When it comes to your mission, it’s not about you
If you’ve been reading my newsletter for a while, you know I’m willing to get open and vulnerable about my personal journey, even when it’s a little scary. Well, hang on to your garters, as my mom likes to say, because I’m about to “go there” again…
One of the things I’ve been working on this year is the bigger vision for my business and my life. You know, the answer to that question, “What’s the point of all this?”
What’s really cool is, after tons of inner work and patience and moving the “inner gunk” out of my system… that big picture is starting to emerge, and the details are pretty clear. (And I can honestly say that it was there all along – I’d just been stuffing it, in so many ways.)
What’s terrifying is: Now I have to actually go DO it.
It’s terrifying because it means speaking up, standing out, and taking a public stand for something I deeply believe in – something that others have been persecuted and even killed for. (I feel compelled to add here that “drama queen” is not my middle name. *grin*)
So there I was, whining to my coach. I can’t do this! This is too hard! I’m just getting used to teetering around in high heels over here! Cut me some slack, Jack!
And she just said, “Elizabeth, this is not about you anymore. This is about serving other people.”
So why am I sharing this private kick-in-the-pants with my tribe? Because I know I’m not the only one who needs to hear this message.
If you have the inspiration or urge to do something, create something, even if it seems crazy… that urge is not just you. Something is trying to emerge through you. You may not feel Divinely inspired, or that Spirit is tapping you on the shoulder. But something is trying to come through you, and it’s not about you.
Whatever that something is… chances are, it’s bigger than you (even if it doesn’t seem that way). Ultimately, it’s not about you. Each and every one of us has a choice: to push past all discomfort and step into this greater good… or not.
Last night, I was listening to a homestudy course from one of my new mentors, speaking coach James Malinchak. Scott Sullivan, founder and CEO of Caring 4 Kids, was speaking onstage. It’s very rare that a line in a homestudy course stops me cold, so to speak, but something he said did just that:
“Inside you is a plan, a purpose and a mission. And if you’re not getting every ounce of your potential out of you, you need to walk through the door of contribution and selfless service, and watch what shows up in your life.”
May we all find the courage within us to walk through that door. Bright blessings and massive success to you…
PS: To learn more on Scott and Caring 4 Kids, check out their website his Wikipedia entry and this video on YouTube.
How To Uncover The Results That Make Your Clients Want To Buy From You
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: “Don’t talk about what you do, talk about the benefits and results your clients get.” And if you’re like many heart-based business owners and transformation professionals I know, hearing this time-tested marketing truth probably makes you roll your eyes a little.
After all, when you’re working on such a deep level, transformation can be hard to put into words. Even on the surface, some of what we do is, well, flat-out fuzzy and hard to describe. Besides, we can’t promise results anyway, right?
You can come up with a zillion reasons why you can’t “bottom line” what you do for your clients, but you can’t change the fundamental human truth behind the whole benefits-not-features thing: your clients don’t buy “stuff,” they buy what that stuff will do for them – specifically, the emotions they will experience as a result of getting what they want.
“You can’t fight City Hall,” as the saying goes. And if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that you can’t fight human psychology and win. Bottom line: if you can’t clearly articulate the results of using your services, you won’t sell very many of them.
So what’s a heart-centered business owner to do? Here are 3 tips on how to uncover the results of your services so that your clients clearly see what they’re really going to get when they work with you.
1. Make it physical. If your service feels “fuzzy” or feel-good, or if you struggle to describe the deep transformation you facilitate in your clients, it’s time to get physical. All transformation has a physical manifestation, somewhere and somehow. How does your work “show up” for your clients in the physical world?
Let’s say you’re a healer who helps her clients dissolve the inner blocks that keep them stuck. Once those blocks are gone, what happens then? How will the removal of those blocks show up here on the physical plane? They might be able to finally find a relationship, or get a higher-paying job, or more and better clients. (Note that this is a general, unfocused example. If you do this kind of work, you’ll want to get really specific on what areas of life and specific problems you focus on.)
2. Don’t do all the work! When it comes to results and outcomes, your clients know a thing or two – namely, they know what they WANT. Most heart-centered “change agents” can create all kinds of transformation. What outcomes are your clients really looking for? It’s for them to say, and for you to find out – through connection, surveys, and especially in your potential client conversations.
3. What’s the impact? When clients work with you, what’s the real impact of your work? How does it ripple out to every aspect of their lives? Start with just one outcome they could get. How does getting that outcome impact their relationships, home life, spiritual life, and finances? (And yes, your work impacts their finances, even if you can’t see it directly right now.)
“But Elizabeth, I can’t promise results!” If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard this from spirited entrepreneurs, I’d, well… I’d have a heck of a lot of nickels. So if the thought of “promising results” stops you cold, you’re not alone. But guess what?
