Newsletter Archive – April 2008

How To Pick Your Clients

Published April, 2008

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1.   Featured Article: How to Pick Your Clients
2.   Born to Read Book Club with convenient Amazon.ca links: Step Into The Spotlight by Tsufit and Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore.
3.   Think about this Question. How do you pick YOUR clients?
4.   Read My Blog called Marketing to Small Business–I NOW WRITE 3 TIMES A WEEK! - at http://www.trudyvanbuskirk.typepad.com

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TRUDY’S NOTE

Hi There

Yes I still believe in the Law of Attraction and that you attract clients to you. I also think that at the same time you need to DO things. This newsletter is a mix of the two and what I’ve heard and read and done myself. Read on. Everyone can do these things. It’ll help you know what your niche or market segment is and who you want to have buy from you.
Read on and learn how you can mesh spirituality with business.
(See my blog at http://www.trudyvanbuskirk.typepad.com with my thoughts on this and other things that relate to marketing for small business.)

Thanks for reading.

My Happiest Wishes for you,
Trudy
Organized Marketing Mentor and Teacher
mailto:trudy@smallbizbuilder.com http://www.smallbizbuilder.com

Please print or forward this ezine to your friends and colleagues – I have lots to tell you and would like you to give this info as a gift to yourself and others. Enjoy.

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1. Featured Article. HOW TO PICK YOUR CLIENTS.
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Clients are people, too. They’re who you’re going to spend a lot of time with. Some of them you’ll be with more than your family (though I hope not!). Be sure they have qualities you want and admire – they may even become friends to you. Except for a few frends and my family members, all of them are self employed people like me. I met them through business first and then developed a relationship with them.
There are some things you can to ensure this.
(I’ve designed a spreadsheet for this already. Email me and I’ll send it to you.)

1. DESCRIBE AN IDEAL CLIENT. This means ideal to you. This may be different for someone else. In all of my workshops or presentations I recommend that you read the book Attracting Perfect Customers by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez. Chapter 7 is all about the qualities, attributes and characteristics of your perfect customer.
List these. Close your eyes and visualize a perfect customer in front of you. Whether you have one yet or not doesn’t matter. Describe everything about them. Do this.
Open your eyes and write down all of these characteristics or qualities in your computer list. You can add to this list at a later date or use qualities others have used.
Put these qualities down the left side of a spreadsheet. Put an x in Column B beside each one. Call this column “Ideal Client”.
2. RESEARCH YOUR IDEAL CLIENT. Use the other side of your brain now. Research what your client is like. Choose your niche or target market. Then go online, call people in the same industry, or get reports on them. You may already have clients. Use their qualities too.
Add all of the characteristics that are different from those in #1 down the left side of a spreadsheet. At the top of this column put where you got this research from. Then below in the same column put an x beside them and any that match from #1. Don’t judge anything yet.
3. RESEARCH THEM AGAIN. Look for characteristics of people in your target market by looking at the people who are close to you. That means they do business nearby. This is called geodemographics. Get real specifics on your best customer then find these people in the postal codes where you want to spend your time. You can do this online or get info from the post office. THEY know who lives and works in a certain area.
Put where you got these qualities from at the top of Column D. Put an x in column D beside each characteristic that matches the ones you’ve already listed and add any others to the list.
3. TOTAL THEM
Add the x’s (or checks) for each quality of characteristic and put the total number in Column E.
4. LOOK BUT DON’T JUDGE. Step back and look at what you have. It’s like brainstorming in that you don’t judge anything until you’ve finished.
Ask yourself if this is the profile of a customer with whom you want to work. You may be surprised at what you’ve written – or maybe not!
5. DECIDE WHO YOU WANT.
Are these your customers? Delete any characteristic you don’t want. Are these the people or businesses in your niche who you really want to spend time with? Who or what do you want?
6. MARKET TO THEM.
Write all your marketing materials to attract these people and to repel the others. Market where you know they look for you. Write an ad or an article in a magazine that they read. Use the keywords on your website that you know they look up on their online searches
What message do you put out to attract them? Your ideal client should be coming after you!
When you know who will become your customer then you will never do “cold calling” again. You have a list of prequalified prospects.
Remember that most people get a customer to make a sale BUT you should make a sale to get a customer. All of them can and should be yours for life. They are the only real asset in your business.
Create CLIENTS out of customers. Make everything they do with you memorable
Keep learning, … and until next time.
© 2008 Trudy Van Buskirk

