Will You Add?
#1 in Business Subscribe Email Print

You are here: Home > Business > Marketing > Top 10 Reasons You Don't Have Any Clients (And How to Change That)

Tags

  • wonders
  • diligence
  • choices about
  • vivid detail
  • business building

  • Links

  • 10 Sure Fire Self Esteem And Self Improvement Tips
  • Women Entreprenueurs
  • Imagine This!
  • Will You Add? - Top 10 Reasons You Don't Have Any Clients (And How to Change That)

    2007 Thoughts on Starting Your Own Auto Detail Shop
    Starting your own Auto Detailing Shop can be an exciting entrepreneurial endeavor and an awesome small business adventure, which can become part of your American dream. Of course before you start you will wish to learn the basics and want to get experienced detailing cars. This book is not concentrated on the fundamentals of auto detailing procedures or; How to Detail Cars, rather it is focused on the marketing, strategic planning and developing of business plans to succeed in the marketing place.You see, Auto Detailing is a business and there are expenses, employees and customer service to deal with. Many auto detailers who are the top of the game as Auto Detail Artists and have skills, which are truly unbelievable, do not make the money they should, due to their lack of business acumen and experience. Of course over time they develop the business skills, but in the mean time they are involved in an uphill battle. This article therefore is available to give assistance in the business building phases to insure success.Will this article guarantee success? No, not in itself, although it will help the hard-chargers with strength of character and give them some more tools to use in moving the ball down the field in the market place. In this article I want you to discuss the differences between wholesale auto detailing for car dealerships, rent-a-car companies and fleets of vehicles; with personal retail detailing. You might also learn the definitions of Express Detailing and ho
    r more specifically, what benefit they will receive as a result of working with you. What that means is that you need to...

    Solution #3: Create an absolutely killer "elevator" speech. An elevator speech is a short sentence that distills the value of your services and benefit your clients get when working with you. It answers the question "what do you do?" which is really "what CAN you do for ME?" Add your name, your title if you want, and you've got a great introduction. To create your own killer elevator speech, download my Killer Elevator Speech tool.

    Reason #4: You don't have the support you need to get where you want to go. Doing all this on your own is more than tough--it's overwhelming! Having a group of people PLUS one partner or buddy who are/is familiar with and supportive of your goals enough to offer regular support, ideas, and feedback helps keep your energy and momentum up, and provides you with the strength you might need when the going gets tough. Doing it all alone doesn't make

    Career Coaching Finds Your Motivation When You Can't
    Sure, we've all had those days. You head for work in a foul mood, dreading another eight hours of monotony and tedium. There's nowhere to go within the company and your boss is no help, so you fight the urge to tell off your manager and quit on the spot, just like in that old Johnny Paycheck song.Ever wonder, however, if it's not the job, but your perspective?For many people, getting stuck in a rut on their career path is a common occurrence. Lacking goals, motivation, or an ability to shake loose the ties that bind them, many workers simply play out the same routine day in and day out, living a life that includes a career that leaves them unfulfilled and wanting for more.Whether you're one of those people, or just know someone like that, it may help to know that "stuck-in-a-rut" behavior is so common that an entire career field has grown by leaps and bounds in response to a perceived need to help people find the motivation to move on to bigger and better things. Building on the popularity of life coaching, career coaching is an increasingly popular way to help people dig themselves out of a career hole.Setting the bar Career coaching isn't therapy, nor is it hiring a professional referee to navigate you through the trials and tribulations of your daily workplace. Career coaches are professional motivators, people who help you to identify your strengths, skills, and values, and to define your career goals and professional aspirations.Many of us rec
    Go ahead and blame the economy if you want to, but if you truly want to know why you don't have any clients, I'm happy to tell you (and even happier to tell you what to do about it). Or perhaps you're thinking that if only you had more of a budget for advertising, you'd be in the money?