There isn’t a single transformation professional on the planet who can “promise results.” Why? Because your clients have to show up and do their work! It’s not about promises you can’t keep, it’s about possibility. And no matter what, the client has to do their part. (Yep, this applies to healers, such as acupuncturists and energy workers, who are extra concerned about this issue because of liability.)
When you say things like “I can’t promise results,” you’re really taking on a responsibility which lies with your clients… which isn’t cool, or healthy boundaries, or even possible. Be them positive or negative, your clients own their outcomes. Instead, focus on holding the space of possibility of the results your clients can step into when they make new choices.
(Did you catch the energy difference between “I can’t do that” and “holding the space of possibility”? My coach’s request to you: check out how each of those feels in your body. Which would you rather experience? Whichever it is, you can bet your clients are feeling it too!)
© 2009 Elizabeth Genco Purvis. All Rights Reserved.
Want to use this article on your website, blog or in your own ezine? No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:
Elizabeth Genco Purvis, “The Marketing Goddess” teaches spirited solo business owners and conscious entrepreneurs how to attract an abundance of clients, income, freedom and satisfaction in their business while staying true to their values. Visit MarketingGoddess.com to claim your copy of “Grow Your Business With Spirit And Soul,” a 7-part audio workshop with everything you need to begin attracting more clients right away.
Does The Abundance You Seek Have A Way To Get To You?
I know it’s not always cool to admit it, but back when the movie The Secret came out, I was overjoyed. And not for the reason you might think.
One of the things that I am a passionate stand for is the value of metaphysical thought. Even with the boom in new age publishing and the prevalence of mind-body-spirit disciplines like yoga, the esoteric thought that is the basis of so much of our self-help literature still doesn’t get the respect it deserves.
Frankly, this makes me crazy! So when movies like The Secret (and Da Vinci Code, for that matter) peek out from behind the veil, so to speak, I get very excited, despite their flaws.
In the case of The Secret, I was truly taken in. And the next thing you know, I’m writing $20k checks to the Universe and posting them on my bulletin board. I wrote pages of affirmations, and spent waaaay too much of my morning altar time concentrating on said checks and re-reading those affirmations and visualizing very, very hard.
Inevitably, I would get disappointed time and time again when what I’d wished, hoped, prayed, and affirmed for failed to show up. (The fact that I’d been a practitioner of manifestation for over a dozen years just made it worse. Hello, shouldn’t I know better? Hello!)
As you might imagine, there were many times when I called my faith and manifestation skills into question. For many long months, I was down on myself.
But throughout all that time, I never doubted the process. I knew the process worked, there was just something that I was missing. Finally I realized that amid all of that affirming and visualizing, I’d overlooked the most important thing of all: creating a path for the abundance to come in.
One of my mentors likes to say, “The Universe wants you to have what you want, even more than you do.” But if you’re not prepared to receive what you want, you will never experience it.
Creating a path for the abundance to come in takes place on 2 levels: inner and outer. Internally, you have to do the work to bring your beliefs about money and yourself (i.e., self worth) into alignment so that you can receive money. You can say you want more money ’til the cows come home, but if you don’t truly believe yourself worthy to receive it, you will push it away… again and again and again. (That was my challenge for a long time.)
Meanwhile, on the outside, abundance will come to you quicker and easier when you give it a path to follow. For example, let’s say that you want to manifest $20,000 in one month, and you currently offer your service in 1-on-1 single sessions of 30 minutes each. How easy is it going to be for Spirit to bring you what you seek? (As opposed, to, say, a package that you can easily and ethically charge $5k for.)
Of course, Spirit can always find ways to give us the abundance we seek, even when we can’t see them. But I also believe in following the path of least resistance. That includes creating products, programs and services as channels for Spirit to bring abundance to me.
If you’re struggling to manifest something in your life and business right now, I invite you to take a look at where you may be putting up the barriers. Does the Universe have a clear path to bring what you want to you? Be sure to look on the inside first, at your limiting thoughts and beliefs that may be choking the flow. Then be proactive and practical on the outside, and look for ways to make Spirit’s job a little easier. (This is an energetic alignment as well.)
Remember, the Universe wants you to have what you want, even more than you do. Bright blessings and massive success to you…
More Business Is Yours For The Asking (But You Have To Ask!)
So you talk about your biz with anyone who will listen, Tweet up a storm about your stuff and “get out there” all the time. But the results aren’t showing up for you (yet!). What gives?
If you were a client in one of my programs, I’d gently ask, “So are you asking for the business?”
More clients are yours for the asking, but you have to ask! You have to be very explicit about what the next step is, and yes, you have to ask your peeps to take it. In copywriting, it’s called a call to action: click here to order, sign up, book a session, or whatever your offer may be.
Now if this feels weird or pushy to you, let me assure you… asking them doesn’t mean chasing them! It just means you’re making it easy.
