The 3 Most Important Steps to Attracting Clients

Client attraction is critical to your practice. This article will outline three important steps.

But first, let me share with you what’s even more crucial than attracting clients: attracting the right clients. 

Clients You Don’t Want. When it comes to different types of clients, I’m sure you can tell me what you don’t want. Just think of your nightmare clients of the past – or perhaps the present! Wouldn’t you like to be able to dump those nuisances without fear, once and for all?

It’s useful to know what qualities we want to avoid in clients. But can you guess what’s even more important? 

Clients You Do Want. Singer/songwriter Joe Jackson sang, “You can’t get what you want ‘til you know what you want.” That’s the truth, and it’s why it’s even more useful to clearly define the qualities in the clients we want. In fact, the success of your practice hinges on attracting the right types of people. 

Clues to What You Want . Some of you will be able to describe your dream client more easily than others. Perhaps you’re targeting entrepreneurs in a certain industry, or folks from a particular geographic area. But for those of you who aren’t sure what you’re looking for, there’s a place to look for clues: in the top echelon of your current clients. Which clients generate most of your revenues? What do they have in common? 

You’ll want to look for clues in both demographics and psychographics .

Focus on attracting more of those same types of clients and you’ll increase revenues, allowing you to let those less desirable clients go. 

Once you’ve created an avatar of your ideal client, you’re ready to engage in three important steps towards attracting them. 

In the early days of my practice, I hired telemarketers who pushed and pushed my services.

It wasn’t very effective. The reason was because the more we pushed, the more they ran.  When we did manage to sign up clients, they tended to be the worst people to work with. 

You don’t want to sell your services to prospects. Instead, you want to pre-sell. Rather than chasing clients, you want them knocking on your door, knowing before they arrive that they want to work with you. That makes your job easy. 

How do you pre-sell? By positioning yourself as an expert. 

Some ways to showcase your expertise include:

- Writing articles for publications that your target client reads

- Posting short videos to YouTube, your social media channels and your website

- Writing blog posts and promoting them on your social media channels and via email

- Sending occasional emails rich with valuable advice and tips 

- Speaking at a local organization

- Hosting a webinar that addresses the concerns of your target market 

It’s important to make sure that the client experience you offer is congruent with your positioning. That means delivering on your promises.

If you’re presenting yourself as an expert in a particular area, live up to the client’s expectations.

If you’re marketing your practice as being highly service-oriented and efficient, it had better be. 

The way I see it, there are two ways to live up to the promise of your positioning:

1. Make sure your team has its act together so they can deliver on time, every time. 

2. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I once knew of a practitioner who advertised that he was “always available” to clients. When he wasn’t willing to answer calls on weekends (and who would be?) his clients felt lied to. Don’t make that mistake. Have total integrity with your word. 

So you signed up an ideal client and gave them a world-class welcome. Great! But your job doesn’t end there.

Your level of service must stay consistent (or get better), and you must make positioning an ongoing effort. 

How can you continue to position yourself, even to existing clients? 

Again, continue with a variety of efforts like those I mentioned above – writing, speaking, etc. 

You’ll want to continue reminding your clients just how valuable you are by showcasing your knowledge, offering solutions to their problems, and making their lives easier.

If you never let them forget, you’re more likely to have their loyalty (and get referrals to their friends and colleagues). 

What would happen to your practice if you got two quality clients joining your practice every month? Five quality clients? 

Put a system in place to attract the right clients.

Know who you want; put your expertise out there so they’ll come to you; wow them with consistent service and never disappoint; and never let them forget how smart they were for aligning with you. 

The 3 Most Important Steps to Attracting Clients

CPA Marketing Genius