Challenge.

Register Now for FREE

PJ Van Hulle works with speakers, authors and coaches to grow their e-mail lists so that they can attract more clients and sales with less time, effort, and stress. She’s the creator of the List-a-Palooza 90 Day List-Building Challenge.

The first two things to learn when you are just starting your solopreneur business

Ask Me Anything, Segment 6

Earlier this year, I gave my email subscribers the chance to ask me anything they wanted to about their business. In this video, I share the two things that I think are important for new solopreneur business owners to focus on learning when they are just starting out. This is Segment 6, and the link I mention in the video is here: http://www.getyourlistgrowing.com

How Many Experts to Follow?

Ask Me Anything, Segment 3

Earlier this year, I gave my email subscribers the chance to ask me anything about their business. In this video, I answer a question about how many experts to be following. I’ll be answering more questions over the coming weeks and months.