The Unexpected Secret To Getting More Clients: Add Boundaries

you have customers you service but you're constantly nervous about them leaving and this is leading to a lack of confidence in getting new ones if they do decide to move on from you but you're also exhausted at the same time and feeling unappreciated like you're all just isn't ever good enough for them you want to feel valued to have some dignity to live without this fear of losing customers all the time and to feel successful unlik your business is growing well this doesn't have to be a dream it can be a lived reality for you but none of that will happen when you're on a cycle which has literally become a scarcity mindset where you believe there's just not enough work out there for you from this mindset your business will slowly drain away from you and you'll never achieve your full potential this is a key difference between those who seem to find success and those who kind of constantly struggle and round and round it goes from exhaustion to performing worse to more unhappy clients to anxiety of dealing with the problems from them and back to exhaustion from this place delegation's also hard to do because if you can't trust yourself you can't trust anyone else either and if you can't delegate you'll likely never find the time to build processes that'll allow you to have other people working in your business maybe it's time to accept that the solution to this lies in trying something new time fil drink water and today we're going to look at how to break free of this cycle so what's a way off this particular roundabout then when you can't force change on anyone else you can't turn your existing customers into people who are right for you you can only change yourself your thoughts your decisions and your behaviors so the answer has to lie in a change you choose to make to you something you actively believe in and want to change you could start with trying to work harder but that only leads to more exhaustion you could also try to work smarter and I'm all for that but will it be enough to let you get out of this cycle typically issues still exists but now they've got sticking plaster covering them the real problems are still there when I see a cycle I like to visualize it as a roundabout it helps my brain you're on this roundabout but you can see a different one in the distance that has attributes that you prefer compared to the one you're on at the moment on that one your business is growing you're happy believe you'll Thrive and be creative and Innovative you'll delegate naturally and with trust because you know your customer support and appreciate you and you trust yourself you feel abundant here the right customers just seem to find you somehow but between here and there you recognize that you need to do two things get off this current roundabout and then walk across some ground which might be difficult and uncomfortable for you to navigate there will be some stumbling blocks because this is real change and you'll have to believe in yourself to take this journey let's get into what's really going on here what's the core reason you got onto this roundabout in the first place and what keeps you here the answer is a lack of client boundaries not being willing to say no you went into your early client relationships with the scarcity mindset and low confidence and you said yes when you should have said no to them that led you down this path you now need to walk back up The Path and go in a different direction entirely a direction which allows you to take on the right customers for you there's an old business adage which you might have heard that says not all business is good business and it's totally true here but maybe you've never heard it or maybe you heard it but just never really practiced it so at what point could you be saying no to the wrong customers for you many entrepreneurs seem to believe it's only when they're at the start of the business relationship but that's not the case you could be saying no to the wrong customers at any of these points first off on your social media posts or in your website copy you can use language that puts off the wrong type of people think carefully about the attributes and qualities of the person that's right for you are they someone who wants everything to be literally 100% perfect because if you advertise for them you'll be forever looking over your shoulder worrying that you haven't achieved that so maybe highlight other benefits of working with you that doesn't mean you have to provide a poor service it's just an honest realization that nothing's ever really 100% you could also be putting them off in the initial sales conversation you can make it clear what times you work what type of people you work best with and by inference the kind of people you don't want to take on Plenty of ways you can drop it in there or maybe you could be more explicit on a form that they fill in I have some of this on my own forms you could also put them off at the onboarding stage you can highlight elements of working with you that you need to be done in a certain way and if they want the best from you they should want to follow these you could highlight that there's some challenges in the first week or month or year of working with them you could say maybe that they didn't understand something about working with you and correct them on it and if they don't follow through after that and the contract with them in fact you can fire a bad client at any time client fit really is more like dating it's from both directions the more time you spend trying to make all relationships work the more you are looking for the right customers who will make you feel amazing and launch your creativity and confidence and talent to new heights my marketing messages on my websites are set up so that the right customers contact me and the wrong ones move on doesn't work all of the time but probably 90 to 95% are a great fit for me what happens with the ones that aren't well I kindly explain I don't think we're a good fit for each other normally in the initial Discovery call and actually that we'd both find more success if we looked elsewhere client AR always used to this though and they can be taken back a little bit but I accept that their emotional reaction isn't really my responsibility I know in my heart that long term they will thank me this might seem like a bold choice and it is but it only took me a few of the wrong customers to make me realize that this is actually the only path to success it's allowed me to have what I want which is on this other roundabout over here a business which is thriving where I'm happy I trust myself I innovate and I delegate naturally what about when someone is already working with me though well I'll happily still explain my boundaries to them if it's needed We can't agree that those boundaries are okay then again I say we're not a good fit for each other I never say I have to please them and fit in with their needs if I do this long term I keep the right customers and they think I'm fantastic but how do you get there if you're here right now will you do it one customer a Time start with re-educating people that you already have if they don't allow themselves to be re-educated via them you can do it kindly and nicely but do it you'll then have more mental space to take on a new customer that really does suit you or maybe take on the new customer first and fire the older one afterwards to ensure that you don't struggle financially you will thank yourself for this in the long run and your business will thank you too this change is going to be the Breakthrough that really unlocks growth and success within your service business successful people always have great boundaries they understand and listen to themselves and their needs and prioritize and back themselves you move from surviving into thriving before we finish I want to talk about growth and customer complaints we'll all have some customers who complain and this in and of itself isn't a reason to fire them in fact we should aim to learn from them and to make our businesses and processes run more smoothly it's perfectly okay to learn however how someone complains says a lot about them there's a huge difference between we're not going to fall out over this but I thought you should know that last post you sent over isn't quite right for us compared with I know it's 1 p.m. but you used a word that I'd never used and you need to fix it immediately you do get to choose what you're willing to accept these are the boundaries you get to make I want to offer you three coaching questions which will help you get off this roundabout you're on and start you moving towards the other one here's the first question what's the biggest fear when it comes to setting boundaries with clients be honest with yourself second question how can you take action that gets you what you really want while honoring this fear at the same time there will be some options you've not found such as going more slowly through change with customers who are maybe less aggressive at first and third what will this abundance mindset that you've got with boundaries unlock for you and is it worth that Journey this road to self-empowerment littered with boundary creation you're empowering yourself to put yourself first to say no as and when it suits you without defense or justification you don't need either of those they're just a gate that people will use to persuade you to put yourself second again unlock the power to say no one bad client at a time live without this constant fear of losing customers by embracing happy clients who are amazed by you and they'll Propel your business forwards and upwards and accept that you deserve to feel valued acknowledged and appreciated hard work is worth praise only you can take the journey towards it though how would you week be different if you were on this other roundabout before you go pop it in the comments and if you're going to take this journey hit like to signal that you've made a real decision here I'll see you in the next video

Channel: Phil Drinkwater

Views: 29

Keywords: scarcity mindset, scarcity mindset vs abundance mindset, abundance mindset, growing business

Id: SdKlD9CbkqA

Length: 10min 51sec (651 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2024