    Let's be honest: Stupider people with less to offer the world than you have made successes of their small businesses, so if you don't have any clients, what needs "fixing" is you, your attitudes or your behaviors, not your ad budget. But don't worry! I'm not one of those "think yourself to success" people; I believe that doing, even a little, is better (and more effective) than sitting around just wishing.

    So if you really want to know why you don't have any clients, take a look at this list to see if anything sounds (uncomfortably) familiar, and then start thinking about what you can do about it:

    Reason #1: You haven't got a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. Before you start sputtering that indeed you DO have a clear vision, riddle me this: How many clients do you have in your vision? What hours do you work? What problems do you help your clients solve? How did you get these clients? What does success look like to you? Is it a number of clients, an income level, or something else? Well? If you don't know the details, you haven't got the vision, so what you need to do is...

    Solution #1: Create a vision of success for yourself (and by create, I mean write it down!). Be as specific as possible. One of the easiest and most compelling ways to do this is to choose a day in the near future (say six to twelve months from now), and describe in vivid detail what's going on in your business and life. Frame the statement in the present tense as if it were already true, using these questions as a guide: What day is it? What time is it? Where are you? What are you doing? What specific goals did you reach? What happened as a result of reaching those goals? How do you feel?

    Just remember to ground your vision in reality. If you haven't got a single client, please don't sabotage yourself by envisioning a multi-million-dollar business within six months. Make it real, make it reasonable, and make it worth your while to achieve. See it, feel it, and then go for it!

    Reason #2: You haven't got a written plan. How will you know if you're on the right track if you have only a fuzzy idea of where you're going? Once you've written it all down, you can start making choices about how to spend your time and energy to get what you want. But until you do that, you're just stumbling around in the dark, and any successes you may have are pure dumb luck. So unless you're feeling very lucky, if you want to make a success of your small business, you must...

    Solution #2: Document your plans. Don't tell me that you're keeping it all in your head; that's just an excuse for not doing your due diligence, and you know it. Write it ALL down, including what service(s) you offer, who needs it, what packages you've got, how you plan to market your business, what your goals are (in terms of both income and number of clients or whatever makes sense for your business), when you're going to do whatever it is you do to market your business, and so on. If you need some help, take a look at my web site for an easy and very basic marketing plan, or if that's too overwhelming, then start by answering my Top 10 Marketing Questions. You CAN do it, and you'll thank me for it, I promise!

    Reason #3: You don't (or can't) clearly articulate your value to your clients. Can you distill the essence of your value to a particular and specific customer base in seven to nine words? I can, and let me tell you, it works wonders! Let me be blunt: Nobody cares about your title (coach, consultant, king of the world), your process (facilitating, coaching, teaching, empowering), or your education (CC, MBA, PhD, Harvard or Hogwart's School of Witchcraft & Wizardry). All your clients truly care about is what you can do for them, or more specifically, what benefit they will receive as a result of working with you. What that means is that you need to...

    Solution #3: Create an absolutely killer "elevator" speech. An elevator speech is a short sentence that distills the value of your services and benefit your clients get when working with you. It answers the question "what do you do?" which is really "what CAN you do for ME?" Add your name, your title if you want, and you've got a great introduction. To create your own killer elevator speech, download my Killer Elevator Speech tool.

    Reason #4: You don't have the support you need to get where you want to go. Doing all this on your own is more than tough--it's overwhelming! Having a group of people PLUS one partner or buddy who are/is familiar with and supportive of your goals enough to offer regular support, ideas, and feedback helps keep your energy and momentum up, and provides you with the strength you might need when the going gets tough. Doing it all alone doesn't make

