How To Balance Marketing and Delivering Services To Clients

I just got this email from Hector:

'Hi Bernadette, I work with clients to help them use Information
Technology to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and
eliminate waste. I manage their IT projects for implementation
of information systems, software development, and business
process improvement.

The problem has been that while I'm working with a client I'm
not able to market my services, and while I'm marketing my
services, I'm not working with a client.

I am great in developing a rapport with a client but do not have
the skill set to find new clients. Can you help?'

Yes, I certainly can.

Sooner or later most solo service providers find themselves in
the frustrating catch-22 that Hector describes. Here is my
four-part plan to help you make your 'great escape'!

1. Replace 'manual labor' prospecting with automated and low
maintenance prospecting techniques

If your main way of generating new enquiries are time-consuming
techniques like cold-calling and networking, then it's time to
replace them with prospecting and lead capture which can be
automated. For example, targeted advertising or direct mail
which drive interested prospects to a web page where you make an
attractive offer in exchange for their contact details and
permission to contact them. Imagine having 20, 30 or even 100
people give you their names without you making a single
cold-call or going to any networking meeting.

2. Automate your follow-up processes

Surely one of the greatest inventions of the late 20th century
was the 'auto-responder', the technology that enables you to
automate your follow up and send a sequence of ongoing messages
and offers to prospects. Before I started using an
auto-responder, my follow up was a calendar reminder of phone
calls or 'keep in touch' notes. It took hours to maintain, and
just like Hector, when I was working with a client, my follow up
suffered. The beauty of an auto-responder is that it will follow
up on your behalf whether you are working with a client, on
holiday, or even sleeping! This is an essential tool for every
solo-preneur.

3. Create 'off-the shelf' solutions that can be sold without you
having to write laborious proposals every time

If winning a new client means a detailed written proposal every
time, then you are doing something wrong. While there will
almost certainly be situations where a customized proposal is
required, the 80/20 rule dictates that 80% of what you do for
clients is duplicated. So why not save yourself some stress and
effort by creating fixed price 'packages' to offer prospects?
You'll be stunned at the difference this can make to your
business, as not only does it cut down selling time, it makes
your offer more tangible to the buyer, and that can increase
sales too.

4. Automate 'closing the sale'

For people like Hector, there's a good chance that to close the
sale requires several phone calls, face-to-face meetings and
tailored proposals. All that time adds considerably to your cost
of sale and eats into your profit margins. (Which is why
sometimes even when you're winning business you can still feel
like your not earning enough compared to the effort you put in).
The advantage of creating 'off-the shelf solutions' is that you
can often sell these solutions with a really strong sales letter
or webpage and eventually fire yourself from your sales team!

As someone who had been trained in face-to-face selling
techniques, I initially resisted this advice and argued that it
wasn't workable in my business. But when I finally tried it and
saw those orders coming in without me speaking to a customer, I
was hooked. You will be too if you give this a try, and you'll
wonder why you struggled doing it the old way for so long.

(c) Bernadette Doyle, 2007. Reprints welcome so long as by-line
and article are published intact.

Bernadette Doyle publishes her weekly Client Magnets newsletter
for trainers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and
solo professionals. If you want to get clients calling you
instead of you calling them, then get your free tips now at
http://www.clientmagnets.com/. Join Bernadette on her free
preview calls for her "Launch Your Information Empire" workshop
at http://www.clientmagnets.com/informationempire.asp