If your reputation brought all the clients you would ever want - without selling, advertising, marketing, cold-calling or PR – how many days would you work? What would your income be? How many holidays would you have? What chores would you delegate?

Growing a reputation is like growing a garden. If we prepare the ground, if we choose the right plants and situate them properly, if we nourish the relationships we want, if we occasionally prune - we can cultivate perennials that go on producing harvests year after year.

In this article, we will explore some simple techniques to speed up growth without draining our energy or our finances.

Typical Issues

Many of us have lived through some of these problems. Tick those that you are familiar with:

q Time is a key bottleneck.

q I would love to delegate the administration or the marketing, but I can’t afford to.

q I need to keep another job or business going, in order to pay the bills.

q Networking is not for me. I find it hard to walk into a roomful of strangers and start a conversation.

q In my profession, I have to be a general practitioner. There is no common denominator between my clients.

q I find it hard to ask for money.

q My clients often need to keep my services confidential, so I don’t expect referrals.

q I dislike marketing and practice-building, and only want to work with people who want to use my services.

q Because I don’t wish to learn marketing techniques, practice-building is not interesting for me. I would prefer to invest in therapy or counselling skills.

q I wish I could find the words to attract potential clients.

q I have tried advertising, PR, cold-calling, networking … but been disappointed by the results.

q Will I ever be able to trust a marketing process, will the future always be uncertain?

q I have achieved all I want, but having got there I find I am trapped in my own practice.

1. Design the Ideal Practice

In order to do the things we want to do, it helps to have a clear-cut vision of where we are going.

Ø Who are your favourite clients right now?

Ø What are your greatest successes?

Ø If you had a gift that you could give to those trapped by low energy, motivation, depression, anxiety etc., what would it be?

Ø What would you do even if you were not being paid to do it?

To grow a garden, we need to decide what type of plants we want to grow. Are we attempting to reach large corporates, mid-market businesses or consumers? Have we a previous speciality in teaching, HR, family, Finance, Law or IT? What are our natural talents – design? Organising? Influencing? Or Listening? Where have we lots of contacts - in crafts, retail, the City, or media? Which of these people will we love working with – even on days that don’t pay much?

How many days do we want to work? Which days? Two years ago, I chose to work a four-day week, forty weeks per year. Everything in my business is now designed to support that: the diary, the fee structure, the assistance I engage, the types of clients I work with.

But when I only had six clients, this was a big decision!

2. Successful Stories

We don’t need glossy brochures, fancy cards, or web sites to be successful. But we do need a way of telling the world what we do, in language that they can understand, in a one-to-one conversation that people find engaging.

“I am a coach” doesn’t work. Neither does “I am a therapist”. If we are going to attract clients, we need to get out of the “I am a …” habit. Let’s start to think up and design a few alternatives. A good seven-second introduction is more powerful than £10,000 worth of advertising or PR.

Language is the key. The ability to get into another’s shoes totally changes our language. Just as we have never seen the nose on our own face, we need another human being in order to get the language right. The benefits are doing so are huge:

Ø immediate increase in confidence

Ø being attractive to potential clients, and other people who might be able to identify them for us

Ø the joy of being ourselves and expressing that, rather than some plastic persona that we feel obliged to create

Ø ultimately, we can delegate the prospecting to others, and give potential clients the language that allows them to identify themselves to us - rather than us trying to find them.

(Just imagine if I had written this in legal jargon!)

3. The Client Journey

Once we know who our ideal clients are, once we have the language that reaches them, we have prepared the ground and are ready to plant some seeds. In order to do so, sooner or later we have to go outdoors. Just as we cannot grow a garden by watching Alan Titchmarsh on TV, we have to put on the old trainers and face outdoors in springtime.

We can feel shivery in the garden in February. We can feel very sensitive when we start to disclose our profession to others. Perhaps they will scoff, or question our competence. Perhaps they will sidle away from the “psycho” word.

So, we need some warm clothes to protect us in early spring. Our seven-second introduction is one such garment. Knowing specifically who we are looking for is another. But the really protective “macintosh” is having a simple follow-up system – that is respectful, engaging, and does not threaten people.

Here’s an example. If you are busy, would you like to receive “100 Tips to Find Time”. If so please email amttips@success121.com Is it OK if we include you in our monthly email newsletter, which is not a brochure, but similar tips and stories?

Did you feel threatened by those last two questions? Here are two follow-up systems, and we haven’t even met yet! There are dozens to choose from – come along and pick one that suits you.

If we know where we will meet ideal clients, and we know what our follow-up system is, meeting people is easy. You can just turn-up and enjoy the occasion. You know what you do, and can say that in a way that engages attention. You have a follow-up system, which you can use with anyone who has given their permission. As you will see when we meet, the rest is easy.

Going Forward

These are the first steps, the first hurdles to a national reputation if you want it. For me and dozens of my coaching clients, there is no Plan B required. It’s so simple, it’s deceptive. If it doesn’t work, the kids wont eat! But if my client’s reputations are bringing them all the business they want year after year, I think I can trust the process. Many of us enjoy high incomes, and there is no reason why you should not be equally rewarded for your outstanding service.

“If I had four hours to cut down a tree, I would spend three of them sharpening my axe” A.Lincoln.

Further information

For further information, please call Dawn Shepherd on 01908-201 121, or email dawn@success121.com For a copy of “100 Tips to Find Time”, email amttips@success121.com .