by LENA ELKINS via Forbes
As an award-winning business and marketing strategist for businesses internationally, I’ve worked with thousands of entrepreneurs who feel stuck, confused and overwhelmed by what it takes to break through plateaus. The “rules” of client-based business success are nothing like they were even one year ago. Leads are more expensive to generate than ever. Building an organic and engaged audience via avenues like Facebook is increasingly difficult, and finding consistent, high-paying customers requires you to have a larger, more validated platform and brand voice.
I want to share five bite-sized nuggets of wisdom that will help you gain the clarity and confidence you need to launch and grow your business in the year to come.
1. The riches are in the niches.
Get clear on the 2-5 things you offer, and don’t extend yourself beyond that. If you look at the most successful online-based businesses today, you’ll see that they speak to a very specific audience. Think about it from the client’s point of view: If they’re scrolling through Facebook and see two ads, one for entrepreneurs in general to grow their businesses and one that speaks to their exact business pain point (lead generation, sales, Facebook ads, content marketing, etc.) for the exact type of business that they own (coaching, consulting, agency, etc.), which do you think they’re going to click on?
With so much distracting noise online today, you have a small window of about three seconds to grab your ideal client’s attention. So make sure that your offer is dialed into a few core solutions to a few core problems. Don’t be afraid to niche down, get clear on the exact person you’re trying to serve and craft hyper-specific solutions.
It might seem like you’re missing out on a lot of sales, but it will weed out the people who aren’t right for you and solely attract your dream clients.
2. High-ticket sales lead to high results.
Don’t be afraid to raise your prices. Believe it or not, pricing your offers at $5,000-plus is the very best thing you can do for your clients. You see, when people learn that you aren’t a “cheap” solution, a few key things happen.
First, they’re going to respect you more and see you as an in-demand authority in your space, as opposed to thinking, “Why do they charge so little? Is there something wrong with them?” When investing at a high price point, your client is also going to have more skin in the game and be more committed to getting results.
Over the years, my business has steadily raised its prices from $3,000 on average to $10,000 and has never seen a drop in sales. In fact, we’ve seen an increase in the quality of clients, their commitment to the program and the results they generate.
Typically, the roadblock that prevents entrepreneurs from raising their prices is their own insecurity of not being “good enough” to charge more. Remember that smart, driven clients don’t care about you being the best of the best in your industry. They simply want you to help them achieve a result faster than they can figure out themselves. So if you can offer that solution in an accelerated and impactful way, you should have no internal quarrels with charging more.
It’s often the most strategic thing you can do to get “unstuck” in your income and start attracting the clients who will respect your rates.
3. User experience is everything.
In order to deeply understand your target market, you have to understand the journey they’re enduring. You have to imagine yourself going through that experience, dealing with that pain and trying to find solutions to solve it.
If you thought about the full user journey, from the time your client first joined your Facebook group, to them opting into a lead magnet, to them receiving emails from you, you would probably do things a lot differently. You’d speak to them like a friend instead of just another lead. You’d be more authentic in your copy and messaging. You’d create custom content and offers that you knew would solve their problem.
If you can fully comprehend their user journey and express that deep understanding in your messaging, they’re going to connect with you 10 times faster.
4. Get a hold of your traffic channels.
Most business owners don’t have a clear strategy to drive traffic to their content. Instead, it’s like throwing darts at a dartboard and hoping something sticks.
Instead, think of traffic in two core categories: traffic you control (social media ads, Google ads, etc.) and traffic you don’t (your Facebook group, blog, podcast interviews, etc.). Your goal is to actively use all of these elements to develop omnipresence and show up consistently in front of the right people.
You should know which platforms are the most lucrative to you and which you should ignore. If you can get clear on your traffic channels, building a targeted email list and audience is easy.
5. Tap into the genius of experts.
Every successful client-based entrepreneur I know got started on their journey with the help of someone who had been in their shoes before. This isn’t because they didn’t think they could learn the skills on their own or reach their own success independently — they could have. But strategic, ambitious, client-based entrepreneurs recognize the value of their timeline. They can eventually reach $30,000 a month in the next two years alone, or they can leverage the genius of a mentor who has already achieved it and can help get them there in a fraction of the time without dealing with the same roadblocks.
Lena Elkins is an award-winning Business & Marketing Strategist, speaker and thought leader. via Forbes