Photo Courtesy of Steven Lilley Flickr
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
– Ancient Chinese Proverb
Every couple of weeks I get a call from someone trying to fill an empty training programme, and asking if I can send the details out to my audience. But their issue is inevitably this: they haven’t developed a strong relationship with their audience. So here’s the broad outline I think through when I’m ready to start cultivating relationships with a new group of people. This is the approach I used when I grew an email list of over 80,000 people starting in 2003, and it’s the approach I use today.
NB. The whole process is based on the idea that we each live in a separate, Thought-generated perceptual reality. Understanding the *fact* of this is crucial to understanding how to build an audience / tribe. The number one mistake I see most people making when it comes to getting clients is this: they communicate based on what *they* value instead of what their prospective *client* values.
Here’s how I think about it…
1. Audience: Identify a specific group of people (E.g. Stressed out nurses, accountants who want to change career, entrepreneurs who have just sold their company).
2. Result: Get clear on what those individuals would experience as a “beyond my wildest dreams” result. What’s the thing they’d love to have happen / have handled for them that they’d jump at the chance of?
Obviously, this involved *communicating* with those people, asking questions, getting answers and really finding out what’s on their mind.
3. Greenhouse: What’s would be a good “greenhouse” for cultivating relationships with those people? Choose one!
Examples include…
– Facebook groups
– email newsletters
– networking groups
– meetup groups
– country clubs
– LinkedIn groups
– etc
You want to choose a greenhouse that will be a good fit for the audience you’re speaking to. Eg for F500 CEOs, a Facebook group may not be a good fit, while for stressed out nurses it could be.
4. Invitation: Work out how can you invite people to your greenhouse in a way that is easy for them to say “yes” to.
This means jumping into their reality and getting clear on what they’re preoccupied with. Attention is at a premium these days, so if your message isn’t compelling and relevant – if it doesn’t stand out – you’re going to be ignored.
How can you make it easy for them to enter your greenhouse?
5. Service: Once they’re in your greenhouse it’s time to connect with them, demonstrate the value you bring and educate them in what you offer.
If you do this effectively, you’re going to have a group of people who are eager to do business with you.
This is one of the things we go into in-depth on Project Glasswing, by the way. If you want to be considered for the next intake, and work with me and my team on growing your practice… email Nikki at info@jamiesmart.com and type “Project Glasswing” in the subject line.
Big love
Jamie
Jamie Smart
Sunday Times Bestselling Author, Speaker and Executive Coach
PLUS: Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you get the clarity and results that matter to you:
1. Hire me to speak at your event
If you want an entertaining and impactful keynote speech or breakout session for your conference, offsite or town hall meeting, click here https://www.jamiesmart.com/book-jamie-to-speak-about/
2. Apply for the 2017 intake of the Certified Clarity Coach Training Programme
If you want to be part of the class of 2017, this year’s intake of the Certified Clarity Coach Training Programme starts in September. You can find all the details and get your application in here: https://www.jamiesmart.com/clarity-coach-training-sh/
3. Join the Profitable Coaches Group
Join the Profitable Coaches Professional Group and connect with the growing community of like-minded transformation professionals who are passionate about exponentially increasing their grounding, impact and their livelihood. You can join for free at https://www.jamiesmart.com/profitable/
4. Join the next intake of Project Glasswing
We’re putting together a new practice-building case study group at Coaching Package Power. Stay tuned for details… If you’d like to work with me and my team on growing your practice… email Nikki at info@jamiesmart.com and type “Project Glasswing” in the subject line.
PLUS: check these out :
Get your free Profitable Coaches Scorecard book www.JamieSmart.com/scorecard
Listen to the Results Mindset Podcast www.JamieSmart.com/resultspodcast
Listen to The Profitable Coaches Podcast www.JamieSmart.com/pcp
Read the first 2 chapters of my Sunday Times Bestseller RESULTS: Think Less, Achieve More www.JamieSmart.com/instantresults