Ah, those magic words - “Attract Clients”. Virtually every professional I know loves the idea of attracting clients, and would be even happier if there was a “magic formula” for accomplishing it. Well, actually there is a formula that works like magic for attracting clients to you. And I’m going to reveal it - right here, right now. (OK, to be more specific, it’ll be at the end of the article. But no cheating! You need to read through the article for the formula to make sense.)First of all, this isn’t about simply “getting” clients. It’s about attracting them to you. It is the concept of building a business without chasing prospects, dogging down purchased leads, or operating a “quote mill” - turning out quote after quote hoping to have the lowest price. Unfortunately, many professionals are either trained or take it upon themselves to uncover prospects “at arm’s length”. It seems that either intentionally or inadvertently, companies often train their team to build their business by pursuing prospects. Although many companies and managers praise the benefits of “attracting” clients, when it comes time to meet production quotas, all the methods which “pursue” clients are the ones encouraged. By the time “meeting production quotas” become an issue, drastic measures are called for.

The solution, of course, is to avoid being in that place of “catch-up” to begin with. By learning how to attract clients and by applying those methods consistently, you side-step the need to pursue clients altogether. Virtually every professional who has a sizable, growing business - characterized by high retention and a steady flow of client referrals - does it by attracting clients rather than pursuing them.

There are two key components to successfully attracting clients.

The first key is to understand that people will be attracted to you by WHO YOU ARE, rather than by WHAT YOU DO. While there will be a small group of people who will do business with you strictly based on your depth of knowledge, most people - in fact, the majority of people - will do business with you because of who you are. Having good knowledge of your products, services, and industry is important. And having strong technical skills is useful and important as well. It’s just that being knowledgeable and skillful isn’t sufficient.

The second key component in attracting clients is actually getting out, so that people get a chance to see you, know you, and be attracted to you! The reality is that when you are in your office behind your desk, prospects never get to experience you and those people skills you possess. The result? If you try to get clients from behind your desk, you end up having to pursue them. On the other hand, when you get out and allow people to interact with you, you end up attracting them.

OK, so here’s the “magic formula” I promised. The way to successfully attract clients is to improve your people skills, and get out and meet people. I know it’s a pretty simple formula, but … it works like magic.

Written by Michael Beck, “Head Zookeeper” at http://www.ClientMonkey.com , a marketing strategies website dedicated to getting more clients, making more money, and having more fun! Receive a FREE program on recruiting & prospecting success at: http://www.PowerRecruitingandProspecting.com

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The concept of digital ecosystems enabled by information technology (IT) is all the rage these days. Yet, the notion of doing business electronically across industry boundaries is certainly not new. In fact, as early as 1966, Felix Kaufman’s article “Data Systems that Cross Company Boundaries” in the Harvard Business Review urged executives to think beyond their own organizational boundaries and consider the possibilities of using IT to do business electronically. Even though the computer industry was in its infancy at the time, this vision was already being realized. An entrepreneurial sales manager at American Hospital Supply, for instance, had created a system that allowed his company to exchange order processing information with customers across telephone lines and enterprising managers at American Airlines were offering large travel agencies computerized reservation terminals to simplify the airline reservation process for key accounts. Indeed, from these entrepreneurial actions grew two legendary digital ecosystems that changed the basis of competition in their respective industries.

With few exceptions, history has shown that competitive advantage and power flowed to the firms that built and owned the technology platform and the business infrastructure that enabled firms to do business electronically at least until the technology became commoditized or governments stepped in to break up monopolies. Why? The proprietary nature of technology, the high cost of entry, and the hard-wired nature of automated processes maintained the hierarchical structure and silos of industry value chains.

Enter the Internet in the mid-1990s with its open industry standards, ubiquitous reach, and flexible, modular processes. The opportunities seemed endless. During the dot-com era, companies spoke grandly of global, non-proprietary Internet ecosystems where companies would band together with others in and even across industries to extend and consolidate their purchasing power. Indeed, at the peak of the hype in 2000, over 100 electronic marketplaces had been launched in the healthcare industry alone.

Though many of these Internet ventures attracted significant capital while it was plentiful, the inability to establish a value proposition compelling for ALL members and a business model that would generate increasing returns to investors caused many of these grand visions to fail. What can we learn from the past that helps us understand how to build successful digital ecosystems today?

Build on internal capabilities. Successful digital ecosystems build linkages to customers, suppliers, and partners as extensions of IT platforms and business processes that are used to coordinate and manage activities inside their companies. If you can’t manage it inside, don’t think you can manage it for those you do business with on the outside.

