Are you making things difficult on yourself when it comes to getting quality clients who you are aligned with in your values?
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Today, I am talking to service providers about the ways they are making business hard for themselves.
Right now, there seems to be a lot of resistance. There is talk about the economy and how everything is changing, but I know this: there has never been this many businesses started and attempting to scale in the history of enterprise. We are not short on opportunity.
“We have this magical opportunity because of the volume of businesses that are out there.”
We are having our first annual conference called Growth Getters Live. If you are ready to pivot or grow to scale, join us on April 11-13th in San Antonio, TX. This is the last week to get your ticket at a discounted price!
How Service Providers are Making Things Hard
1.Too much in your Offer
You simply have too much in your offer, and things that are outside your gifts and experience. When we do this, we get into a massive scope creep situation.
When I ask a service provider what they are selling, often times they will reply with “whatever the client needs.”
That is never going to allow you to be in the “next best self” mindset, because you are in a response situation, and will have to go out and look for additional training and guidance.
In the earlier days of my business when I was trying to please other people, I would use nights and weekends away from my family to try to gain those additional skills that I didn’t have. This precious time is the reason I had left corporate, and now I was overextended.
Make sure your offer is clear and concise.
2. Too Vague
You are too vague in your messaging and how you show up. Take the time to get really clear on who you are, what you do, and what your mission, vision, and values are. All of that becomes your messaging, and what your talking points are when you are networking or on a sales call.
“If you are not prepared, when we interact with others, you will throw something together that is not fully representative of the great gifts you have and what you have to offer.”
I want people to have a full grasp of what you do, who you serve, and how you show up.
3. Boundaries
You are not leveraging boundaries with your clients.
“People are naturally going to take as much as you will give.”
You want to please, and often overserve, but you also know what you stand for and what ticks you off. You are still ignoring those things and allowing clients to talk you into doing things outside of what you want.
Make sure you create and stick to your boundaries, protect your interests and your energy.
4. Working with Anyone
You find yourself working with anyone, even those who don’t share your mission, vision, and values. It may feel good to sign that contract at the moment, but it doesn’t take long until friction starts to occur.
When you overlap values, you are able to stand up, speak up, and really be a leader inside of the business.
“You were hired for your leadership, and you will need confidence in communication to be fully expressive of that leadership skill.”
If you are not working with the right people, you will not show up that way.
5. Lack of Conversations
This service provider business comes down to relationship marketing. It is how you make money as a service provider and you have to have conversations to build a relationship.
After 5 healthy conversations you should be able to convert one of those to a client.
It is a stretch to put ourselves out there, but if you want to be a highly desired service provider you have to get into the habit of having conversations. Put yourself in situations to express who you are, how you serve, and what you have to offer.
6. Relying on Social Media
Social Media is not where you are going to find clients as a service provider, especially not in the early years.
You don’t need a mass audience or be everywhere on social media, because you don’t need more than three clients working in a fractional capacity as a DOO. Social media is for mass marketing.
You are looking to mentors and gurus that are teaching you how to explode on social media, but they are not talking to service providers… they are for people who have products to sell. You are not looking for that model.
I have seen thousands of women scale their service businesses without going all in on social media.
If you are relying on social media, it is not growing your business… start having those conversations.
7. Forgetting about Local Businesses
Your clients are most likely in your backyard. Don’t forget about the local businesses around you, where you do business at, who may need operational services.
If you start by fixing just one of these items, your business will look different!
If you want to spend 3 days addressing these items, come to Growth Getters Live! The first day will help you understand the gifts you have, so you can build upon that and create an offer that you love, and can sell!
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Are you making things too hard on yourself? Let us know the ways you are guilty of this in the Facebook group!
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