So you're not attracting the clients that you really want or it just feels really hard. You can't quite figure out what the barrier is between the people that you know that you want to work with and where you are and the things that you know that you can do for them. Today I'm going to be mixing it up a little because you know I'm testing and we're going to be talking about why your not attracting the clients that you want and I'm going to throw in a little bit of experience around this right now where I'm looking for a number of service providers and I'm going to be sharing without naming anybody, I'm going to be sharing some of the things that I'm finding really hard when it comes to trying to give people my money. So, stick around. This is going to get juicy.

Hey, Hey. So welcome back to the podcast. Awesome, awesome to have you here we are at episode 96 talking all about why you're not attracting the clients that you want. I've even done away with the intro today because I'm just like, let's just do this. Let's just get into this stuff. And I actually felt really passionate about talking about this today because I'm finding it really hard to work with people. I'm like, is it just me? I just want people to be proactive and use their initiative and be transparent and be responsive and be like comprehensive in the way that they do things. And so I was kind of thinking, you know, what are some of the things that that can be a real barrier to people working with you. Yeah. And so it might be why you're not attracting the clients that you want.

And it may be down to a few simple things. So today I'm going to share with you five things and they might be more, who knows what's going to come out this episode around, you know, some of the things you can be doing better, some of the things to be aware of and some things that just might be a real barrier to people working with you. And if you've got any thoughts, questions, feedback, comments, whatever it is, go for it. I would love to hear, you know, your experiences and your thoughts as well. So the other thing is, is that I've had a number of conversations with mastermind buddies, friends, clients, just people in the business world in general.

And these were some of the things that we've been talking about too. So if you follow me on Instagram at CS Chadwick, you might know that I've sort of been talking about the type of content that people are interested in as well is the behind the scenes.

They love to listen in on conversations that you're having. So I'm going to be sharing some of those conversations today as well.

You’re selling what everyone else is selling

But the first thing that I want to talk about is that potentially you're selling what everybody else is selling. And so sometimes when I go to different websites, this is something that I have experienced as well, where I'm just like, I don't really know what's different about you. Like it kind of looks the same as somebody else that I'm looking at. Um, and when it comes to these, you've got to understand, and I've talked about this before, you've got to understand that people are in buying phases when they're looking at your website. What does that mean? It means that, like for me right now, I am in a buying phase. I am set on getting certain things done in my business and I want to get them done now.

So I've got the money to do it. I've got the time to do it. And so I'm going on a number of different websites looking for the right person for me. And so when I get to a website, I want to bang know exactly what you do, how you do it, and who you do it for. Does it resonate for me? Is it clear to me? Is there something unique and stand out about what you do and how you do it? That kind of hits me between the eyes when I get there or when I've got four different tabs of people who do the same thing open on my computer. Does it all feel very same? Same. So if you're selling photography, coaching cakes, whatever it is, I want you to really start thinking about am I doing things differently? Am I being really clear for somebody who's coming to my website?

How I can help them? And are you bringing somebody to the table to kind of go here is more for you. Here's what I do and here's what to do next. So what I'm saying is that you need to be unique. You need to think about what it is next that you want them to do. And you need to also speak to me. So claim me as your audience because I think a lot of times we're like, I'm for everybody. And this is for anybody who wants this type of product or service. And one of the things that I always said to my brand builder Academy ladies is it is just as important for you to name and claim who your not for as much as it is to claim who you are for. So I am for women in business who want to be bold, stand out, do big things, are action takers.

If that's not you, I'm not for you. I'm really happy with that. I'm really clear with it so I know who I'm selling to. And so hopefully when you go on my website that stands out pretty clearly and it's different to other people's websites who do what I do. So if you're like everyone else, then you're not going to stand out. And that might be why people aren't buying from you as well because they're like, ma vanilla, not quite sure what is, you know what's here for me now. You don't have to be the loudest, you don't have to be the brightest. I always say this, you don't have to be hot pink and gold POM poms, but you do have to work out how you are connecting with your audience and offering a really clear proposition for them and what you can do for them.

So remember, this is not about you. It's about what they get. So when I come to your website and I look at it, are you telling me what I'm going to get? But whatever it is, I want you to name it and claim it. And tell me what I'm going to get because if you make me work for it, if you make me like have to look around to figure out what you do and how you can help me, I just don't have time for that. Like I will click away so make sure that you are capturing people who are coming to your website with something strong to the point, easy to understand and something that I want. Make it desirable. Remember we buy what we want to be doing. Have so is what you are selling is what you are sharing is what you are saying they're going to get if they work with you, is it a desire of theirs and if you're being super practical and you're not including an emotional message of who they're going to be after they work with you or what the amazing thing is that they're going to get, then I'm clicking away.