    Where's Me Pot of Gold and Lucky Charms?
    We already know this from our history books. If you want to make money today, you must first look back in time to the first time in history that a large portion of our country all tried to get rich at the same time in the same place. The first discovery of gold was at Sutter's Mill by James W. Marshall in 1948, Mr. Sutter's mill contractor and builder. This discovery sprang thousands upon thousands of ambitious individuals to get rich which we refer to as the "Gold Rush."As you can imagine, these people were not that much different from the thousands of new entrepreneurs trying to get rich on the Internet. But out of all those thousands of people seeking their fortunes, only about 4% to 6% of them even found enough gold to feed themselves. And history books tell us that less than 1% ever became wealthy. This is so similar to the Internet of today that the two are worth comparing.BUT Wait! A completely different group of people became extremely wealthy in those exact same gold fields...Who were these people who managed to get rich during those hard times?They were the people who opened little stores not far from where all the people were digging and panning for gold! These people were the smartest group because they chose to sell the tools that they knew all those gold diggers were going to need. This special group of individuals some how knew that it was a waste of time to dig and pan for gold. This amazing group of people wanted something with better odds. Th
    ndeed you DO have a clear vision, riddle me this: How many clients do you have in your vision? What hours do you work? What problems do you help your clients solve? How did you get these clients? What does success look like to you? Is it a number of clients, an income level, or something else? Well? If you don't know the details, you haven't got the vision, so what you need to do is...

    Solution #1: Create a vision of success for yourself (and by create, I mean write it down!). Be as specific as possible. One of the easiest and most compelling ways to do this is to choose a day in the near future (say six to twelve months from now), and describe in vivid detail what's going on in your business and life. Frame the statement in the present tense as if it were already true, using these questions as a guide: What day is it? What time is it? Where are you? What are you doing? What specific goals did you reach? What happened as a result of reaching those goals? How do you feel?

    Just remember to ground your vision in reality. If you haven't got a single client, please don't sabotage yourself by envisioning a multi-million-dollar business within six months. Make it real, make it reasonable, and make it worth your while to achieve. See it, feel it, and then go for it!

    Reason #2: You haven't got a written plan. How will you know if you're on the right track if you have only a fuzzy idea of where you're going? Once you've written it all down, you can start making choices about how to spend your time and energy to get what you want. But until you do that, you're just stumbling around in the dark, and any successes you may have are pure dumb luck. So unless you're feeling very lucky, if you want to make a success of your small business, you must...

    Solution #2: Document your plans. Don't tell me that you're keeping it all in your head; that's just an excuse for not doing your due diligence, and you know it. Write it ALL down, including what service(s) you offer, who needs it, what packages you've got, how you plan to market your business, what your goals are (in terms of both income and number of clients or whatever makes sense for your business), when you're going to do whatever it is you do to market your business, and so on. If you need some help, take a look at my web site for an easy and very basic marketing plan, or if that's too overwhelming, then start by answering my Top 10 Marketing Questions. You CAN do it, and you'll thank me for it, I promise!

    Reason #3: You don't (or can't) clearly articulate your value to your clients. Can you distill the essence of your value to a particular and specific customer base in seven to nine words? I can, and let me tell you, it works wonders! Let me be blunt: Nobody cares about your title (coach, consultant, king of the world), your process (facilitating, coaching, teaching, empowering), or your education (CC, MBA, PhD, Harvard or Hogwart's School of Witchcraft & Wizardry). All your clients truly care about is what you can do for them, or more specifically, what benefit they will receive as a result of working with you. What that means is that you need to...

    Solution #3: Create an absolutely killer "elevator" speech. An elevator speech is a short sentence that distills the value of your services and benefit your clients get when working with you. It answers the question "what do you do?" which is really "what CAN you do for ME?" Add your name, your title if you want, and you've got a great introduction. To create your own killer elevator speech, download my Killer Elevator Speech tool.

    Reason #4: You don't have the support you need to get where you want to go. Doing all this on your own is more than tough--it's overwhelming! Having a group of people PLUS one partner or buddy who are/is familiar with and supportive of your goals enough to offer regular support, ideas, and feedback helps keep your energy and momentum up, and provides you with the strength you might need when the going gets tough. Doing it all alone doesn't make

