The goal of the attraction phase is to get a prospect's ear, attention, or eye on your business.
‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be clear (with apologies to the Shaker folk song). You must be clear during the attraction phase of finding clients.
If you want to attract high-paying clients, you need to know the difference between an attraction phase conversation and a meaningful conversation phase conversation.
Based on my hundreds of interviews with top professionals, these conversations are especially critical for those who serve in roles such as chief executive officer, general manager, principal, partner, or head of an office, business unit, or practice for professional service firms, especially in the fields of accounting, dental consulting, financial services, management consulting, marketing and advertising, executive search services, software development, technology services, and law firm management.
These professionals think of these attraction phase conversations, as one professional put it, “as starting to dance with the prospect to see if romance develops.”
This is the preliminary conversations you want to have before the real conversation. The objective of attraction phase conversations is to get the prospect to ask to go to the next phase, and that is a meaningful conversation about their situation and how you might help them.
Nearly everything you do from a marketing perspective serves the attraction phase. Developing a messaging platform, creating marketing tools and executing marketing strategies are built with one purpose in mind: to attract more prospects.
Your prospects may come into your world in three ways. Depending on your business model, prospects may walk into your place of business, call you, or send you an email. Of course, they may send that email to your regular business email, your Facebook Instant Messenger, your Twitter email or your LinkedIn messaging box.
The goal of the attraction phase is to get a prospect’s ear, attention, or eye on your business. That’s it. After that the baton is passed to the meaningful conversation phase.
The easiest way to position yourself by concept is to create a great Defining Statement. This is a simple answer to a simple question, “What do you do?”
Think of it like bait on the hook when you are fly fishing. This is something you toss out there to see if it gets a nibble.
When you can answer this simple question in a succinct and concise way, you will have reached a deeper level of attraction or connection with your prospects. In time and with conviction you might find yourself with more prospects than you can handle.
It is not easy. In fact, it may be one of the hardest assignments you will undertake in your business. The rewards can be great. Here are examples to help you understand what is a good defining statement.
Consultant examples
I work with business owners who want to accelerate their results and grow their business.
I work with leaders who want to develop stronger teams and get their people behind a common goal.
Financial advisor examples
I work with people who want to accumulate wealth and make sure it's distributed the way they want.
I work with young people who want to start investing in the market and build a foundation for wealth.
Real estate agent examples
I work with people who want to buy their first home and sellers who want top dollar for their property.
I work with homeowners on how to maximize their property value and look for investment opportunities.
Bottom line: Focus on the dream of your prospects and the people you serve best. Some prefer to take a pain or problem-focused approach to their statement. It can work, although addressing their dream up front may lead you to more conversations where you can then address pain or problems.
Two other tools you need are a seven-sentence defining paragraph and a defining story. These will be covered in the next column.
