5 Reasons to Create a Plan to Attract More Clients (Entrepreneurs, Life Coaches, Consultants)

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Do you wonder, “Haven’t I done enough to attract more clients?”

After her morning journaling session, Hillary flips open her planner. It’s Monday. Sadly, no coaching client appointments this week. Or next.

“Sheesh. I feel like I’ve done enough to attract more clients. Why’s it not working?”

Hillary checks her inbox. No messages from potential clients. She doesn’t feel energized to start her work day. Not yet. She clicks to Instagram. 

She sees thousands of posts by other life coaches. Ouch. She’s been absent from social media for weeks. But still…Hillary knows she can help, empower, and impact her dream clients.

While downing her third strong coffee, she flips through her folder with ideas, notes, and articles around client attraction strategy. Nothing clicks. Hillary feels indecisive.

She doesn’t want to follow a boring plan to attract more clients. She doesn’t want to waste time on content her clients aren’t interested in. And, she wants to post social media content with authenticity, confidence, and passion so she can engage future clients.

Problem is, she doesn’t know where to start.

Hillary’s strategy is to engage and attract more clients so she can help them with her expertise and gifts. She wants to create content without self doubt. 

• Why post on social media if you can’t inspire potential clients?
• Why create marketing content if no one is liking, clicking, or sharing?
• How do you keep showing up online if you’re in doubt about what to say?

At the end of the day, you want to grow an audience, build your brand, create an email list, and start relationships with new clients who’re interested in what you offer, right?! After all, it’s the bloody reason you do marketing in the first place.

Let’s pull this apart, shall we?

Why you want an intentional plan to attract more clients

If your strategy is to attract more clients, even though it sounds all *marketing-ish*, first set your intentions and then, create your plan. 

Yes, put on your big-girl pants and commit to creating your marketing strategy and action plan. Your way.

If creating-a-plan-to-attract-more-clients sounds about as exciting as a trip to the dentist, it doesn’t have to be. Put together your marketing goals into a plan that you like, enjoy doing, and will follow through on.

For a variety of reasons, I hear from lots of life coaches and solopreneurs that marketing isn’t something they’re excited about. Often, it’s because they feel like they don’t have experience in working with a marketing plan.

It won’t come as a surprise, women coaches feel like marketing activities are going to make them feel pushy or salesy.

Eeuw, right?!

Or, they don’t know where to start because they think they have to do *all the things* that gurus say are so-called must dos. It’s overwhelming.

If that’s you, you’re in the right place. 

Today’s post shares 5 reasons why you want to become intentional about your marketing plan. Also, why you want to be purposeful about growing your business, by assembling a plan to attract more clients–that is totally your own.

Reason #01) Client relationships are gold

Being your own boss is wonderful, isn’t it?! Even so, we all know the reality of being a life coach, consultant, or solopreneur is that you wear a ton of hats. 

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been serving clients for a few years, you’re likely a one-woman show. Not to mention, you have a life and family outside of your coaching business. 

Nonetheless, when it comes to finances, conducting one-on-one or group coaching sessions, launching or maintaining your website (even if you have tech help), invoicing and collecting client fees, getting taxes done, creating content, showing up on social media to build your audience of future clients –well it’s mostly on you. Am I right or am I right?! 

I can tell you, from sad experience, that it’s too easy to get caught up in all *the things*, and let the most lucrative business building actions slip, like…

• Developing relationships with potential clients
• Nurturing a potential client until they’re ready to become a paying client.
• Making offers to join your coaching or training programs.

We can all agree, attracting paying clients to your business boils down to starting relationships with them. 

Happily, you have tons of choices when it comes to starting potential client relationships. You can:

• Request a referral from friends, past clients, existing customers, business owner friends
• Meet and connect with future clients in groups (online or in the real world)
• Show up and engage with them on social media
• Be a guest on podcasts that share your audience of ideal clients
• Write introductory emails to friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances

…and so many more.

Here’s a post with an intro email example for a career coach that you can model.

While there are boatloads of ways to connect and start relationships with future clients,  your very first action step is to determine what your *attract more clients roadmap* looks like. You want to find out what works best for you, don’t you?

If you haven’t already done so, dive in and type up a plan of all the client-generating possibilities that you want to try. Listen, your plan can be a list, Google doc, Word document, calendar, or spreadsheet, it’s totally your choice. 

Reason #02) Marketing to attract more clients is the lifeblood of your business

The truth is, if you don’t proactively get the word out about your coaching / consulting services–the client or customer you want to work with will have a tough time finding you. After all, you love serving your clients, right? Yes, you do! 

If we connect the dots, that means serving your clients begins with marketing to attract and connect with them. As a mindful, mission-focused solopreneur, you believe in serving first, right?