    Napoleon and Alexander the Great Are Innovative Role Models Even Today
    During the 18th century the royal courts of Europe were starved for exciting and fresh entertainment formats. The staid choral recital, piano concerto, plays and opera had been standard fare in all of the great palaces for centuries. Each court strove to offer something more modern, more cutting edge and contemporary.In 1769 the Empress of Austria, Maria Therese invited a member of her entourage named Baron Wolfgang Von Kempelen to attend a conjuring show. Conjuring was a form of the emerging art of magic presentations. After the show was completed, Baron Von Kempelen announced loudly that the show was boring and he could do better.The Empress took the Baron up on his declaration. She issued a challenge, which the Baron accepted, to return in six months with a completely new show. The Baron began to assemble the program that would, for 85 years, beguile and amaze audiences in Europe, America and South America.The unveiling of “the Turk”, a mechanical chess playing robot, created an immediate sensation. A wooden man dressed in turban and Oriental garb was seated behind a square box with an ornate chessboard affixed to the top. Von Kempelen rotated the box, opening the doors on each side, revealing a complex series of gears, bearings and clock-like movements very intricately crafted. Turning a giant key, he would activate the mechanism and the Turk was ready to play. The Baron chose an ardent chess-playing member of the court as the Turk’s first opponent. The Turk play
    to ground your vision in reality. If you haven't got a single client, please don't sabotage yourself by envisioning a multi-million-dollar business within six months. Make it real, make it reasonable, and make it worth your while to achieve. See it, feel it, and then go for it!

    Reason #2: You haven't got a written plan. How will you know if you're on the right track if you have only a fuzzy idea of where you're going? Once you've written it all down, you can start making choices about how to spend your time and energy to get what you want. But until you do that, you're just stumbling around in the dark, and any successes you may have are pure dumb luck. So unless you're feeling very lucky, if you want to make a success of your small business, you must...

    Solution #2: Document your plans. Don't tell me that you're keeping it all in your head; that's just an excuse for not doing your due diligence, and you know it. Write it ALL down, including what service(s) you offer, who needs it, what packages you've got, how you plan to market your business, what your goals are (in terms of both income and number of clients or whatever makes sense for your business), when you're going to do whatever it is you do to market your business, and so on. If you need some help, take a look at my web site for an easy and very basic marketing plan, or if that's too overwhelming, then start by answering my Top 10 Marketing Questions. You CAN do it, and you'll thank me for it, I promise!

    Reason #3: You don't (or can't) clearly articulate your value to your clients. Can you distill the essence of your value to a particular and specific customer base in seven to nine words? I can, and let me tell you, it works wonders! Let me be blunt: Nobody cares about your title (coach, consultant, king of the world), your process (facilitating, coaching, teaching, empowering), or your education (CC, MBA, PhD, Harvard or Hogwart's School of Witchcraft & Wizardry). All your clients truly care about is what you can do for them, or more specifically, what benefit they will receive as a result of working with you. What that means is that you need to...

    Solution #3: Create an absolutely killer "elevator" speech. An elevator speech is a short sentence that distills the value of your services and benefit your clients get when working with you. It answers the question "what do you do?" which is really "what CAN you do for ME?" Add your name, your title if you want, and you've got a great introduction. To create your own killer elevator speech, download my Killer Elevator Speech tool.

    Reason #4: You don't have the support you need to get where you want to go. Doing all this on your own is more than tough--it's overwhelming! Having a group of people PLUS one partner or buddy who are/is familiar with and supportive of your goals enough to offer regular support, ideas, and feedback helps keep your energy and momentum up, and provides you with the strength you might need when the going gets tough. Doing it all alone doesn't make

