The ONE Question Prospects Always Ask That You Should Never Answer (If You Want Clients)

The ONE Question Prospects Always Ask That You Should Never Answer (If You Want Clients)
By Fabienne Fredrickson

One of the best things to do to quickly establish credibility, get massive exposure, and attract new clients, is speaking. Hands down. Whether you organize your own seminars on a regular basis to continually fill the pipeline (the way I did for years), or get booked for talks to “pre-formed” groups like associations, it works like a charm—provided you give very good info.

If you deliver the talk properly, there’s always a group of people at the end of your talk who rush up to the podium to chat with you. Some will tell you how much they enjoyed the talk, some will be e-zine readers who’ve wanted to meet you for years, some will want free advice or to “pick your brain.” But, there’s one question you’ll almost always get and it comes in two parts. The first part’s the good part; “I’m interested in working with you.” The second one is the tricky part; “What do you charge?”

There’s ONE fundamental problem with answering the second part of that question. If you answer it right there on the spot, you’ll most always lose that client on the spot. Here’s why.

When making a purchasing decision, if they’re only focused on price, there isn’t any room for VALUE or RESULTS. And I believe people buy in three ways: by emotion, by results, and by value (what they’re paying for what they’re getting). If you don’t get the value part right, you might as well not even bother. They’ll always go into sticker shock.

The solution? Don’t give them your rates on the spot. Instead, invite them for a conversation to be held at a later date where you can fully describe the value they’ll be getting from working with you. I call mine the “get-acquainted session,” you may call yours a free consultation, whatever. The important thing is that’s where the magic happens. That’s where you can find out more about them, get to the root of their problems, describe solutions, and they can buy by value.

Now, by the way, this situation doesn’t just happen at the end of a speaking gig. If you’ve got a kick-butt elevator speech that makes them say, “Wow, that’s exactly what I need, I want to work with you,” then you’ll also get the question at networking events, at the cocktail hour of your friend’s wedding, or simply when someone contacts you by email or phone. The answer is always the same though. Invite them for a free consult.

Your Client Attraction Assignment:

Never give your rates cold. You’ll almost always lose the sale right there on the spot. Instead, invite them for a conversation. Here’s what I recommend that my private clients say to their own prospects:

“I actually offer several different programs, depending on how quickly you want to get results, and of course, on your budget level. What I usually recommend is that we set up a free get-acquainted session. Not only do you want to find out more about me, my programs, etc., but I want to find out more about you and your situation to see if you’re going to be the right fit for my programs as well. Shall we set that up?”

Done. The prospects almost always let out a sigh of relief (it’s almost as though they didn’t REALLY want your rates after all) and then you’re all set. Now, you’re ready to close the sale. Easy.

Now, if closing the sale 97-98% of the time is not a reality for you yet, then we’ve got to change that ASAP. My own formula, step-by-step process AND closing the sale script is all laid out and available to you, in a turnkey, easy to implement one-foot-in-front-of-the-other process. All you need to do is get yourself the Client Attraction Home Study System™. It includes everything you need to know to fill your practice quickly and close the sale consistently; no matter how long you’ve been in business. All the tools are handed to you on a silver platter. Details at http://www.theclientattractionsystem.com/. (Why struggle when you can just attract clients easily?)

© 2007 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System™ and http://www.clientattraction.com/, the proven step-by-step program to attract more clients, make more m’oney being self-employed, while having more time off to enjoy it all. To receive your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and get weekly how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit http://www.clientattraction.com/.

You MUST Use Conviction and Authority to Attract More Clients

You MUST Use Conviction and Authority to Attract More Clients
By Fabienne Fredrickson

Did you know there is a way of BEING that literally makes or breaks your ability to attract clients in large numbers? The sad thing is, many self employed people don’t use it and, as a result, are literally letting prospective clients slip through their fingers, day in and day out, even if they’ve done a lot of marketing and networking, even if they have lots of prospects. It’s almost like they destroy their chances of winning, at the very end of the cycle.

To avoid letting prospects slip through your fingers, you need to have serious CONVICTION about what you offer. If you don’t, if there’s no certainty on your end, then a prospect is simply not going to be certain either that working with you is the answer to their problems. They’ll question whether you’re really good at what you do and then decide they’ll keep looking.

