Getting New Clients Online – 8 Tricky Truths

If you are an independent professional, and expert, an entrepreneur you know that online is not the future: it is the present. You might be seeing your colleagues around you getting great results from their online efforts and wonder… how does it really work?

When I moved to Germany to marry my dear-German-engineer husband, I had to find a system to get clients online. (I was living in the middle of the countryside and didn’t speak the language. Being the city gal I am, I always joke that there are more cows than people where we live). That experience ended up being great because I put all my energy to create a system for my own business where all my highly-invested clients come to me online.

The reason I’m telling you this is because I want you to know where I’m coming from. (This is not a “theory article summarizing three other theory articles” but the lessons I learned on what can sometimes can be a tricky path).

So these are the tricky truths I discovered and I want to share with you so that you can also create a system to get highly-invested clients coming to you.


1. Do NOT model others

This might sound very counter-intuitive. Shouldn’t I “model success”? The problem with the online world is that from the outside we don’t see everything that would be
necessary to model. We don’t even see if the strategy they are using is working for them.


2. Online is not necessarily easier at first

We are human beings… all of us so we have built-in systems to connect with other people “live”. This is what makes online more complicated, even if you are awesome at using video, for example, people are watching a “mini version” of you in their screens.


3. It is still about human beings

You still have to talk to people. There is a big misconception that people will push a button and become what I call “highly-invested” clients. Professionals sell courses and programs online… yes. AND… this is not the same process to get what I call highly-invested clients. The conversation is still necessary.

PRO TIP – The conversation is also necessary sometimes for programs and products that are not a high level of investment because of our human nature.


4. The path “webinar” to client is incomplete

There is another misconception. Getting clients online is easy. I just have to put together a webinar and people will have a conversation with me and become clients.

To get those results you have to be prepared for a huge investment of time, energy and money because that client-acquisition path has a lot of moving parts.

HOT TIP - To optimize this path complete, the emphasis has to be in the follow-up sequence or the value-adding communication sequence before, during and after the
webinar.


5. Building trust and credibility is key

Because of the very nature of the online landscape, you need to position yourself as a valuable, credible, relevant resource in seconds. (In person “live” it is still quite a task to accomplish to position yourself as a Leading Authority, imagine how important it is online where people are more skeptical and alert).


6. The website landscape has changed

We’re not talking about design here or if the buttons should be green or orange. We’re talking first about the need to have a website that positions you as a Leading Authority (a valuable, credible, relevant resource) as soon as a visitor lands there.



7. It is not always free

One big illusion about the online world is that it is free. The platforms have evolved and many have become “pay-to-play” platforms. This is actually good news because the more evolved the advertising capabilities, the more opportunity to reach your perfect potential client and put your message in front of them.



8. It is not so much about the media

Entrepreneurs sometimes obsess too much with which is the right platform. Is it Facebook? Is it Google? Is it Twitter?

That is all media and media doesn’t come first on the equation. What comes first in the equation, going back to human beings, are the people you want to reach. Always ask yourself where your potential clients are and choose your platform accordingly.

MISTAKE TO AVOID – It is not about following the impulse to jump into Social Media. A lot of entrepreneurs do that without having what they need to have in place and then they “blame” social media for not “working for them”.



Is it worth it?

I get this question a lot. My answer… absolutely. It is worth every test, every experiment and every lesson.




Till next time… remember your awesomeness is portable. You can take it with you anywhere.
With love
Ana