A Fast Way to Find Clients

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 by: Suzanne Falter-Barns

So you’ve gotten the training certification, made up your
business cards, and started your web site. You’ve discovered your
niche, and you have been marketing – aggressively even!

But still, no one’s exactly beating a path to your door. Kind of make you wonder what you’re doing wrong.

Chances are you’re doing everything right. The only thing
that may be missing is a broader chance for the public to really get a
taste of which you are. You need to build relationships with these
folks. Yet, how can you do that without actually coaching them first?

Enter the big solution: workshops.

Holding workshops targeted to your niche is an excellent
way to give your larger audience a real taste of what you do. The full
3-hour, or full-day format of a workshop gives your audience a chance
to sit back and observe you at work. Not only that, if you’ve shaped
your workshop to fit your niche, you’ll find yourself with an excellent
database of interested potential clients. You’ll also be able to test
the drawing power of your niche quite graphically, and learn the most
effective ways to reach these folks. One psychotherapist I know In New
York City built a thriving practice simply by leading three workshops
about Jung and dream analysis.

An added perk: when you lead workshops, you get all
kinds of terrific stories you can use in future articles, books, and
speaking gigs. Three best-selling self-help authors I know actually
lead workshops for this reason alone.

That said, there are a few key things that must be in place to turn your workshop the client magnet that it can be.

1. Give yourself and your workshop a brand name. Some of
the most successful I know of are “The Ezine Queen”, “The Comfort
Queen”, “Marketing Shaper”, “The Publicity Hound”, “Authentic
Promotion”, and “The Grok”. These are ownable, distinctive names that
let people know exactly who you are … (well, maybe not The Grok.) One
thing’s for sure… these folks, especially the Grok, are not easily
forgotten.

2. Teach with your heart on the line. The teacher who
cares the most wins … so come prepared, give it your all, and don’t say
good-bye until literally everyone in the group has had some kind of
breakthrough.

3. Hand out plenty of handouts. Class notes, additional
resources, your own articles, forms, great quotations, etc., are
essential marketing tools. Every one of them should have all of your
contact information on them, including your brand name, email, website,
all phone numbers, and fax. Put them in a snappy folder with a sticker
on the cover that bears, yes… your brand name … and website. Then
staple your business card to the inside of the folder. And be sure to
include a well done one-sheet or brochure about your coaching services.

4. Give away a free coaching session during the break.
Simply pass around a hat or jar to collect business cards as folks come
in (they can also substitute name and email on paper.) Then draw your
winner just before the break, which gives you the opportunity to give
your coaching a discreet plug. This technique is especially helpful if
you’re doing your workshop in a venue where you have not done
registered the class, and you lack contact info for the group. That
nice jar of business cards gives you fodder for your database.

5. Don’t oversell your coaching. Just mention it a few
times lightly, and let the truly interested approach you. Better yet,
instead of selling it, tell some stories (protecting confidentiality,
of course) from your practice that demonstrate what you do. That gives
you the power of attraction, as opposed to the stink of the hard sell.
If you do your job effectively, they will come.

6. Stress the importance of getting support at some
point in your presentation. Support is one thing that most people
really deny themselves, yet that is so critical to success. And what
better support is there than coaching? Seed it lightly but firmly in
your talk.

7. Continue to do your workshop in any appropriate
market. Nothing builds a base of clients like consistently getting out
there. Your name gets heard, and your brand registers each time it
does. You can travel locally or globally with this. But make a point of
researching different markets to find your perfect group. I do this by
seeing where other comparable workshop leaders are doing their thing,
and I observe how they market themselves to these groups. Then I set up
comparable tours.

For more information about how to create, book, fill and lead your own workshops, go to http://www.howmuchjoy.com/tangfacil.html

Copyright 2004 Suzanne Falter-Barns

About the Author

Suzanne Falter-Barns free ezine, The Joy Letter, brings you a crisp, fresh burst of inspiration for your dream every week or two. Sign up at http://www.howmuchjoy.com/joyletter.html

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