Continually add more value and attract more clients

If you’re anything like me, you’re being bombarded with ezines and emails that continually try to sell you something. Sometimes a particular ezine even arrives on a daily basis, and truthfully, I sit there at my desk, wondering why I subscribe, so much so that I often unsubscribe just as fast as I sign up for them.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I strongly believe in marketing and promoting what you’ve got (with consistency and conviction) because it’s the answer to someone’s problem, and if you’ve been given a talent and a gift for helping others, you OWE it to them to let them know you’re out there.

But it’s HOW you promote that makes all the difference. I consider it a turn-off when I’m being sold to again and again, without getting much value otherwise. It just feels icky sometimes and, because I don’t have a lot of extra time in my day (who does?), I’d rather not get any additional stuff I can’t really use.

On the flip side, if I’m getting value and I find it helpful, then I’m OK with some promo here or there. Kinda like reading a magazine. If the articles are really good, then I don’t mind the ads (and often, the ads are something that I’m interested in.) But if there’s not much content or value, then I don’t want any of it, not the articles, and not the ads either.

I was on a group coaching call led by Thomas Leonard  a few years ago, and although I don’t remember the exact topic of the call, I remember one thing he said very distinctly:

To build a large network and attract lots of clients, you need to continually add value, just for the fun of it. However simple this statement (and the longer I’m in business, the more I realize that it’s the SIMPLE things that are the most powerful), it’s one that struck me like lightening and has stayed with me ever since.

Thomas was a MASTER of adding value. I remember him giving a LOT of information, so every time I got an email from him (an ezine or something else) I read it without fail, the WHOLE thing. And when he launched a product or service and promoted it, I read that too. That’s because he added value no matter what he did. He used to say, the more value you give, the more people want to “hang out” around you, the more they’ll follow your lead, the more they’ll recommend you.

His theory, as he stated once, was to offer lots of freebie stuff of value, just for the fun of it, to help others. This built him a HUGE network of people reading his ezines, going to his teleclasses, buying his products and reading his books, in just a short time—over 10,000 people at the time that he spoke about this.

The theory he shared with us was this:

FREEbie, FREEbie, FREEbie, fee, FREEbie, FREEbie, FREEbie, fee.

Because he was providing such fantastic no-charge content and value, people were naturally attracted to him and referred lots of others to him. When he offered something for a fee, people jumped on it. Their perception was probably similar to mine: if his FREEbie stuff is that good, his FEE stuff must be GREAT! And it always was.

You Client Attraction Assignment:

Start thinking of how you can add value, continually and in everything that you do, just for the fun of it. Based on the elements I use listed above, what can YOU start offering to your network, your clients, and at networking meetings? Make a list of them and then start doing them on a regular basis. Over a very short period of time, you’ll start getting a large following as well as clients and referrals, in a way you’ve never had before.