I’ll give you an example of what occurred to me recently, after going to the dentist.

For months, I’ve been meaning to get some light cosmetic dentistry done to improve my smile and during a recent routine dental checkup and cleaning, I asked my dentist (let’s call him Dr. Smith) if he performed cosmetic dentistry.

Now, before I tell you what happened, let me explain his typical behavior. He’s naturally very outgoing, charming, and does great work (as far as I can tell from the routine cleanings.) He tells jokes, is jovial and seems pretty confident all around. But something happened when I asked him if he did cosmetic dentistry.

Dr. Smith’s behavior changed, almost on a dime. He looked away, mumbled something about being in business for 20 years and of course he did cosmetic dentistry, and that he did it well. And then that was it. Nothing else. The strange thing was his words were no longer enthusiastic and confident. They turned empty and uninspiring, and I wasn’t sure how to read the whole thing.

Whatever had happened, my gut feeling told me not to work with him. Right then and there, in just one sentence, he lost tens of thousands of dollars worth of potential business. I knew by the WAY he spoke that I wasn’t going to be using my own dentist for cosmetic dentistry. He simply had not convinced me, not even close.

Here’s what I’ve discovered from that experience and countless other experiences I’ve had, just watching entrepreneurs talk about their abilities:

1. Prospects want to work with people who are CERTAIN about their abilities.


2. Prospects want to work and learn from an AUTHORITY on a subject.


3. Prospects are looking for someone CONFIDENT about the results they offer.


4. Prospects are silently begging to be LED!

Your Client Attraction Assignment:

From this moment forward, you cannot afford to be wishy-washy about what you offer. You’ve got to have total conviction about what you do. Not only that, you’ve got to express that conviction in a way that makes the prospect feel confident about your abilities.

You see, your job is not to sell. Your job is to convince prospects to get out of their own way to achieving success (or whatever it is that they want and could use your help with). The way you do that is by building trust, showing authority on your topic, and expressing your capability about the results they’ll get with you. And it’s all in your way of BEING.

Now, a caveat.

This doesn’t mean that you become OVER zealous. That’s just a ridiculous turnoff and will send them running in the other direction. Just be yourself, but speak with conviction and certainty.

One more thing. Don’t (ever) tell a prospect you can do something that you can’t, just to close the sale. Some sales “gurus” will tell you to do this, and then figure it out later, but I don’t agree. It’s out of integrity and we’re looking for authentic selling here. It’s better to turn away that prospect and move on to the next one.

So, be yourself, be a leader, and start speaking with conviction from this moment forward. It doesn’t take much, and yet I guarantee you’ll start attracting more clients than you are now. It works!

OK, so you’re now going to speak with conviction, but the problem is, you need to fill your pipeline more quickly. If that’s the case, get yourself the Client Attraction Home Study System™. It includes everything you need to know to create a marketing message that will appeal to the best clients for you. You’ll learn how to decipher what makes your business remarkable, how to create Raving Fans so you get clients to call YOU, and lots of crucial techniques to help you fill your practice quickly, including how to put together a simple marketing plan that gets you clients and then put it on autopilot so you can have fun again. Get more details at http://www.theclientattractionsystem.com/. (Why struggle when you can just attract clients easily?)

© 2007 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System™ and http://www.clientattraction.com/, the proven step-by-step program to attract more clients, make more m’oney being self-employed, while having more time off to enjoy it all. To receive your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and get weekly how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit http://www.clientattraction.com/.

Stop Being a Wimp With Your Clients!

Stop Being A Wimp With Your Clients!
By Fabienne Fredrickson

“Substantial value is created when the client achieves more than they expected. One of the best ways to ensure the client achieves more than they expect is to ask more of them than they expected you to.”
—Thomas Leonard, founder of Coachville

My translation: don’t be wimpy with your clients!

One of the most interesting shifts I’ve seen in my Client Attraction coaching practice and Boot Camps over the last 3 or 4 years is that clients are seeing infinitely better results than at the beginning, when I first started.

Yeah, yeah, I thought the same thing you’re thinking now. At first, I thought, “Well, duh, that’s normal, I know more than I did a few years ago and I’m getting better and better at what I do.” That’s a logical thought, but over the last few years, I’ve also been doing something drastically different: I’ve been expecting a LOT more out of my clients.

