Do you have to trick your clients into working with you? 

Some “experts” in marketing and business building loudly preach that this is the best way to quickly fill your client roster and start making money. In reality, it is not only unnecessary but it could crash and burn your business by disrupting a process you absolutely need to build a successful business. 

Let’s break down why misleading marketing is exactly what you do not want to do as you build a business that aligns with your soul’s calling. Then see how a different perspective could get you what you actually need to build your unique business. 

You Get What You Attract

If you’re showing up in your marketing, your work with clients, and your work behind the scenes of your business as someone else, you won’t build the business that you feel pulled to build. You’ll build something else entirely that will pull you away from the work that’s so important to your purpose. 

Your ideal clients will also be far from who you wanted to work with in your precious time. They will align with this different version of you that’s showing up in your marketing rather than the true version of you with your unique talents – the real you who wants to build this unique business. 

Your disingenuous projected self will attract people who are not aligned with your work. 

Your Results Will Vary

To take it further, if you start work with someone aligned with work that’s different from yours, your working relationship is set up for failure before their payment clears your account. Their results from that work will be so far off from the results you marketed to get them that they will likely walk away dissatisfied.

That’s bad news for them and possibly worse news for your small yet growing business because many successful businesses rely on referrals and sales copy that incorporates positive reviews. Who sends in referrals and positive reviews? Your raving fans. This is what you absolutely need to build a successful business. In marketing speak, we call it social proof.

Always, always ask your clients to send referrals your way for anyone they think could use your help. The simplest way to do this is to add it to the end of your work together.

Back to the raving fans who share feedback and why it is an important part of business success.

Raving Fans Build Your Business

If the idea of collecting feedback and reviews feels way outside of your comfort zone, you’re not alone. Many new business owners fear asking for feedback, what may be in the content of the feedback, or have uncertainty about how to incorporate it into their marketing. 

One of the keys to this is to add a feedback step to the end of your process with clients. You ask them during the end of your conversation to share feedback right then (many coaches do this), to share their thoughts in an online form, or to simply email an update. No matter how you plan to add this to your process, be sure to give them the incentive to share their feedback. It could be a discount, a DIY step that helps them continue their work, or another item that will help them. We’re all busy so most people need a reason to share their feedback AND a reward for taking the time to do it. 

Once you have this feedback you can start a conversation with them about what details you could include in your marketing (on your website, in your social posts, in conversations as examples) to build confidence with prospects. 

It is difficult to successfully market any business without reviews so every detail of feedback is incredibly important. Not only that, you’ll find out how you can improve your work so your next clients are even happier – which also helps build your business! 

Avoiding The Crash and Burn in Favor of the Pivot and Learn

There are some business coaches who push their clients to go big, crash and burn their first business, then learn from their failure. If you’re into that and have the time to spend crashing and burning a business, then you’re welcome to go for it. The smoke and mirrors marketing is a fantastic fit for the crash and burn method. 

I’d like to suggest true-to-you marketing that attracts your ideal clients by marketing accurate results, taking in feedback, and learning from it. At times, this process encourages pivoting the services you offer or the clients you’d consider ideal. And thankfully, that’s the point of the process. 

To pivot and learn instead of crash and burn, you’ll need to:

• Show up as you are
• Share what you do
• Get specific about who you help
• Show what real results you get for clients and how it changes their lives

After you’re done working with every client, ask for feedback and referrals. Then, take in that feedback to build your unique business centered around your soul’s calling.