Today's Guest

Bernadette Doyle solves one of the biggest problems small business owners face: attracting a steady stream of new clients. She also guides small business owners through the broader challenge of starting, building, and growing their online businesses. What makes her qualified to do this? Bernadette built her own home-based business to the million-dollar level not just once, but twice! She’s now helped over 8,000 clients from more than 60 countries Bernadette shared her story with us and some of the techniques she uses to help her clients overcome their fear of selling.

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Episode Summary

In short, I spend my days helping clients attract more customers and make money. There is an important distinction I make though between getting more customers and making money. If your pricing structure isn’t correct you can gain customers but not make money. In my 25 years of experience, I believe the most important skill to master in business is customer acquisition.

When I started my business I was focused on teaching cold-calling techniques to corporate clients and little by little I noticed small business owners or consultants showing up in my classes. One day I noticed a small business consultant in my class and I could tell he was struggling to generate enough clients to maintain his business and provide for his family. My heart went out to him and I knew I could help but he needed more than just cold-calling techniques to get there. With him in mind, I created my first complete training course called How to Become a Client Magnet.

The exercise I have clients go through when we first start working together is something we call mining for gold. You start by making a list of everyone that is already in your network that you think might be a buyer of your product or service. Then you reach out to them, not to sell them, rather you are seeking to get their input on what you are planning to offer and ask for their feedback. This gets you comfortable having conversations with people that match your ideal customer. The feedback given during those conversations is where the gold comes from and you use those nuggets to create your initial offer.

I believe everyone is capable of selling but often what holds people back is their misconceptions about it. Getting clients is fairly straightforward. You need an offer, people to sell to, and a method to convert those people into customers. What makes it complicated is all the stories that play out in our heads about rejection, failure, or what others will think of us. However, we need to realize most of those stories are rubbish and if we simply lean into helping people and solving problems we will find a lot more success than failure.

I’m surprised in today’s economy when I interact or consult with a business that doesn’t have some type of software in place to keep track of and communicate with clients. Not to mention all the benefits that come from automating those little tasks in your business to engage with your clients better. Really good selling is about making the right offer at the right time to the right customers and software is the key to making that process seamless.

Resources Shared

• Bernadettedoyle.com
• Get Clients, Make Money by Bernadette Doyle
• Thryv
  

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