Take a minute now and put yourself in your client’s well-worn shoes. Maybe she’s looking at your website after a long day. She’s exhausted but the client magnet copy on your site catches her interest and she thinks, “Hrm.” She glances around for a way to contact you…. but the link is buried away somewhere. She really is interested but… it all seems like too much effort right now. (Sound familiar?) There goes someone you might have been able to help. Tragic!
Asking also makes it easy for your clients because follow-up is YOUR job, not theirs. If they’ve worked with you before and gotten great results (and even better, had a great experience in the process), chances are very good they’ll want to come back for more. But it’s not their job to be checking back with you to see if you have something new. Instead, it’s YOUR job to make life easy by checking in with them from time to time to say, “Don’t know if you’ll be interested, but I just wanted to let you know about [X].”
Several months ago now, I got a funny reminder of this myself when I was on the phone with MY coach. I reported that I’d just put together some brand spankin’ new coaching packages that I was VERY excited about, and within a few days, I’d had conversations about them with 2 potential clients who had come to ME after seeing some of my recent marketing.
He said, “You have a list of past clients and students who have taken classes with you, right?”
Me: “Right.”
Him: “So have you picked up the phone and started inviting people?”
I had to laugh. (This right here is a great example of why it’s so important to have a coach, by the way.)
Here are 5 places to boldly ask for the next step:
1. On your website. You should have a call to action on EVERY page. Yes, every page! If it’s not a page where your clients order a specific product or service, your call to action should be, “Here’s how to contact me.”
2. In your newsletter. Your newsletter is a value exchange. In exchange for providing great content, you get to let your readers know about your products and services. Always promote something in your newsletter, and include an explicit call to action to invite your readers to go to a page where they can find out more.
3. In your promotions. Double-check that your order links work and that it’s very clear what action you wish your readers to take.
4. At the end of a conversation. If you’ve connected with someone, be sure to ask “May I get your card and follow up with you?” If you’re talking to a client about signing up for your service, an authentic way to boldly ask for the business without pushing is to ask, “So is this something you’d like to move forward with?” (I LOVE this question!)
5. In a follow-up. If they’re not ready to move forward now, ask, “When would be a good time to check in again?” If you’re still in the “getting to know you” stage and business isn’t on the table yet, a great invitation is “May I invite you to receive my newsletter?” (Compare this to “Can I add you to my newsletter?”)
The more often you ask for business, the more business you’ll receive. (Another way to think of it: “If you never ask, the answer is always no.”) Train yourself to boldly and authentically ask for business as a matter of course, and soon you’ll have more than you can handle.
Need more help on boldly asking for the business, especially in a potential client conversation? Make sure you’re on my next f’r'ee training call on November 16 with my friend Helen Graves, where she will share simple, practical tips on how to transform interested potential clients into happily invested, high-paying clients. Few coaches teach this sensitive and important topic as well as Helen, which is why I can’t wait to share her wisdom with you! Register here (yes, the call will be recorded if you can’t make it): http://www.marketinggoddess.com/helen.html
© 2009 Elizabeth Genco Purvis. All Rights Reserved.
Want to use this article on your website, blog or in your own ezine? No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:
Elizabeth Genco Purvis, “The Marketing Goddess” teaches spirited solo business owners and conscious entrepreneurs how to attract an abundance of clients, income, freedom and satisfaction in their business while staying true to their values. Visit MarketingGoddess.com to claim your copy of “Grow Your Business With Spirit And Soul,” a 7-part audio workshop with everything you need to begin attracting more clients right away.
Next Free Training Call! November 16 @ 7:30pm EST
Register here: http://www.MarketingGoddess.com/helen.html
If you want to help a lot of people and create a big impact, then having authentic sales conversations is one skill you MUST master. Why? Because you can only help them after they say YES!
That’s why I’ve asked my good friend and fellow Money, Marketing And SoulTM coach, Helen Graves to share space with me for a special one-time-only training call…
“What To Say If You Hate To Sell:
3 Ethical Steps To Get Your Clients To Say YES”
With Helen Graves and Elizabeth Genco Purvis
When it comes to mastering the art of authentic selling, Helen is an expert and a masterful trainer. Many of Helen’s clients and students turn 7 out of 10 potential client conversations into paying clients after studying with her. (Also? She’s funny and wise and wonderful. That’s a just sayin’.)
You Really Need To Be On This Call If…
1. You can’t tolerate being sales-y or pushy when you talk about your services.
2. You struggle to find words when on the telephone with new potential clients
3. You spend a lot of time on the phone with potential clients, but don’t get many YESes.
4. You INSIST on being heart-centered and authentic in your “selling conversations” with prospective clients
5. You want a reliable system for enrolling 7 out of 10 of these clients-to-be over the telephone.
Mark your calendar:
November 16, 2009 @ 7:30 PM EST
Register here:
Elizabeth Purvis, a.k.a. “The Marketing Goddess” mentors extraordinary spiritual women entrepreneurs to 6-figures and beyond.
