I was talking with a potential client last week.  We were talking about her frustration with her business.

Despite my best efforts to stop her, she was well into a rather long-winded story about how she doesn’t really understand why her business is doing so poorly, because she has such a positive attitude.  She said that no matter what happens she looks on the bright side.  She loses a potential client, she stays optimistic; she bungles a potential deal, she doesn’t let it throw her; she runs out of money in her business account, she doesn’t sweat it.

She had a great sense of pride as she told me this.  I gently asked her, “So what do you learn, and what do you do differently when these things happen?” There was silence on the other end of the phone.  I relaxed into the silence while she thought. Then, in a small voice which was quavering a little, she said, “Well, nothing really, I guess.  I just try to keep a positive frame of mind and hope it all works out.”

Really?  She hopes it all works out!?!

Hope is not a strategy! It became crystal clear why this smart, talented woman has a business that was going nowhere.  Yes, mindset is extremely important—you hear that from me all the time.  Attitude is important, too—but contrary to popular belief, attitude is NOT everything!  Strategy, focus, smart planning, execution, daily action—that’s everything!

And here’s what else I know for sure—this woman is not the only one. I can’t tell you how many variations of this I hear from women every week as I talk to them about their businesses.

So here are three quick ways to get clients into your business now, so you don’t have to rely on “hope.”

1.  Define your tribe, your peeps, your niche.

Who can you help the most?  Who would you love working with?  The place where those intersect is your tribe.

For me, it’s women entrepreneurs.  Can I help men?  Sure.  Do I love working with them?  Not nearly as much as I love working with women.  Do I turn men away?  No.  Do I market to them, and target my copy to them.  Nope—I target my marketing and my copy to my perfect target market—my peeps.  You.

2.  Get out and speak.

Yes, you! Speaking is one of the fastest paths to clients and cash.  It positions you as an expert, lets you talk to audiences made up of your perfect target market, and gives you an opportunity to sell to them in a way that’s not “pushy” or “sales-y.”  Client attraction just doesn’t get any better than this.  You get to speak to people “one-to-many” instead of just “one-to-one.”

Know the purpose of your speech, fine-tune your message until it’s crystal clear, develop your signature speech, and get the skills to deliver it powerfully.  As I often say, though—the only thing than not speaking is getting out there and doing it badly.

Make sure you have a solid speech and great delivery skills, then get out there and share your message.

3.  Know your numbers.

Yep, I know it’s math, but do it anyway.  Figure out how much money you want to make in your business each month.  Then figure out how many clients it will take to hit that number.

If your closing ratio is, for example, 50%, you have to talk to twice as many people that month as you need clients.  If your closing ratio is 25%, you need to talk to four times as many.

Then, figure out where those people will come from.  Networking, speaking, reaching out to former clients, and asking for referrals are all good methods of getting leads.

So there you have it–three tips to take you beyond a “positive attitude” and “hope.” to solid strategy and action.  It’s up to you to take the next step.

Please share the action you will take below.  How will you add solid strategy and action to your positive frame of mind?  What’s your first step?

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One of my mentors posted this quote on Facebook yesterday morning:

“Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says, “Oh, Crap!  She’s Up!”

I love this! And I’ve let it float around in my mind all morning, playing with its possibilities.  I’ve been asking myself, “In the context of business, what kind of woman would that be?”

She would absolutely certain of her purpose. This purpose would drive everything.  It would determine what her core message is, how she would market, and how she would talk to people.

She would make decisions that supported her purpose.  She would laser focus the actions she took.  She would not let fear stop her and would go after her goals with single-minded focus. She would do whatever it takes.

She would embrace her power and use it with grace. She would be gutsy, powerful, and constantly moving forward.  She would stand in her power boldly.

So that’s what I’ve been pondering this morning.

What about you?  Are you that kind of woman?  Does your business reflect that?