I'm going somewhere else to somebody else who's telling me how I'm going to feel and what it's going to be like when I work with them.

You’re brand positioning is out of wack

The second thing is that your brand positioning might be out of whack. Yes, that's a technical term out of whack. So when we find something or someone, we make a decision really quickly yet whether you know it or not, we make a decision in the first couple of seconds where we look at it and we go, is that for me or is it not? So from a visual branding and aesthetic perspective, you've also got to think about what you really want to be and how you want to show up and what you want things to look like. But you've also got to understand that the quality of what you're putting out there gives me an impression around what I think I will pay for what it is that you do.

So it's actually really important. Obviously I talk a lot about, you know, your brand personality and voice and things like that, but it really all, it all comes into account. It all contributes to how people feel about you and whether they want to work with you or not and whether what you've got appeals to them. And I mean, a really easy way to think about it is if you think about, you know, three or four different shops, retail stores, that might be for different audiences. You know, you might have sports girl who's for more of a teen, twenties 30 market, you might have country road who's a little bit more corporate, you've got Chanel. If you've got a, you know, five grand to drop on things, you've got Kmart. If you're looking for something that's a bit more disposable, like you've just got to think about what it looks like and who that appeals to.

And if you really know your audience, then you will know what appeals to them and what doesn't. So another thing is I've had a few referrals and when I'd go and look at those people's websites, I'm just like, there's nothing here for me. Like that's not, I guess the type of business that I think that I'm looking for. It doesn't look as polished or professional. It's not clear. It's not easy to navigate. So I'm just like, that's just not something that I'm going to even look further at. So I think that you do have to look at what you're putting out there with fresh eyes and say, is this appealing to my audience? Does this speak to my audience? And does it attract them? Because the other thing is, is that I'll say something and I'll be attracted to it straight away and then I'll figure out what it is that they do.

So I think that you've just got to work out whether what you're putting out there is actually attracting the people that you really want to be attracting. Um, and it's about finding the balance between what you want to be and how you want to show up and appealing to the people that you're trying to attract as well. And so, you know, also the other thing is, is that when I'm working with corporate, sometimes I'll send them three different websites of people that we're potentially looking to bring on for a project. And they will very quickly make a decision about whether they think that brand aligns with them and the quality of the type of work that they're looking for from that person. So don't underestimate it. You know it and it doesn't have to be expensive or over the top. It's just got to be clear and high quality.

You're Not Walking Your Talk

Number three is a big one for me is that you're not walking your talk. So one of the things that I get quite a lot of when I get clients coming to me is we can see you doing what you talk about. Whatever you talk about is what we see on socials, what we hear when you speak at events, whatever else it is. Yeah, and so there was certain things where, and I know I've had this conversation with a wider audience about this and the general consensus is the plumbers tap is always Lakey, but you know something. I am going to call BS on that and say if you are a social media person sought your social media out. If you're a Facebook and Instagram ads person like sorted out, we want to say like what you're doing, how you're running those ads, what's working, what's not.

If you're a branding person or a business coach, we need to see you showing up and doing what you are telling your clients to do. And I spoke about this at a at copy con last year, which was 2019 where I was saying, you know, are you telling people to do things and are you teaching things that you are literally not doing yourself. So sometimes I will go and I will look at somebodies fade or I'll at their website or I'll look at their copy or their content and I will listen to what it is that they're saying. And then I will go and look to see if they're doing it. And there are so many times where there is a huge disconnect. So if you are wondering why you're not attracting the clients that you want to do, the things that you want to do.

So you might be a copywriter and the copy on your website's not great or you don't have a website. Or like I said, you're a social media person, but you're not actually investing any time in your own social media or you're a photographer and there are no photos of you. It's just constantly photos of other things that you're doing. You know, don't tell me to get in front of the camera if I'm not seeing you in front of the camera. And I'm know that this might come across as a bit harsh, but it is something that I think people are making decisions on because we've got choice because there are so many people to choose from. You have got to make the decision to show up and do the things that you're teaching. Talking about showing. Yeah. If that is what you want people to pay you to do, then I want to see you doing it.

And this is a big bugbear of mine. So I just think make sure that you are doing whatever work you need to do. And I'm actually talking about not just working your own business, but work on yourself to show up and show me that you're able to do the things that you're telling me that you're able to do.

You're Not Connecting In a Real Way With Your Audience

Number four is you may not be connecting in a real way with your community and your followers. Yeah. So maybe you're just showing up in your posting and then you're running, or maybe you're not responding to emails actually said on a podcast or with Anna, I was saying that I get got an email from somebody. I was on their newsletter and I sent them a question about a product or service and I sent them a question about something else and they didn't respond to me and I was just like, that's so rubbish.

