Our First Two Client Prospects = Potential Income From The Project

If we were talking about the shuttle launch, we'd say, "We have liftoff!" At the Indy 500, the announcer shouts over the roar of the engines, "The race is underway." My favorite horseracing announcer used to scream as the horses lurch from the starting gate, "And they're off!"

On day 20 of our project to generate $1 million cash in 184 days, we finally got two calls from our first mailing of 100 packages. A pastor from a Southside Chicago church and the executive director of a small not-for-profit organization called, referenced the mailing and asked us about the services we offer. After a brief chat, each invited me to make an appointment to meet in person to discuss in detail the services we can offer. So we've achieved two small victories - a response to the mailing and an invitation to schedule a face-to-face meeting.

I did some research on direct marketing response rates and learned that 2 responses out of 100 mailings is about average. Of course, generating a phone call is only step one; the object is to convert a prospect into a paying client. I know that people spend money with people they like and trust, and that the face to face meeting will be the key to closing the sale, to establishing trust and the feeling in each of these prospects that I can offer them something of value.

Because I've had a lot of experience in "pitching" services to clients, I know that for most small clients, price becomes the key factor in whether or not they hire me and pay me a retainer. My goal is to propose a fee for my services that I consider fair and reasonable. I don't pitch "lowball" fees any more because I discovered that, besides leaving me feeling cheated and dissatisfied when I offer a fee that is less than what I feel should be charged for the work, if clients perceive your fee as being too low, they will be suspicious of your competence and ability to deliver on the services you offer.

I also resolved for myself that any client who won't pay me a retainer (at least 50% of any fee we negotiate), isn't serious about hiring me. Especially in the services consulting field, I've learned that a client demosntrates how impressed they are with your services, prior track record, presentation, and value as a professional services provider by whether or not they agree to seal the deal with a letter of understanding and a retainer payment. My experiences have demonstrated that serious clients will always sign a letter of understanding and pay you a retainer.

So we've got two potential clients and two appointments on Monday. We'll let you know what happens.

Day 20 - $0.00 Income
Two responses to the mailing.
Day 21 - $0.00 Income
Two appointments set with prospects for July 24, 2006.

Do We Have Our First Client?

We received two calls yesterday (July 20th) from our mailing. The follow-up happens today! Let's see what happens.

Day 19 And Counting - Eliminating The "Famine" Periods!

Tomorrow will be 20 days into the project, and we haven't acquired a single client from our first mailing. I'm not really nervous or disappointed in our progress so far; if you've been following the blog, you know that we didn't really get our mailing out until a few days ago; illness and family matters interfered with the smooth launch of the project. All of my entrepreneurial life, I've experienced many periods of the proverbial "feast or famine." One reason I am excited about launching this project is that with the success of the project I hope to finally eliminate those "famine" periods.

When I was by myself of course I could handle the "down" times of the entrepreneurial life more easily (or at least I thought I was handling those valleys - as I look back they probably were harder on me than I admitted at those times). Now, with a 3-year old, 8 year old and 10 year old asking for dollars every minute and bills hitting the mailbox on a monthly basis, those short money periods hit especially hard.

I believe that on December 31, 2006, when I count up the cash totals from our six-month project, one by-product of its success is that we'll kiss those "famine" periods goodbye.

100 Clients From Newspapers, Magazines And Directories!

I've reviewed the past 20 years of my business life, and one truth jumps out: the more clients you have and potential clients you are attracting, the more successful your business operations are and will be. A simplistic truth but one that the vast majority of would-be entrepreneurs I've ever known don't seem to accept.

That's why I like the client-acquisition mentality this project allows me to promote - and why I think that the techniques we'll put into action for acquiring and capturing the attention and buisness of clients are the key to why we'll reach our goal in December 2006.

I've been building a contact list of potential clients by picking up local community newswpapers, shoppers, business cards and community business directories. I consider new business owners a particularly fertile client source. I learned that new business owners who create a business under an assumed name must advertise the new business name and their ownership in the business classified ad section. So from a classified listing placed by a new business owner, I can get the legal business name, legal owner's name, business address and owner's address - absolutely free! Wow!

Building The Client List - Tips And Strategies

A client that pays you for what you do or sell - the paying client is the engine that drives any successful business enterprise. A painful lesson I've learned - clients that don't pay aren't clients, they are liabilities that will kill your spirit and sink your business aspirations.

How can we identify, entice and capture clients that can and will pay us for our services or products? In launching my project, I know I have to use what Jay Conrad Levinson calls Guerilla Marketing strategies to build my client base, since I don't have any money yet to create or purchase newspaper ad space or tv/radio time.

I'm studying Levinson's Guerilla Marketing book and website. Seth Godin is a marketing guru who seems to be well-regarded, so I'm reading his blog. Shel Horowitz (Frugal Marketing) and Robert Allen (Multiple Streams Of Income) are two other sources from which I'm culling tips and strategies. I want to learn as many helpful ideas as I can.

More on our client list development in the next post.

Hooking Up New Blog Promotional Tools!

Every day you learn something new. I read an article on blogging by Brent Leary in the Black Pages Monthly Newspaper and picked up info on two excellent blog marketing tools: Feedblitz and Feedburner. One tool allows subscribers to receive your new blog posts automatically through their e-mail addresses; the other turns your blog into an online feed that can contain your blog posts, photos and other add-ins, allows you to track your blog visitors and does a great deal more.

I've had this blog over five years now; when I originally started it on Blogger, I posted entries sporadically, which I hear is true of most bloggers because I really didn't understand what a blog was and how I could use it effectively as a communications tool and journal. As a columnist, I've written thousands of words intended for a one-way communcation between myself and an audience I thought would be interested in what I wrote. Now I see that a blog can be much more effective communications tool than a column can ever be, because through a blog, you can create an interactive communications link between yourself and a much wider audience than could ever be reached with a column in one or even one hundred newspapers. Through these new promotional tools, I can share my ideas, tips and strategies and people can comment, send me feedback and ideas that enrich me and hopefully everyone who follows my blog.

My project is providing me an opportunity to do with this blog what I always wanted to do with my columns: create a dialogue about business development, wealth creation and success that can really have a far-ranging impact.

Day 16 total: $0.00 income so far.