Appropriate as we begin a new year, no? What with all the resolutions that people set… 🙂
Let’s start with the “don’t” list first.
1. DON’T write posts about how you’re having trouble attracting good clients or how no one seems to want to pay for the kind of support you offer.
Someone who would be a good client and would want to pay for your type of support is most likely reading your posts (just like I am a good client who is reading these posts as they cross my feed), and this kind of post isn’t likely to make them want to work with you.
Rightly or wrongly, we are all attracted to people who are confident about who they are and what they do, and this kind of post doesn’t come across as confident.
2. DON’T tell prospects (or write in your content) that “the ‘how’ doesn’t matter; what matters is their commitment and beliefs.”
The “how” and the plan absolutely do matter, and great clients (especially the folks who expect to pay well) know it!
They want to know what your method is for solving whatever they want solved – they’ve likely tried other methods that didn’t work, and they want to know if/how yours is different.
(To read a lot more of my writing on this topic, see the “empowered clients” section of this website.)
3. DON’T have an ascension model where you only publicly market low-end information products or offers with minimal support, and then only the buyers of those low-end things will get to hear about your more high-touch, high-end support.
A huge number of great high-paying clients cannot be bothered to buy those low-end things because they know those things are less likely to help them get the impressive results they’re wanting.
But they WILL buy high-ticket directly (without ascending through something low-ticket first) if you give them the opportunity to do so.
(For more on this, see the “ascension model” section of this website.)
4. DON’T write vague content (like “in order to attract $50K clients you need to solve a bigger problem” and then give no examples of what you mean) or “tips” content (like “5 glute exercises to build your booty” – which doesn’t mention the larger problem that you solve).
Great high-paying clients aren’t convinced or attracted by too-vague OR too-specific content. The kind of content that attracts them falls neatly in between those two extremes.
They don’t want the obvious platitudes about how to achieve the results – they want to know the details about how that looks, and examples of how it might look in their situation.
And they also don’t want the ultra-specific things like the 5 micro-steps to doing a hip thrust – that can wait until they work with you. They’d rather see something slightly higher-level about how they can achieve an overall result for their health/body (like lowering their body fat percentage to a certain range, for example).
For more on how to achieve the level of sharing that great high-paying clients want to see (i.e.: not too vague; not too specific), see this post.
5. DON’T refuse to answer questions about how your method works, or what the benefits are.
(also don’t tell people they have to sign up for a discovery call in order to ask those kinds of questions)
I once had a web expert tell me that I wasn’t her ideal client simply because I asked a question about what benefit(s) her website tweaks might have to my business (specifically for client attraction).
Yikes!
She said that if I were her ideal client, I’d already see/appreciate the benefits and value.
Great high-paying clients see value in professional services in general, but that doesn’t make them mind-readers when it comes to knowing what specific value your services would have for their situation.
In my mind, even the fact that someone feels the need to ask about methods or benefits shows that something was lacking in your marketing/messaging…
For a case study of how I’d suggest that web expert handle my inquiry instead (or more specifically – PREVENT my kind of inquiry through her content), see this post.
Now, the “DO” list.
1. DO actually have a proven method for helping a specific kind of client (i.e.: your ideal client) to achieve a specific result.
This should go without saying, but empowered high-paying clients want you to actually know what you’re doing.
And, of course, if you don’t, you’re not going to be able to write the kind of marketing content that is going to demonstrate knowledge.
2. DO actually mention what you do (as in: the outcome you help people to achieve) in most or all of your content and messaging.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen posts along the lines of:
“I can’t seem to attract anyone for my service that helps independent professional women get more in touch with their femininity so they can find love!”
…and then I scroll back through 3-6 months of their content and literally not one piece of their content ever mentions that they help independent professional women get more in touch with their femininity so they can find love.
Anywhere. In any way.
I have a method that weaves the outcome into your content in a very specific way (in two types of posts).
To see two videos I’ve created sharing the blueprints for these two types of posts, check out this link and this link.
To see my acclaimed training for actually figuring out what your outcome is, check out this link.
3. DO mention (in your marketing content) exactly what your offer is – with way more detail than “click here to sign up for a discovery call where we’ll talk about solving this problem.”
Great high-paying clients are not intimidated by your price, the amount of work they’ll have to put in, or anything else that you’re reluctant to mention publicly because you think it’ll scare people off.
(It WILL scare “people” off, but not the RIGHT people 😉 – which is exactly what you want!)
For a case study of how to weave in the right amount of detail about your offer, see this post.
4. DO write helpful, detailed, and clear content (often – like daily) about how your method (or a piece of your method) helps to solve different micro-challenges or achieve micro-goals of your ideal client.
For a detailed blueprint for how to write this kind of content, plus examples and case studies, see these videos of mine:
HERE (this is the same video I linked in #2 of the “don’t” list above)
HERE (case studies)
HERE (more case studies)
In my free FB group you can also find 200+ example posts written by clients and followers of mine. There’s a spreadsheet pinned to the top of the group where you can find links to all of the posts.
…What would you add to this “do/don’t” list? 🙂
If you’d like help writing content and explaining your offer according to my blueprints, that is most of the work I do in my 30-day 1:1 intensive.
More information about the program can be found here.
DM me on Facebook if you’re interested and we’ll have a quick chat to see if it’s a fit. If it is, I’m accepting new clients right now! 🙂