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Several years ago, I heard Alan Weiss, author of Million Dollar Consulting, speak at my chapter of the National Speakers Association.  In his talk, he talked about what he called the 1% solution. He said that if you improve by 1% each day, in 70 days, you are twice as good.

This has been floating around in my mind since that time. And I got to wondering—what if you improved every day for a year? How much better would you be then?

I’m no math whiz, so I called my cousin Stan, the financial genius.  I said, “Stan, you know about compound interest…can you figure out compound effort?”  Stan did the math, and told that if someone did 1% better 365 days in a row, they’d be 37.4 percent better!  Elise, one of my pottery buddies, a PhD student and self professed math nerd did the math another way, and got the same number.

This really is astounding!  37 times better in one year! This is the power of compounding.

What would this mean for your business?

Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing.  You want to choose some things that you could use to get 1% better every day.

Learn something.

In today’s world, you need to be an expert in your field.  Knowledge and expertise set you apart from the masses, and make you the “go to” person in your area of specialty.  You’re never done learning. Read a chapter in a book, listen to a teleseminar, read an article, do internet research, listen to a speaker—the possibilities for learning are endless.  Know 1% more each day, and you’ll know 37 times more after a year.

Know your target market/audience.

When you market to everyone, you market to no one! It’s important to know who you are meant to serve, and how you can best help them. It’s important to know how you can help solve their problems or help them reach their goals.  You need to know them intimately in order to best be of help.

Often, people are afraid to do this. They’re afraid that if they narrow their focus, if they don’t cast a wide net, that they’ll miss some opportunities.  Actually, the opposite is true.  The more you focus on a niche, the more the people in that niche feel like you are there just for them, and the more “client attractive” you become.  Focus on knowing your target market just 1% better each day and watch what happens.

Get laser focused.

Often when I talk to entrepreneurs and ask them what they do, their answer is so fuzzy and unfocused that I’m still not sure what their expertise is even after they answer.  Make sure your message is clear, focused, and on target for your listener.  You can’t be all things to all people.  Get really, really clear.

Know what sets you apart from everyone else. Know how your product or service will serve your target market.  Be able to talk about it clearly and succinctly. How can you get 1% more clear and more focused in your messaging today?

Uplevel your skill set.

Use the additional knowledge you’re gaining every day to get better and better at what you do.  Remember, if you improve just 1% a day, you’ll be 37 times better in a year.

Be a better speaker.

Speaking to an audience made up of your perfect target audience is an incredibly effective way to get clients. But you have to be good—really good. I always say, “The only thing worse than not speaking, is speaking and doing it badly.”  Study, practice, get coaching, read my e-book (link for download below).  Make a commitment to get 1% better every day so you can “wow” your audiences and attract clients.

So there you have it.  The power of a 1% daily improvement.

What will you focus on improving 1% today?  Share your thoughts below.

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Now that I’ve begun to send out a newletter, I’m making a bit of a change to this blog.  The posts will alternate…one week, a longer post–the alternating week, a “Feisty Woman’s Power Tip.”  Here’s this week’s Power Tip.

“We are the same people we were at three, six, ten, or twenty years old. More noticeably so, perhaps at six or seven, because we were not pretending so much then.”  Agatha Christie

If how you present yourself is not congruent with who you are deep within you, you won’t come across as authentic—and people will sense it.  In today’s world, authenticity trumps perfection, and sharing who you really are enables you to create connection.

Do you find yourself spending some of your energy censoring yourself, editing yourself, or trying to fit in with someone else’s notion of who you ought to be?  It’s time to let that go!

Whether you are connecting with one person at a networking event, or connecting with an audience of hundreds when giving a speech, the more “you”, the more real, the more authentic you are, the more power that connection will have.

So embrace your true essence—and give the world the gift of the “true you.”  Your connections will be so much more powerful!

© 2011 Feisty Woman Productions

Free download of Ava’s e-book: ROCK YOUR SPEAKING: Seven Secrets to Creating and Delivering Powerful Speeches that Grow Your Business, Make You Money, and Increase Your Impact

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