That so crap. I'm sure that they're not kidding. 1 million responses to their emails. So why would you not respond? Like when you are building an audience, building a following, building a community, you have got to respond. You've got to be present. You've got to make sure that you're showing up. Yeah. And that you're having real conversations with people. Now, obviously if you've got like you know a million followers and you've got 10,000 DMS like Rachel Hollis, then I'll forgive you for not responding. But if you are having people that are wanting to have a conversation with you and you are trying to build your brand and your audience by not responding to them, you're missing an opportunity because it is the people that we have relationships with. It's the people who we have connection with and conversations with. They're the people that we end up working with.

And so I really want you to start to think about, obviously number three are you walking your talk and doing what you're telling other people to do? And number four, are you connecting in a real way and having conversations with people who are responding to you or are they hearing radio silence and you know, you're just not giving them anything. And so I think it's really important to work out a way that works for you. This is not about you being on all the time and you having to respond at, you know, in the second that somebody sends you a message. That's not what I'm talking about. But I am talking about when are you responding? How are you making time to build those connections and that community in a real way. And I've said it before, both video and audio in the DMS, uh, absolute game changers.

I have those conversations all the time. I re share what people are sharing about me, whether it's the book or the podcast or whatever else, but it's time to show up. Like it really is because I am finding this where I am reaching out to service providers who I I want to potentially work with and I am not getting a response and it is frustrating and it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I'm, you know, at the end of the day they are losing clients because when I work with somebody, if I have a great experience, I'm not just working with them, but I'm telling my community about them and I'm sharing what an amazing experience I had and that they are somebody that you should be working with. Yeah. So I talk about this with the who. So crystal and Jess who do visual design and photography, they redid my visual brand and so they have done the visual branding of so many of the BBA ladies as well as others because they are responsive because they show up because they're present because they're real.

And so don't underestimate when you respond to one person, what the ripple effect can be when you show up for the people who are wanting to work with you or just wanting to connect with you.

You're Not Making it Clear Who You Work With

Number five is your not making it clear how they can work with you and you're making it hard for them. So this kinda goes back to when I come to your website, is it easy or hard for me to understand what it is that you do? The other thing that I've been finding is that I've been going to websites and I'm like, and I know that this can be contentious about pricing, but when I'm in a buying phase, I just want to understand like if your $50,000 then I'm not going to work with you to do my email secrets. Yeah. But just having your pricing or even saying, you know, packages start from is helpful for people, but also how you can work with them.

So I think just making it really clear and taking things away as in, if you are an entrepreneur, this is what I can do for you. If you are a corporate, this is what I can do for you.   If you're looking for a speaker, this is where you guys, so just making sure that it's super easy for me to understand how I can work with you, and what I can do with you I think is really important too because I've been looking through websites this morning as I'm recording this podcast, I was looking for something specific and I was just like, Oh, so I don't know what that is and is that me?

Is that for me?

Or is that for somebody else?

And how much does that cost compared to that?

It was confusing and it was hard work. And I ended up messaging a few people that I knew that had worked with this person and I didn’t  get a good response that this person might be good to work with, but it wasn't easy.

So number one, their branding wasn't great. It doesn't a hundred percent appeal to me, but I knew some of the people on their testimonial page or on their testimonial page. So I reached out to them. Um, but it was hard to navigate around and figure out exactly what I needed to. So I think just go back over your website and just clean things up if you can and just make it super simple for people. Like if you've got a lot of options, get rid of them. I got rid of a lot of stuff recently. I actually cleaned up my menu recently, so now I've only got like four, I think four things up there and I'm about to clean that up as well where I'm just going to have one opt in so that that's what people go to.

And then they obviously go into a bit more of a sequence for them to then go to wherever I want them to go. So just clean things up and make it easy for people to understand but also make it easy for you so that when people sign up or when they contact you, it's a really easy process, which is obviously all about brand experience, which I'm not going to go into on this episode because I have spoken about that before. But make sure that it's super clear on how they can work with you.

Your Pricing is Out of Line With What You Provide

And then also when it comes to pricing, is your pricing sending a message? And I think this becomes back to brand positioning. So when I come to your website and I take a look, I'm pretty clear like what I think you might cost, which I know sometimes it's totally out of whack, there's that technical term again, but if your prices are either really high or really low, then it gives me an impression potentially of the quality of work that you do or what I expect the brand experience to be.