    Drop Shipping: The Quickest Way to Open Your Online Store
    Drop shipping is an industry that is proving to be considerably successful for businesspersons. For those who do not know what drop shipping is, it is a term used in business that refers to a condition where the seller assigns a retail price for an item, then collects the payment and sends the wholesale cost to the drop shipper, who in turn ships the item directly from the warehouse. The drop shipper takes care of every facet of shipping due to which the seller doesn’t even have to handle the merchandise also.Although this industry has become very flourishing, yet there are some worries that crop up from this manner of selling. The below given 10 points have been compiled in order to make you familiar with some of the problems of this industry as well as provide you with some helpful advice.Tip 1: The drop shipper’s reputation should be checked out with the Better Business Bureau of the area. You need to find for how long they have been in business. Whether any consumer complaint has been filed against the company and if so, has it been resolved or not. All these information can be found at http://www.BBB.org.Tip 2: Ask the drop shipper how soon will they be able to complete and dispatch the order. Don’t forget to inquire about the tracking number. This number is very essential because using it, you will be able to track the purchase and make sure whether it was shipped or not. If at all a customer doesn’t receive a product, you will be answerable to th
    ges you've got, how you plan to market your business, what your goals are (in terms of both income and number of clients or whatever makes sense for your business), when you're going to do whatever it is you do to market your business, and so on. If you need some help, take a look at my web site for an easy and very basic marketing plan, or if that's too overwhelming, then start by answering my Top 10 Marketing Questions. You CAN do it, and you'll thank me for it, I promise!

    Reason #3: You don't (or can't) clearly articulate your value to your clients. Can you distill the essence of your value to a particular and specific customer base in seven to nine words? I can, and let me tell you, it works wonders! Let me be blunt: Nobody cares about your title (coach, consultant, king of the world), your process (facilitating, coaching, teaching, empowering), or your education (CC, MBA, PhD, Harvard or Hogwart's School of Witchcraft & Wizardry). All your clients truly care about is what you can do for them, or more specifically, what benefit they will receive as a result of working with you. What that means is that you need to...

    Solution #3: Create an absolutely killer "elevator" speech. An elevator speech is a short sentence that distills the value of your services and benefit your clients get when working with you. It answers the question "what do you do?" which is really "what CAN you do for ME?" Add your name, your title if you want, and you've got a great introduction. To create your own killer elevator speech, download my Killer Elevator Speech tool.

    Reason #4: You don't have the support you need to get where you want to go. Doing all this on your own is more than tough--it's overwhelming! Having a group of people PLUS one partner or buddy who are/is familiar with and supportive of your goals enough to offer regular support, ideas, and feedback helps keep your energy and momentum up, and provides you with the strength you might need when the going gets tough. Doing it all alone doesn't make

    Herding Cats: Managing Creative Types in a Corporate Environment
    The conventional image of a corporate employee is highly structured, organized, logical, and left-brained. So what do you do as a manager when your most creative people are right-brained, messy, disorganized, and intuitive?It does seem sometimes that certain departments in a company are more prone to artistic, intuitive types than others. The art department of a magazine, for instance, or a company's graphic design department seems to attract very talented people who thrive on chaos. But any department can end up with a creative type-the guy with the messy desk in the corner, the woman who can't seem to prioritize well-the misfit.So what do you do? If your inclination is to fire or transfer the individual, or to try to impose a rigid structure on him or her, you might be making a big mistake. That messy desk and lack of organization might hide enormous creativity and insight.One technique for getting the best out of creative people is to brainstorm ideas with them; you'll probably end up with more ideas, a surprising number of them good, than you'll be able to use in your lifetime. Gather all the ideas you can mine from these individuals, and then rein them in gently. If someone gives you ten ideas, pick one or two or three that are manageable and tell your worker to focus on them. Then review the result and brainstorm ways of refining the process. You'll get ten ideas; edit them down to two or three. Continue t
    r more specifically, what benefit they will receive as a result of working with you. What that means is that you need to...

    Solution #3: Create an absolutely killer "elevator" speech. An elevator speech is a short sentence that distills the value of your services and benefit your clients get when working with you. It answers the question "what do you do?" which is really "what CAN you do for ME?" Add your name, your title if you want, and you've got a great introduction. To create your own killer elevator speech, download my Killer Elevator Speech tool.

    Reason #4: You don't have the support you need to get where you want to go. Doing all this on your own is more than tough--it's overwhelming! Having a group of people PLUS one partner or buddy who are/is familiar with and supportive of your goals enough to offer regular support, ideas, and feedback helps keep your energy and momentum up, and provides you with the strength you might need when the going gets tough. Doing it all alone doesn't make you a hero, so why don't you...