Now, some of you have heard me say I cherry-pick my clients, and I don’t work with someone who’s not deadly serious about doing what it takes to get clients. Frankly, I don’t really have patience for people who aren’t serious or committed (sorry, it sounds harsh, but it just gets boring after a while, so I’d rather say it than not).

What I’m talking about today is a different twist on the same concept. This is about EXPECTING more of each and every one of them, knowing that when they push themselves just a little bit harder to reach their goals, they usually exceed them, especially with me right behind them, giving them just the resources they need and cheering them on.

A client bcc’d me on an email to her friend the other day, saying “Fabienne will give you a lot of work and expect a lot from you. But the thing is, she’ll also give you all the resources, letter examples, scripts you’ll need to get it done and she will cheer you on when you do. It’s simple, but it’s not easy, and it works. You should talk to her.”

At first, I thought, “Oh great, this prospective client will NEVER want to work with me, thinking it’s going to be too hard!” But the more I thought about it, the more I was happy she’d written that. YUP. I do expect a lot out of my clients. Hard work, focus, dedication, and my all-time favorite, a no-excuses approach to doing what it’ll take to get clients, quickly, consistently, and for the long haul. And to get really extraordinary results (see my client testimonials), I expect more of them.

So when I coach clients on how to manage their OWN clients, I’ve been telling them recently to ask MORE of their clients, expect more and this will translate into more clients for them.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a therapist, a financial planner, a mortgage broker, a coach, acupuncturist, consultant, or nutritionist, it’s time for you to start asking more and expecting more of each one of your clients. Expecting more of them will have them take YOU more seriously, most importantly, they’ll take themselves more seriously, they’ll invest in themselves more, and they’ll do what it takes to get even more results than they originally came in for. That creates a raving fan.

Hey, just a caveat here: I too don’t always get to ALL the work I’ve promised my coach, when I work with one, to move my business forward. We all get sidetracked by life or a too-fast-momentum upfront (at least I do). I like knowing that the person supports me to think big and to act accordingly.

So, you don’t want to beat your clients up if they don’t get everything done in the time they first committed to. That’s not the point we’re talking about here and it defeats the purpose of championing them. Instead, it’s about caring for them enough to want more for them than they want for themselves. In turn, you’ll get more referrals and more clients out of the deal, so it’s a win-win situation all around.

Your Assignment:

So, go for it! Expect more of them, lovingly. In turn, you’ll have more satisfied clients and those types of clients become RAVING fans who refer like crazy.

• Make a list of your current clients and think about the goals they’ve set for themselves. Are these goals exciting enough? Do these goals literally PULL the clients into their future or are they a little weak?


• Let your clients know upfront that you’re going to expect a lot from them. You can put this on your website or in their welcome packet. It’s been my experience this is actually really exciting for them. Most times, they don’t ask enough of themselves because of fear of failure (and strangely enough, fear of success too).


• Let them know you want to play this game with them and see where it goes. Most people love this, especially high-achieving go-getters (my favorites!).


• Take a soft approach to this though, not an aggressive one (you don’t want to turn anybody off). Ask them permission to help them double their goals or reach their goals in half the time. Explain to them that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Why is that so Client Attractive? Because, your clients start getting amazing, really kick-butt results, they’ll start telling EVERYBODY about how awesome you’ve been for them. That, my friend, means referrals, referrals, and more referrals for YOU. Cha-ching!

Are you sometimes being wimpy with your marketing too? Then put on your no-excuses hat and get yourself a copy of The Client Attraction Home Study System™. It contains everything you need to start attracting clients in droves and make you stand out in your industry, so you consistently have clients. It’s not magic, it won’t happen in one week, but it’s also definitely NOT hype. Everything you’ll read in it will get you more clients. So, if you only do one of the 56 assignments and you do that one thing consistently, you’ll start seeing results. Imagine though that you start doing all of them…Marketing and getting clients to come to you will become big-time easy, for the first time in your life. Here’s where you can get your own copy: TheClientAttractionSystem.com.

© 2006 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System™ and http://www.clientattraction.com/, the proven step-by-step program to attract more clients, make more m’oney being self-employed, while having more time off to enjoy it all. To receive your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and get weekly how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit http://www.clientattraction.com/.