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2. BORN TO READ BOOK CLUB

Here are the two books for this issue. The first one is business and the second is spiritual. As always I own them both and have read them.

STEP INTO THE SPOTLIGHT! ‘Cause ALL Business Is Show Business! by Tsufit.
Everything that she says in this book is true and you should do it. But we don’t have time you say. We’re all “busy” entrepreneurs who do everything ourselves! Well, try.
I agree wholeheartedly with Tsufit that “Attitude is Everything”. In her book she believes you can “grow some yourself” as she refers to ‘chutzpah’. I feel the same way about ALL marketing and publicity or PR is one of the activities everyone should do.
You can hear Tsufit talking as you read (and I don’t say this just because I know her). This is the mark of a great writer. You can’t put down the book. You just keep reading to get more ideas of how to do it yourself no matter where you are.
You have to smile or chuckle at some of the things she suggests. You always want to try them out. I’ve ‘highlighted’ many things to try myself – or tell other people to do.
Get this book and read and use it..http://tinyurl.com/478xpk
THAT WHICH YOU ARE SEEKING IS CAUSING YOU TO SEEK by Cheri Huber.
Do you want to be disturbed? When you are a spiritual person and live in the moment it’s good to be disturbed. It means you’re awake. “We are never unaware, we are often inattentive.”
I bought this book in the 90s when I was in San Francisco and what Huber has to say to us now is just as right and true. Here’s an example of the content – “Everything in life comes to you as a teacher. Pay attention. Learn quickly.” This isn’t new. It’s also universal.
If you want to be reminded of things you know or want to learn something new then this is the book for you. It has meditations and activities that are easy to do. It’s also a ‘quick read’. You can sit down and in a few sessions you could read it cover to cover.
Even though it was first written in 1989, it’s still in print. That says a lot. Buy this book and read it and think about what she says and how you’re living life.

http://tinyurl.com/4jgm8b

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3. THINK ABOUT THIS QUESTION: Do you have and maintain a database (or list of contacts) somewhere?
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5. Read my blog at http://www.trudyvanbuskirk.typepad.com to learn more about marketing tips. I am writing three times a week here about whatever comes up.

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DO YOU LIKE THIS NEWSLETTER? Please pass it along to your friends, associates, and clients who you think would appreciate it. It comes to you once a month from marketing mentor and consultant Trudy Van Buskirk.

ABOUT TRUDY VAN BUSKIRK

Trudy Van Buskirk, is the founder of Smallbizbuilder. As a small business consultant, trainer, author, and resource, Trudy ensures that her clients get the results they want using her practical and disciplined system which motivates them to plan AND to take action. She has built three businesses from the ground up in Canada and the U.S.; consulted with small businesses and professionals; developed and delivered training courses for entrepreneurs; given keynote addresses and authored four books for TVOntario’s Bits ‘n Bytes television series on computers in 1982 and Winning Women in 1992.

CONTACT ME: Email: mailto:trudy@smallbizbuilder.com
Voice: 416-778-9976 (Eastern time)
Web: http://www.smallbizbuilder.com

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Reprinted from Inspired Marketing by Trudy Van Buskirk of Smallbizbuilder, a fr*e*e ezine published to educate and communicate Tips, Tools, and Resources to build your business or your professional practice.

Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated! Write me at mailto:trudy@smallbizbuilder.com .