Do you find that your readers, fans, friends, colleagues, audiences love you, and yet they aren't buying from you? How frustrating!
It's a common hurdle you face as a heart-centered business owner growing your business.
The good news is that you are getting their attention. You are getting feedback about your great content. You are connecting! Now, you need to work on confidently educating, inviting in, and being relevant with your offers.
Here are the 4 most commons traps why your people aren't buying from you even though they love what you are up to:
1. Do they even know how to work with you?
This might seem like a silly question at first, but really I have to ask the obvious - Are you making offers and inviting people to work with you? I often see heart-centered entrepreneurs putting out lots of content, great resources (for other people), and yet they NEVER mention how their fans can work with them. These days it is all about building trust, rapport and relationships first… AND you also need to let them know how they can work with you.
Sometimes it's just a simple education process. If you don't tell them, then they don't know that you have a product that will help them. They may not realize that you can work virtually over the phone and, therefore, you can work with clients all over the world. They may not have read through your entire website to know that you offer one-on-one coaching and consulting in addition to your programs.
Don’t assume your market knows what you offer and how they can work with you. You have to tell them – each and every time.
2. You are so joy-focused that you avoid the pain.
I hear from many heart-centered business owners, especially women, that they don't want to talk about the negatives, and they don't want to market from pain. They just want to focus on the positive and the possibilities. Hey, my whole business is wrapped in the virtue of joy, so I get it! And here's what I have learned. Only talking about joy doesn't work very well. You'll be frustrated with very little success and, quite frankly, it isn't really doing a service for your clients.
What if your doctor only came from a place of positive and possibilities? Imagine going to the doctor because your throat hurts, and you have a slight fever and a headache. You don't know if it's the flu, allergies, strep throat or something else. The doctor doesn't focus on the negative or the pain. So, he just talks about the possibilities of you feeling vibrantly alive and recommends these fantastic vitamins! Wouldn't you be appalled, angry, frustrated and maybe even want to turn him in for malpractice?
You have to talk about the symptoms and the pain so that you both can agree on what your client's problem is. Then your potential clients know you understand them. Then you take them to the hope - the vision - the dream - and YOUR SOLUTION! (which is full of joy!)
3. You aren't owning your excellence and expertise.
"Don't brag! Don't be too big for your britches!" And the one my parents used a lot: "You're really full of yourself, aren't you!" (with a tsk, tsk for added emphasis).
These words were meant to protect us when we were small, but now these are the very beliefs that will keep trigger shame and guilt and hold you back. These beliefs will keep your business small. You won't help as many people if you market with these beliefs in mind. This is a tough place to be when you are an entrepreneur in a service profession where you need to promote yourself to get clients and make money.
It's imperative to your success and your client's potential transformation that you shift your beliefs to ones that are life enhancing and focused on business expansiveness. Your clients need you to own your excellence and expertise powerfully and confidently. When you do this, your confidence givesthem confidence in you and your services. You can own your career experience, PhD, certification, success in a way that is authentic, in integrity and full of graceful power.
4. There is no reason to buy right now.
Once I was in a workshop with a famous author and psychic intuitive. It was a truly transformative weekend. There were probably 30 of us who were loving the experience and our new-found power. At the end of the workshop, she told us how we could work with her in various programs (yay - see #1), but then she said, "There's no pressure; we're here. Whenever you want, just contact us".
Now I know she didn't want to manipulate us or put pressure on us to buy now, but there is a better way. First, she could have given us the forms in our hands, and several of us would have gladly signed up because she would have made it easy. She could have given us an incentive or bonus to sign up, and she would have saved marketing time and effort because we'd gladly sign up now. Since there was no reason to buy now - I didn't. I meant to do it when I got home, and, well, now it's a year later and I haven't gotten around to it.
We both missed out.
The same is true when you offer a product or service online. If it's always available, then why should they buy from you right now? They'll do it... someday. Hopefully, you won't be out of business by then.
Looking at these four areas ask yourself, "If I were being a courageous, committed business owner, what would I step into boldly?"
You'll amazed at how little steps into these important areas will bring new clients, income and opportunities - which means you are making a bigger difference in the world!
En-joy!
Laura
If you would like to use this article in your newsletter or blog please feel free to do as long as you include our credit information: Written by Laura Howard West, Center for Joyful Business,www.joyfulbusiness.com. I would also appreciate it if you'd send us a copy for our media files. ©Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Laura West is an award-winning online entrepreneur and president of The Center for Joyful Business.