Another mindset shift you can take when setting your intention (planning) to attract more clients: when you market to attract clients, you’re not selling. You’re not doing traditional advertising. Not by a long shot. 

Instead, marketing really is educating clients about what’s possible for them once they work with you, solve their problems, and reach the promised land of who they want to be. If you think about marketing as educating, you’re simply sharing your knowledge.

So promise me this, you’ll get excited about sharing your knowledge.

To become committed to a plan to market your business without feeling pushy, think of marketing as an invitation. You’re pouring your heart and expertise into your wonderful content and getting it out there.

Feel good about sharing your best ideas for future clients (who don’t know you yet) so they can discover your talents and expertise.

It all boils down to this, marketing is sharing your one-of-a-kind insights and experience. Don’t forget, there’s only one you. 

Sharing your knowledge is fun, don’t you agree?

Question for you…

How inspired are you when you think about the struggling ideal client you’re going to impact, after she finds you?

Reason #03) Your calendar’s now jam-packed with *attract more client actions*

Truth: it’s too easy to take care of others (family and clients) and not realize that we’re letting our most important business actions—finding and nurturing clients—fall by the wayside.

To make sure you’re intentional about your weekly client attraction actions, develop a Client Attraction Plan and commit to it.  After all, you want a marketing strategy that represents how you intend to grow your business.

Set aside in your calendar the days / times you intend to:

• Spend time on the 2 top social media sites your future clients prefer, so you can engage them 
• Plan your weekly content topics one month in advance
• Create your weekly podcast, blog, or video ahead of the day you record or publish
• Email your list, inviting them to enjoy your weekly podcast or blog
• Develop new programs, services for clients 
• Develop new ways to build your email list with potential clients 

Reason #04) Never wake up thinking, “What do I post on social media today?”

Life coaches often tell me that they wish they didn’t wake up each day and agonize over…

What do I post on social media today? 

What topics are my clients interested in?

How do I create content that engages the clients who are interested in my services?

 

Tell me, have you ever felt like that? It’s safe to say, you’re not alone; lots of coached have been there.

Happily, when you’ve added *planning in advance* to your client attraction / engaging actions, you’ll start each morning with one less thing to fret about.  

More good news, coming up with your content *before* you need to post it, becomes part of your new business normal. Just like engaging and connecting with clients does. Which leads us to reason five…

Reason #05) Stop disappearing from social media for days or weeks

First, decide how high a priority ‘engaging with dream clients on social media’ is for your marketing strategy. 

To make this evaluation, think of your social media this way; you’re showing up and sharing your insights, expertise, and a glimpse of what it’s like to work with you.

Truth be told, engaging potential clients on social media may not be your jam. You may have other ways for engaging, connecting with, and nurturing folks who are likely to become your new paying clients.  

However, if you determine that *showing up and sharing snippets of your expertise* plays a role in your client attraction efforts, you’ll find it easier to engage future clients consistently once you’ve made that decision. 

Now, you can be purposeful and choose exactly how often you want to show up on social media and what you wish to accomplish. 

By committing to your marketing strategy (your Plan to Attract More Clients), when you do show up you’ll have the content you want to share all ready to go. 

That way, the time you’re interacting on social media is filled with taking meaningful actions, such as…

1. Posting your thoughtful, pre-prepared content (with links back to your website)
2. Sharing other people’s social media posts and content 
3. Commenting on your potential clients’ posts
4. Being your authentic self 
5. Following people who could become your clients (and sharing their posts) 
6. Engaging with dream clients 
7. Giving a shout out to people who share valuable ideas, tips, insights
8. Saying a social media (public) thank you to those who’ve helped you along your entrepreneurial journey 

And all the other best practices that come with *being social* on social media.

Now what? You have the perfect reason to celebrate!

Yes, take the time to acknowledge your progress of putting your marketing strategy into action. When can you celebrate? 

In case you wondered, here are just some of the milestones you deserve to revel in!

• Writing and hitting *publish* on your 1st blog post
• Completing your website content 
• Sending your website content off to the web designer
• Updating your life coach services page
• Signing up for your email service (for example Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Mailer lite)
• Writing and publishing your 2nd or 12th blog post
• Sending your first email message to your list
• Pushing send on your 2nd email to your list community  
• Creating your first lead magnet
• Recording your first podcast or video
• Writing and hitting *publish* on ANY blog post
• Doing your first Facebook live 

Conclusion // why you must create a plan to attract more clients

If you’ve been avoiding putting together a plan to attract more clients, please remind yourself of why you started your business in the first place.

You want to empower others, who struggle with the issues you’ve solved for yourself, to get past their barriers, right? You have unique skills and talents that no one else has.

Set aside time in your calendar so that taking actions to attract more clients is part of your week. You owe it to the customers, clients who can learn best from you. Your future clients will thank you!

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