Ciamos

Bernadette Doyle

But it’s easier said than done isn’t it? The fact is, most of us know what we need to do differently – it’s doing it that’s the challenge!

Chances are, you already know at least some things you could do to attract more clients. I’ve been giving you lots of suggestions in past editions of this newsletter. So what’s stopping you from actually doing them? That’s what we need to focus on, and that’s where we need to make changes.

There is a difference between what you know from reading a book, and what you know from experience. There are two German words that make this distinction. Wissen means the knowledge that comes from a book. Erfahrung means the knowledge that comes from experience. There is a big difference between ‘knowing about’ something in your mind, and experiencing that same thing in your body. There is a big difference between seeing a roller coaster, and riding the roller coaster. (At least there was for me after I staggered off ‘The Big One’ at Blackpool!)

Your results reveal what you really know. Last year a woman contacted me and said, I know a lot about marketing, but I’m frustrated because I’m not getting the clients I want. As the conversation progressed, most of her sentences started with ‘I really do know a lot about marketing already…’ Diagnosing exactly where she needed help was quite difficult, because she was working so hard to prove her existing knowledge. Finally, I had to be blunt with her. The truth is, I said, your results tell us what you truly know. If you don’t have the clients you want yet, then whatever you think you know, there is still something you need to learn. You might know something intellectually – but unless that is matched by your experience and translating into real world results, then you don’t know it ‘in your bones’ yet.

We need to get the knowledge out of your head and into your bones. Dancers practice moves over and over until they have it ‘in the muscle’. The fact is we really don’t know something until we use it. An ounce of experience truly is worth a ton of theory. Whatever you think you already know about business, or about marketing, if it’s not translating into clients and sales, then you really DON’T know.

We all know stories of people who, after years of trying, suddenly make a breakthrough and become an ‘overnight success’. Did they finally get lucky? I don’t think so. My personal theory is that all that practice accumulated so much knowledge ‘in the muscle’ that finally triggered a spontaneous transformation.

Make 2007 the year that you commit to transforming what you already know in your mind into experience and results. So how do you do that? Do something. Try something. Take a risk. Be willing to get it wrong. If you try something and it doesn’t work, are you back to square one? No, you’re one step closer to your dream. Because know you have the knowledge ‘in the muscle’ of something that doesn’t work.

© 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