The interactive newsletter with action items you can implement today! If you're wishing you had a crystal ball, read on. You can make a pretty good projection now by looking at the numbers. Take a typical month. Let's say that on your calendar each month, you've made time for the hypothetical activities listed below. (Of course your calendar will look very different from this, this one is just to illustrate.) On the calendar are two lunches, two consultations (or free sessions, showings, demonstrations, meetings, or other term used by your industry), and two networking activities. Let's also add that at the networking events, you have a goal of talking one-on-one with eight people while you are at each event. Of those eight people you talk with, you project that three of them will be actual prospects with whom you will later follow-up. Here's your hypothetical activity list for the month:
With this, you have just set your maximum possible new clients for the year. How? Well, let's examine that. Suppose your conversion rate is 5/1; that is, for every five prospects you talk with, one becomes a client. In this example, you are speaking with 10 prospects in a month. That means based on your conversion rate, that you will likely draw two new clients for the month. Assuming you follow this schedule 12 months of the year, then you can project 24 new clients during the year. Of course, this doesn't mean you are guaranteed to get 24 clients (average conversion rates are not a guarantee), but, based on the number of prospects you put yourself in front of and your conversion rate, it does give a pretty good projection of what the possibilities are. Hmmm...could your activity (or lack thereof) be limiting you? Another question - are you putting yourself in front of actual prospects...or just people? Let's keep going... What do you have on your calendar right now that puts you in front of a prospect? Do you have a coordinated plan for exposing others to your business, whether it's face-to-face contact, or other effective means of doing so? Do you have a consistent message to convey to prospects, and a sequence of steps designed to help them through the decision-making process for buying your service? If you answered in the negative for any of these, it's time to get started with an action plan. You can put yourself in front of more prospects and/or improve your conversion rate. The Guiding Principle for The New Client Toolkit is: you must put yourself in front of prospects in order to get new clients, and you must effectively use the time you have in front of them.Here are three suggestions to get you going:
For strategies to answer those three questions above, plus support and a little "nudge" to get it done, I invite you to take a look at The New Client Toolkit. You've probably seen them mentioned in my email signature. I've put together a one-page description of The New Client Toolkit for your review. It includes:
Subscription Information To subscribe to this newsletter, click here! To unsubscribe, click here. Dianne E. Dawson, M.A., Principal of Dawson Resources, LLC and founder of the Virtual Business Incubator, works with business owners worldwide to develop and implement strategies to bring in new clients and to increase business profitability. She can be reached at dianne@dawsonresources.comReprints: You have permission to reprint this article in its entirety, including attribututions. You may not alter the article or attribution. Please send an e-mail with the link to the webpage where this article is reprinted. Visit Newsletter Archives |