Exploit the economic value of digitization. While physical assets often lose value with use, the value of digital assets increases. Emerging open standard, on demand IT architectures and business models ensure that ALL members of a digital ecosystem can create, share, and exploit the full economic value of digital assets.

Create a winning value proposition for all. Coercion and abuse of power may hold customers, suppliers, and partners hostage for a time but they will be looking for an opportunity to switch. Trust that each member will receive benefits that exceed what they contribute is central to doing business electronically whether you are selling books to consumers or collaborating to build the most sophisticated airplane.

Penetrate quickly and leverage capabilities. Extended enterprises and networks create value by allowing all members to focus on what they do best, while also contributing to the good of the whole. Social capital increases with the size of the network and the efficiency and effectiveness with which members transact business, share information, and make decisions that create value for individuals and the community. And, as social capital increases, so too does economic value for all.

By: LyndaApplegate

Lynda M. Applegate is the Martin Marshall Professor of Business Administration. Head of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit; member of the General Management Unit; and faculty chair of four Harvard Business School Executive Education programs.

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Ever heard of the term “The One Man Band”? Well, I don’t know who this “man” is, but I can tell you that he will set you up for failure. If you look at most of the books out there on running a small business, or becoming an independent sales consultant, they’re trying to make you a master of everything. And, I think that is ridiculous. Because, if you are doing both money generating, and non-money generating business tasks, you will find that you are not mastering anything. You’re not an American Idol star, you’re really a One Man Band, a mediocre generalist, who is probably over worked. And the only beat you hear, is your head beating against the wall wondering why you can’t attract enough clients. Why do that?

I’m also seeing a major trend picking up speed in my client’s lives. Regardless of whether or not they’re doing well financially, more and more tension is popping up between their professional and personal lives. They are spending more precious business time handling non-money generating details and activities. Adults are moving from one personal crisis to the next. And, when I ask them, “So what did you do this week to build your business”, all I hear is a deep, “Sigh….”.

For a lot of self-employed professionals, things are getting a lot complicated. Longer sales cycles, clients in different time zones, global competition, never ending technological changes and vanishing trade barriers have created a new business model - the globally integrated business. The new global business model didn’t exist 20 years ago. Twenty years ago, work was a place you went to and it was defined by time lines. We knew our competitors well; frankly, we had dinner with our competitors and their kids played sports together. If they weren’t across town, they weren’t far and we could study them, speak their language and understand their moves.

And, this new way of doing business leads to frustration because on one end of the spectrum you have self-employed professionals that are loosing business to overseas competition and they are panicking; trying to save their sinking ship without a plan. On the other side of the spectrum you have businesses who are growing too fast. In either case, there is no time to plan or reflect because basically things are out of control.

So, from my experience, one of the number one reasons for businesses failing during this time in history, is because the business owners are spending time in their business, instead of working on their business. And, not knowing the distinction here, is costing you clients. Let me put it this way: spending your business hours on something that you can have done for you, for $30 - $40 per hour, just doesn’t make sense.

Look at these two activities and tell me which one makes you more money: You could be spending time building a high-trust relationship with a client and closing a sale, or waiting on hold to figure out when a late shipment will arrive. Here is another example: You could be talking to a prospect to understand their immediate needs, or you could be opening up the mail and reading it. John Dudek says it better, “Take the stuff you do great and that have the greatest impact, and do only those activities. Don’t do anything else.” Well said John.

When you finish reading this article, I need for you to make a list of the organizational tasks that you can pay someone else to do for you. Consider hiring a virtual assistant or high school student to help you recapture those non-money making hours to be strategic, speak with new clients, close more sales, make more money ‘ or whatever you’re really good at. Those hours are precious and irreplaceable. If your time is worth $80 or $8,000 an hour, it’s just plain silly to spend several hours a day doing something that you can delegate, or outsource for the equivalent of $15, $20 or $40 an hour.

My final thought to leave you with is this: every time I outsourced an activity, my income grew exponentially. I’m not just talking about an incremental increase in revenue, but a catapult to a higher profit margin. If you feel like you are becoming a human ‘doer’ instead of a human ‘being’, then you need support from a team that you can outsource work to.

About the Author

Kim Schott, your Global Client Communication Expert, is the author of the Keys to Client Communication Systemâ„¢, the step-by-step, paint by numbers client communication program to attract more clients in less time. To receive your weekly how-to articles on consistantly attracting more local and global clients in less time, visit http://www.SchottCulturalConsulting.com

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