    Solution #4: Get a coach, and join or create a group of people who are in the same situation (building a business) as you. You've got tons of options here; either join an existing group, or start your own. You can work with a coach, or find a buddy who will provide reciprocal coaching. Not many rules to this solution, except that the support must be consistent and regular (ideally, every week for the first six months of your start up or business building process).

    Reason #5: You don't truly believe you can do it, so you're not "ready" for clients. If you feel that you're not really ready, you're not, so stop whining and go back to sitting on the sidelines. But unless you're practicing a trade that requires a specific license that you haven't got, chances are that there are people out there who are willing to accept your level of expertise, no matter how new you are to the business. And the best way to get experience is by doing. So quit making excuses, and find those people! You may have to...

    Solution #5: Work for free. If you're truly so insecure that you feel shy about charging for your services, offer to perform your services for free until you've got some experience, positive feedback and confidence. And don't stop with one or two free clients; get as many as you can. Just one caveat: Set a limit on the free deal, either in number of hours or weeks/months of service. If you've provided adequate value, at least some of your free clients will turn into paying clients, and you'll have proven your value to yourself.

    Reason #6: You're not focused on your goals and doing the work. Maybe you've got your vision and plans documented, but you haven't looked at them in weeks (months?) and you don't recall off the top of your head exactly what your marketing tactics are. This is not good (but you knew that, right)? What you need to do is...

    Solution #6: Focus and act! Constant attention to your goals helps keep your eyes on the prize and the finish line in view. Remember, the greatest threat to progress is inertia. Keep your goals visible (in a notebook on your desk, posted by your computer, etc.) and do at least one task that is designed to move you toward your goal (this would be one of your marketing tactics) every day (yes, I really mean every day!), not just when you feel like it. Your progress may be slow, but the good news is that a slow and steady accumulation of small tasks will eventually get you where you want to be.

    Reason #7: You don't know who your best client would be. If you're still stuck in that rookie trap of thinking that "everyone in the world" would want your service, it's time for a dose of reality. The bottom line is that if you can't identify the person who would benefit the most from your service, then you may never get a clientele worth having. The best cure for that is to...

    Solution #7: Create a profile of your best client. Start by asking yourself this question: Who would benefit most from my services, and why? You want to know the age, gender, income level, interests and other defining characteristics so that you can find and speak directly to that person in your marketing efforts. If you've got a good idea who your best client is, but you're not sure, then interview a dozen or so people who fit the profile you've developed, and find out from them what their greatest concerns and needs are regarding your product or service. If you still haven't got enough information, then keep asking questions until you get some answers, or consider working with a coach or buddy to tease out the information.

    Reason #8: You've tried a bunch of things, but nothing seems to work. Maybe you tried a postcard, but that didn't work as well as you had hoped. Or you put up a web site, but nobody's visiting, or if they are, they're not calling you. Or perhaps you ran an ad once, but nothing much came of it. Knock knock! Who's there? Reality calling! You're not handing out free $100 bills, you're marketing, so that means you'

    HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
    <a href="http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/25242/atriclecheck-Top-10-Reasons-You-Dont-Have-Any-Clients-And-How-to-Change-That.html">Top 10 Reasons You Don't Have Any Clients (And How to Change That)</a>

    BB link (for phorums):
    [url=http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/25242/atriclecheck-Top-10-Reasons-You-Dont-Have-Any-Clients-And-How-to-Change-That.html]Top 10 Reasons You Don't Have Any Clients (And How to Change That)[/url]

    Related Articles:

    How Not To Get Your Site Banned By The Search Engines

    Rain Checks and Rain Dates for Car Wash Fundraisers

    Craftsmanship: the Meaning of Life

    Bookmark it: del.icio.us digg.com reddit.com netvouz.com google.com yahoo.com technorati.com furl.net bloglines.com socialdust.com ma.gnolia.com newsvine.com slashdot.org simpy.com shadows.com blinklist.com