So if something's 500 bucks, I'm probably like, Hmm, it's probably going to be a simple process.  I'm going to get a and Bay for that. Whereas if I'm paying something a lot higher than I'll think that the brand experience is going to be a lot better, a lot more comprehensive. I'm going to get a lot more for this. So just make sure that the pricing that you have is sending a message, an accurate message of what they're going to get as well. And obviously different people have different expectations, but hopefully if you're attracting the type of people that you want to work with, then your price point is one that they're okay with and that you're going to be delivering what it is that they need and want in a way that they want that delivered as well as far as is a comprehensive, et cetera.

Be Responsive

Now, the last one that I'm going to talk about, which is a big one as well, is I, you being proactive, a client's coming to you and maybe they're signing up with you. Maybe they're not. Maybe they're getting in contact with you, but you're just not getting back to them, and I've referred a few people recently and I've had people come back to me and say, they never got back to me. Like they never responded to my email. They never sent me a quote. They never replied to my questions when they did send me a quote, and this is a really big one. You've got to understand, there are so many people for us to choose from, so you've got to start to really show up risk, be responsive. It doesn't have to be in that minute, but be responsive, track who you are potentially working with or sending quotes to et cetera.

Because a lack of responsiveness and initiative is a really big issue at the moment. I'm speaking to a lot of clients where basically they've got the money to spend, they're ready to take somebody on, but people are not getting back to them or they're not following up or they're not coming back and saying, Hey Suze, are you ready to go with that? I know I haven't heard from you, so just let me know when you're ready. It's a big one and I think a lot of times as business owners, we're busy, we've got a lot going on. And so if you're not following up and using your initiative, then you're missing out on building your business. You're missing out on building your client base and you've gone to all the work of trying to attract these people. They have now said, yes, I'm interested. And then you're like, Hmm, okay, thanks.

And nothing's happening. So if you are not following up, if you are not using your initiative, if you are not getting back to people, then you are missing out on how you're growing your business. And can I just say once again, it just leaves a bad taste in people's mouth where they just like, well they're not very responsive, they're not very good at what they do. They just didn't really care and they didn't actually come back to me. And I'm not talking about like high maintenance people who are constantly emailing you. I'm just talking about clients who are like, hi, I wanna work with you. What's next? So I think really make sure that you have got things tight and it's not enough to get people in. You've actually got to then deliver what it is that you've spoken to them about and come back and say, Hey, let's do this.

I'm ready to go. What else do you need? Like I want, I want this to work. Yeah. So I hope that that was helpful and not just a rant, but as I'm in this at the moment where I am looking to build my team and I am looking to outsource more and I'm looking to hire people and pay for the services that I want done. And I'm actually finding it hard. I'm finding people unresponsive. I'm finding a lack of information and it is just, you know, it's just not great. And so I just want to encourage you to really get this sorted. And here's something I talk about in baby I all the time is to make sure that your brand experience, your brand promise, your brand positioning is doing the work for you, that you've got the right structure, systems and strategies to scale your business and give people an amazing experience and that you're being present and that you're showing up.

Like don't do this half ass, don't do this half-heartedly, do it properly. And make sure that you're serving your customers in the best way possible. And I want you to think right now, like what could you be doing better? What could be better for your audience or for your customers or for the people that are inquiring and are there people you need to follow up on? Are there things you need to chase? Do you have the systems in place to be able to record that and know when you're doing things and when you need to get back to people because it's really important. Unless you've like got all the clients in the world and you don't need the additional money. Yeah, maybe that's you and then maybe you need to just put on your work with me page currently booked out so that your managing people's expectations but don't have people come to you and then you just leave it.

You just leave them hanging there. I think it's a really important thing to do because never underestimate who else they're speaking to when it's like, Oh well I contacted that person, they never got back to me and that person's like, okay, well I won't contact them then. Like, don't think that, that, that's not going to, you know, be beyond the person that you're not responding to or that you're not taking on or whatever it is. Yeah. So if you've got any thoughts, comments, questions, and let me know, I hope that that's helpful. Just a really quick re cap is that some of the reasons you may not be attracting or it should be attracting and securing the clients that you really want is that you're selling or everybody else is selling. So it feels very same, same. Your brand positioning is out of whack.  So what I say and then what I experience is very different.

You're not walking your talk, so telling me to do stuff, but I'm not seeing you doing it. You're not connecting in a real way. So you're not being responsive to people when they're trying to have a conversation with you. You're not making it clear how they can work with you. So it's really hard for them to work it out. Your potentially pricing yourself, your, your pricing is sending your pricing is sending a message. So really think about the fact that sometimes I equate a price with the quality of the work as well. So if something's really cheap, I'm like, well maybe it's not that great. So you need to make sure that your, you know, managing that. And then the last thing is be responsive. Make sure that you are using your initiative, you're being responsive, you're getting back to people when they come to you because it's all really important for your brand reputation. And it's also really important if you want to make more money.

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