It's always easier to attract the things we want in life than to chase them down and catch them. My grandmother used to say, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." I've never understood why I'd want a collection of flies, but there are many other things I do want.
One of the things many professionals and small business owners want is "more clients". While there are lots of strategies for getting clients, from Advertising to Workshops, one of the best (and fastest) is to be the type of person and provide the quality service that draws clients to you like flies to honey!
The following Top 10 Principles for Attracting Great Clients are borrowed from material originally developed by Thomas Leonard for Attraction University. I am a certified instructor at AU, and created the following list especially for readers of TIP's. Enjoy!
1. Become incredibly selfish! Yes, it's ironic, but as you take care of yourself, manage your time, your space and your life well, you have more to give and more to share. If you want more clients, take extremely good care of Client #1.
2. Over-respond to every event! This is the opposite of over-reacting. Respond immediately to phone calls, answer questions in full, take your time and thoughtfully and creatively go the extra mile.
3. Add value just for the joy of it! Do more, provide more, go further than you are paid for. Caution: Don't just give more stuff, give more stuff that people really want and appreciate.
4. Market your talents shamelessly! Have fun with your marketing, be proud of what you do. Laugh and joke and yell and whisper, but tell everybody! If you aren't excited, proud and energized by what you do, find another job!
5. Affect others profoundly. Abandon the roles and job descriptions we all have. Connect with people, question, respond, be silly, get "outside the box". Whatever it takes, make an impact on your world.
6. Eliminate delay. Time is expensive, and wasting it is unattractive and irritating. Think and plan carefully, but in the end, only action counts!
7. Thrive on the details. Pay attention to the subtleties, the small things. It's the little extras that build you up, and little slips that bring you down.
8. Tolerate nothing! Clean up all the irritations, the daily frustrations and predictable annoyances of your life once and for all! Don't just fix the problem, re-design your routine so those predictable irritations never bother you again!
9. Orient life around your values. When you spend your days living in harmony with your values, you become incredibly energized, peaceful, focused and attractive!
10. Develop more character than you need! Beyond being good at your job, and living with integrity, become very good at being YOU! Be a "real character", the unique, gifted, complex and unforgettable individual that you were born to be.
Have fun with this list, poke holes in it, expand it, even criticize it, but think about the idea that your professional relationship with a client must begin with a good personal relationship. When your clients experience you as a balanced, open, excited person who they enjoy being with...they'll tell their friends! Count on it!
Have a great week, and have some fun!
? Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: "Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It's all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com