Posts Tagged ‘target market’

I love working with women (and men too) to help them achieve the six figure business they always dreamed of.  But, while I understand that many people are afraid they will never realize the dream of a six-figure or even multiple six-figure business, I know that it takes 5 key elements to create six figures and beyond in ANY business.

The problem is that if you are just getting started in may seem like a dream and completely out of reach.

So, to help you out, I created this checklist so that you can see what it takes to create your six-figure business.

1.  Clarity

I don’t know about you, but when I was starting out in business I had hundreds of ideas swirling around in my head.  All these ideas kept me really unfocused.  The more unfocused I was the less clients I seemed to attract into my practice.

Once I got real clear about who my target market was and who I wanted to work with all that confusion changed and I got crystal clear.

Gaining clarity is as simple as that!  Decide who you want to work with, what problem you are going to solve and in an instant you will have changed your circumstances so that you can begin attracting clients like a magnet.

If you need help with this, hire a coach that can help you hone in on your niche.  This new found clarity will help you gain confidence which is the next topic in our checklist.

2.  Confidence

Can you feel the confidence swelling up inside of you now that you have identified your niche?

When you get clear and focused you gain a lot!  Nothing makes you feel more confident than in knowing exactly what problem you solve and who you work with to solve that problem.

Next time you feel your confidence slipping away ask yourself if you are unclear about some aspect in your business?  I would be willing to bet that you need a little fine tuning.

Once the tune-up is complete, check in with yourself to get a handle on where you are on the confidence scale.

Your confidence level has a direct impact on how you attract clients, which is the next topic.

3.  Clients

Now you’re probably saying, “No kidding, Maureen, of course I need clients.”

But some businesses seem to get clients quickly while others…well, not so much.  Why is that?

The businesses that have a ton of clients flowing in have a lot in common because they have these key factors in place.  While any one of these factors can help propel a business, more than one can result in impressive growth.  Here they are:

• Found an underserved niche with a group of hungry buyers
• Found buyers who had money to spend and were willing to spend it
• Found a niche where competition was minimal or manageable
• Developed a repeatable system for connecting and selling to these buyers that worked again and again
• Developed compelling, benefit-laden marketing messages
• Developed joint ventures and strategic alliances to dramatically increase sales
• Developed a strategy to get repeat business
• Protect their time
• Outsourced simple tasks

No secret here, just some simple ways to build your client base.  Now measure your business against this list and see what changes you need to make.

4.  Cash Flow

If cash is king, then cash flow is well, whatever is better than being a king!

Without consistent cash coming into your business it will be impossible for you to grow into a six-figure or more company.

Don’t make the mistake that many entrepreneurs have made — and who consequently are no longer in business.  Good cash management is simple and involves:

• Knowing when, where, and how your cash needs will occur
• Knowing the best sources for meeting additional cash needs
• Being prepared to meet these needs when they occur, by keeping good relationships with bankers and other creditors

5.  Courage

Don’t be one of those business owners who hangs back, waiting and wondering to see how it’s all going to work out.  Sorry, it doesn’t work that way in business or in life.

Sometimes you just need to be courageous.

The more frequently you take a leap of courage by joining a coaching program, networking, attending an event, hiring more employees or a team you get to flex and strengthen that courage muscle.

Eventually, it becomes easier and easier.

Isn’t There More to Having a Six-Figure Business Than This?

There are specific action steps that any business owner needs to take.  But if you focus on these five steps you will be more than halfway there.

I read a great article the other day about the use of basic and advanced marketing strategies and how you need to use more advanced techniques in this economy.  And while I agree with the author, what I find more times than not is that people are not using the basic marketing strategies to there full advantage.

Here are some easy and simple tips that will help you get a grip on the basic strategies so you can move into the more advanced and see your business grow!

1.  The first basic marketing strategy is the development of your  marketing message. Who you work with, what their challenges are and how you solve their problems.  Trouble is, most new entrepreneurs particularly coaches (I can pick on coaches because I am one myself) have no idea who their target market is and what problem they want to solve.  I have told you over and over again how important it is to be crystal clear on this point or you will suffer greatly in trying to create a captivating marketing message.  It is impossible!  I know because when I first became a coach I mistakenly thought I would be a “life coach” ~ what the heck does that mean?  I wasn’t sure myself so I know no one else knew what that meant either.

2.  Your web site is a marketing tool and one that  people will visit. The problem with most websites is that they read like a brochure.  They don’t speak directly to the clients biggest challenges and they certainly don’t tell anyone how a problem will be solved.    And that my friends is what clients want!  They want to know that someone out there understands their problems and will help them fix it.

I remember reading a website of a woman, who happens to be a coach, and in fact was one of my instructors at coaching school.  Her website missed the boat completely… it talked about what coaching was and how the coaching calls would go, etc, etc.  Frankly, clients don’t care about stuff like that.  They care more about their problems than how you coach.

If you have a website,  find a professional to evaluate your site and give you honest feedback and suggestions for improvement.  I am currently working on a new program and this particular service is being added as a bonus to the participants so that I can show them how to build a more captivating site!  Watch for the details coming soon!

And by the way you should know your web site stats!  But that is a blog post for another time.

3.  The third basic strategy is that you regularly engage in marketing activities. I like to suggest that you pick three activities and do them regularly.  Two of the three should include writing and speaking and the third can be your choice.  The problem here is that although many entrepreneurs start out with good intentions, their writing or speaking activities fall by the wayside.

If you are blogging you MUST do so consistently.  To blog every once in a while will never yield you the kind of results that you are looking for.  Plan on blogging at least three times a week for it to be effective.

If you are doing a ton of public speaking, make sure that you pick your speaking engagements with your ideal clients in mind.  For example,  if you are a business coach for women speaking at the Men’s Auxiliary Luncheon  is probably not the best use of your time.

Finally,  by excelling in these basic techniques you build a strong foundation for taking your marketing activities to the next level. Next time I will discuss some more advanced strategies and how you can propel your business farther and faster!

‘Today’s business success strategy is about honing in on your target audience.

You’ve heard this a hundred times…people do business with people they know and trust.  But if you don’t know who your target market is how do you find those people that want to do business with you? In today’s economic climate  its even more important to hone in and focus on your ideal client.

I have said this before and I will say it again…you can’t market to everyone.  When I first started my coaching practice I thought I could “coach” anyone.  What a chore it was to craft a message aimed at the entire world.  How do you address the entire universe’s biggest challenges?  Sounds funny doesn’t it?

But it’s not.  I am totally and 100% serious about this point.  Figure out who your audience is and then craft a stategy that puts you in at the events, in front of the people and at the businesses.  Start to develop a relationship with these people and see how easy it becomes to market your products and services to your ideal clients.