Ciamos

Bernadette Doyle

This week I got this message from Jane: 

'I'm a hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner, I spend more time trying to get clients than seeing clients. I know I waste time and resources but feel am I lost in this alien world! My clients now come from referral, leaflets and website but not nearly enough - I need to add 60% more clients. 

The more I look into marketing the more I find that contradicts and thus confuses me . . . . I have set up Google ads and working at getting to grips with it, I've put hours into it - been told by people using it its the best way, literally spent hours and a lot of money on it and it is not reaping the rewards, discussing this with someone who is as successful - they'll say forget it, that won't work, leafleting/ following-up will work, I switch put hours and money into that and it doesn't work. 

Then others say sit and call people - personal contact its the only way . . . I'm confused, and I still don't have enough clients can you help?'

I personally think there is a lot of misleading advice about Google Adwords. Right now I am receiving personal coaching from Perry Marshall, considered to be one of the world's experts on Google Adwords, and even he says that there are certain situations when Google Adwords does not work.

In his view, Google advertising works when you are targeting an audience who are already actively searching online, but is less successful when you are targeting a certain demographic e.g. companies with over 50,000 employees. So if you're in Brighton and there are enough people searching for say 'hypnotherapist brighton' then it might work, but only if all the other elements are in place eg landing page, lead capture, strong clear offer and auto-responder follow up. I've just started using Google Adwords for one of my websites now, and it IS a learning curve.

Any marketing expert worth their salt will tell you that relying on just one source for leads is a mistake. So while it's a challenge to find one way of getting 100 clients a month, there are a hundred ways of getting 1-2 clients a month.

My advice to you is to focus on building a database of prospects, and then invest your budget following up with those people who have already 'raised their hands' e.g. if you do leafleting, give people a reason to respond other than just booking an appointment -as there may be many people who receive your leaflet who aren't ready to take action right now, but MIGHT be clients in the future, as long as you can capture the names and contact details of those people and follow up with them, your business WILL grow. 

Other things you could do to build your database : local talks, articles, even classified advertising, but the rule is ALWAYS give people a reason to respond eg offer some sort of freebie to get them to 'raise their hands'.

It might take some effort initially, but in the long term you are building a huge database of potential clients, and as long as you nurture them, stay in touch, and regularly make offers to get them to take the next step, you will build a relationship, so that when they are ready to take action YOU get the business. Whenever you need a few more clients, you can make an offer to your list and wait for the phone to ring. It does work, but few people are willing to put in the initial effort - which is why so many therapists are short on clients!!!

© 2007 Bernadette Doyle

Bernadette Doyle publishes her weekly Client Magnets newsletter for trainers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, then get your free tips now at www.clientmagnets.com