The other day, one of my clients from the current Success Circle emailed me with this question:
I'm realizing that what's in my way of getting started is trying to map it all out at once. What I need to do is to JUST GET STARTED. So I was wondering how much you started with and in a very general way how fast it grew from there.
Well, the first thing that came to mind was that I sure wouldn't want my client to do what I did -- because on the way to figuring out what works to build a sustainable business, I did all kinds of things wrong and made lots of silly (and expensive) mistakes!
Instead, I want her (and you) to have an easier and much less expensive journey.
Now, I happen to know that this particular client already has a pretty good idea of who her target market is and what problem she's helping them with.
That's actually the very first step -- get clear about your niche. After that:
First of all, keep in mind that your business must do these three things for you:
1) Get new customers
2) Keep existing customers
3) Grow the life-time value of your customers
So here's where I recommend starting:
BUILD A SUBSCRIBER BASE
The widest end of the product funnel is where new customers typically enter, so the first thing to do is create a free info product that you offer in exchange for subscribing to your mailing list, like a newsletter or a special report (in my case, it's the coaching program Starter Kit, which includes the weekly tipzine that you're reading right now).
Your free offer should relate specifically to your target market--don't try to appeal to the masses by being too generic. (You can see why it was so important to do your homework on your niche.)
(By the way: It may seem counter-intuitive, but you don't want the whole world to subscribe. You only want qualified prospective customers on your mailing list.)
HAVE A STRATEGY FOR STAYING IN TOUCH
Ideally, your freebie should help you stay in touch with your subscribers on a regular, consistent basis. You need to offer value-driven content (i.e., don't just email them with promotional stuff). As a general rule of thumb, try for 90% content, 10% promotional offers in your emails.
A newsletter or ezine is ideal for this, but if you don't want to do a newsletter, a free ecourse would work, too. The idea is to build relationship and establish yourself as a credible expert over time.
WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE
One mistake that I see many coaches making (and I made this one myself in the early days!) is to throw together a generic freebie and then start trying to fill teleclasses and in-person workshops right out of the gate.
That's like trying to run right up the side of a mountain without the proper gear. After trying to fill a couple of workshops with the same 100 subscribers, you realize it's a very steep mountain.
So the first step is to greet your customers at the door (the wide end of your product funnel) with a welcoming smile and offer them some refreshment (your freebie).
Be patient and stay in touch with them; earn their trust and confidence by providing good information that truly helps them with whatever they're struggling with.
Once your business is doing a pretty good job of getting new customers (which is what the wide end of the product funnel is about), then you can shift your focus to keeping and growing the lifetime value of your customers by creating products and packages deeper in the product funnel.
Incidentally, I've found that if you do the first part well, and if you're really paying attention, your customers will actually TELL you what to create for them next.
The same way my client from the Success Circle gave me the perfect topic for the tipzine (and this blog post) this week!
