One of my mentors asked me to define the qualities of my best clients. The ones I LOVE working with, and the ones who LOVE working with me. These are the types of clients I rave about publicly and privately. (And these are also the ones who become my raving fans.) They also tend to be very successful.
I’m sharing this publicly in case you wonder if I can help you.
- You must desire a SYSTEM. If you’re looking for tactics or magic bullets, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a script that must be memorized and performed with my swagger and my demeanor, you won’t find that with me. If you like systems and processes for the rest of your business – but marketing and sales are a little fly by night – then we should talk, because you’re my kind of business owner.
- You must be willing to leave the past in the past. There’s a strong chance that you invested in a marketing company, hired a coach, or bought a marketing system before. And it didn’t work. The fault might be with them. It might be with you. (It’s possible that you both share some blame.) And you probably learned (expensive) lessons. That happens in life and in business. You fall down; you get back up again. Leave it in the past. The End.
- You must have achieved some level of success. My systems work best when you’ve already demonstrated SOME ability to grow on your own. Usually, your biz is making $1M-$5M in annual revenue. (If you’re HYPER committed to make your first million, I can probably help. But you can’t be allergic to hard work.) We’ll build on your success. We’ll lean into your strengths. We’ll improve on your weaknesses. Usually, we’ll uncover some simple ways to optimize what you’re already doing. (Optimization is one of my favorite things to do!) If you’re a brand new start up, my systems will still work for you; but I can’t work with you (yet). Buy my book and follow me on social media instead. And execute on my advice. Please! Then come back to me and show me your success!
- You must have a strong desire to grow. You might feel this as passion or drive. You don’t have to be “on” every day; you’re human. This feeling can ebb and flow. But your norm is a bent toward growth.
- You must have some level of patience. I am GREAT at what I do. But I am NOT a fairy godmother. I cannot instantly improve your brand, lead gen, website, funnels, tactics, strategies, AND make your dreams come true BY TOMORROW. We’ll move fast; you’ll probably ask me to slow down. We’ll get results; some tangible, some intangible. But none of that will happen overnight.
- You must have some financial runway. If I am your only hope, you need Obi Wan, not me. If you’re spending your last dime working with me, it’s not a fit. There are plenty of marketing “professionals” who are more than willing to take your last dime, promise you the world, significantly underdeliver, and who somehow sleep at night. That’s not me. I do not want to take your mortgage payment or your grocery money.
- You must have resilience. If you catch yourself saying, “I tried a webinar…once” or “I sent a postcard…once” then you MUST be willing to get rid of that attitude. You must be willing to execute on a marketing tactic more than once. The first attempt at almost anything might flop miserably. We will learn from that together, shift, and try again. Marketing is not “once and done”. The nature of marketing is iterative. It takes sticking power to make marketing work well.
- You must be willing to jump into the deep end. There’s a 99% chance I’ll ask you to try new things…and new is uncomfortable. (After all, if your existing marketing system was giving you the results you want, we wouldn’t be working together.) You MUST try different tactics or new messages. Trust that I will NOT let you drown. You’ll be ok. I promise. Uncomfortable = Growth.
- You must create time to learn and execute. I cannot create this time for you. You MUST carve out this time on your calendar. Here’s the harsh reality: if you won’t make time for marketing execution, who else on your team will? If you won’t make time to market, how will you ever make time for your clients, your team, your systems? Unless and until you make growth a priority, you won’t grow. (And here’s me providing some free coaching: read that last line again…daily if you need to. And reach out when you’re ready to kick butt and take names.)
- You have a nagging doubt about the future. (This last one is optional, but most of my clients felt this before working with me.) You’re not sure you can hit your quarterly or annual goals. You have no trust in your current sales and marketing system. You suspect that what got you here won’t get you there. You KNOW you need a better system, but you get deep in the weeds (and a little overwhelmed) when you think about execution. And measurement. And hiring. And all.the.things.
Any of this sound familiar? Sound off below…