Why you’re attracting fewer clients and how to fix things

I often hear from business owners, who have a very similar problem. In fact, most people reading this will have the problem, to a lesser or greater extent. So, I thought I’d share it with you, along with some ideas on how to stop it from hurting your business.

Okay. So, here’s the challenge.

Business owners look back over the past year or two and notice they’re slowly getting fewer new clients or making fewer sales. Interestingly, this happens, even though they’re working hard and providing the same exceptional service.

Typically, business owners will approach this challenge by changing their marketing; only to find that it doesn’t help much. And this is because, in many, perhaps most cases, the problem isn’t directly related to their marketing.

To find a way forward, we need to start by looking at what’s happening in the marketplace.

The evolution of your marketplace

Your marketplace is in a rapid state of evolution.

• Some of your familiar competitors leave the marketplace.
• New, agile competitors arrive, with many offering better deals, more flexible options or a wider range of services.
• Some existing competitors decide to up their game, developing interesting new services or products.
• And the speed with which things change has never been faster.

As a direct result, the bar keeps rising.

What was an exceptional service or product line a year ago, isn’t exceptional today. And what used to be exceptional value is now the absolute minimum expected.

Presented with this evolving reality, the expectations of your clients (and future clients) rises accordingly.

This is critically important.

Why?

Because any business owner, who works hard month after month doing the same exceptional things, the same exceptional way, ceases to be exceptional. By doing more of the same, you’re standing still, while the marketplace evolves. This places you in an extremely risky (and unsustainable) situation.

There’s a proven way forward, which has worked for countless clients of mine. Here’s a very quick overview.

Moving forward: It’s not about change!

Change for its own sake is pointless. The change needs to be meaningful. Otherwise, things become different, not better.

Instead, focus on improvement. Research your competitor’s; prices, services, product lines, guarantees, promises, opening hours, and payment terms, etc. That’s your baseline (currently) for standing still. To make progress, you’ll need to improve on what they’re doing.

However, meaningful results requires you to go beyond iterative improvements on what everyone else is doing. Meaningful results come from identifying what your prospective client’s want and need, which isn’t currently being provided.

This isn’t easy and it can take time. However, the rewards for your effort and time can be HUGE.

Here’s a useful place to start

Look at your business through the eyes of your ideal prospective client. Next, consider the kind of service and results they want. Then, using their wants and needs as your guide, seek out ways of achieving their desired outcomes, which are OUTSIDE the current scope of your services.

Resist the temptation to just tweak what you already do, or copy what one or more of your competitors are doing. You need to be meaningfully different if you want to make meaningful improvements and see meaningful results.

This is a massive subject and I’ve just scratched the surface here. I hope you find it a useful starting point.

I also strongly recommend you read my previous piece on building an agile business. It’s got lots more ideas and tips, which fit nicely with what I’ve shared with you today.

Have a great day!