Kat Millar

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The Difference Between High-Converting and Low-Converting Content

There are TWO WORDS standing between you and your ideal clients: YOUR WORDS.

In order to create content that converts, you need to know how to use your words to link people to your product or service.

Your word choices either widen the gap between you and your ideal client or close the gap.

Most people are winging it with their content and don’t have an effective content strategy, because they don’t realise that successful content follows a formula.

When your words hit the spot, they draw the right clients towards you and people consistently start reaching out wanting to work with you.

It seems like magic, but it’s actually very simple when you know how.

The best news is, creating high-converting content is a skill that anyone can learn, so that means you. All you need to do is learn the principles and then follow them.

Learning compelling content principles transforms your ability to create content that converts, so you never have to worry about how to get clients through your content again. I believe learning how to create content that converts is the most useful, yet underrated skill you can have as a solopreneur.

First I want to clarify what I mean by converting and what I mean by content.

Converting, by my personal definition that I’m speaking about in this blog means that the content does what it’s intended to do.

This means people take action on your piece of content. A high or low conversion rate could be based on a percentage or a number of people that take action from seeing your content.

Content, by my definition, is everything you create online. This includes your web pages, social media posts, sales letters, Facebook ads, emails, videos etc.

Every type of content can benefit from what I’m going to share because the principles I teach apply across all content.

Of course, different content has different purposes. A sales page is inviting someone to buy something directly, so a sales page has its own unique structure that it needs to follow.

There is a heap of things a sales page needs that are beyond the scope of this blog, however. A website also has a whole lot of factors that are needed for someone to take the next step.

So think of conversion as the person taking the action step you recommend in your piece of content.  And I’ll give you some examples of actions in this training.

You can benefit from learning these principles across the board in your content.

There are 7 ingredients that I teach in order to attract clients through your content. Today I am going to focus primarily on 3 areas.

1 – Trust

The first ingredient is trust. Without trust, it’s impossible for your content to convert.

There are 3 main things that are important to include in all your content, in order to get people to trust you.

1. Your Credibility

The first reason people will trust you is your credibility. Your trustworthiness as a person builds your credibility.

Think about someone that you trust, and think about why you trust them. What qualities do they have that lead you to trust them?

For example, I’m thinking of a friend now who I completely trust, and the reason I trust her is that she’s a person of integrity, she’s consistent, she does what she says she’s going to do and she is very real. She has an incredible heart and that shows in her actions, not just in her words.

You may have an incredible offer and your program may be great, but if you aren’t trustworthy as a person, people won’t trust your offer.

Ask yourself; Are you really living what you’re teaching? Are you walking the talk?

An example of this is if you are a coach, but you are not receiving coaching yourself.

Or another example is if you’re selling something you say is an essential product, but you don’t actually buy it yourself.

All of these things form your integrity, your character, and the depths of who you are. This is the first thing to look at if you want people to trust you.

2. Your Offer

The second thing people need to trust is your offer.

You could be the loveliest person in the world, and you could have the biggest heart ever. But people don’t just pay to work with a nice person.

When I went to a surgeon recently, I didn’t want him to just be nice, I wanted him to know what he was doing.

I wanted to know what his method was and I wanted to know that it would be a good return on my investment.

There are many different elements that go into making a great offer.

For example, a great offer needs to have some type of guarantee. It also needs to have some element of curriculum where you clearly lay out the path from Point A to Point B .

Ask yourself, how much can people trust your offer?

If you need help in creating an irresistible offer, then please reach out to me. I loved to help people craft an offer they can have rock-solid confidence.

3. Your Method

The third thing people need to trust is your method.

Let’s say you’re a health coach and your method is that you teach eating 6 meals a day.

Do the people that you want to attract actually all want to eat 6 meals a day? Is this a method that can work for most people?

Your method has to line up with what your potential clients want and also line with your core beliefs.

Something I found really valuable as a personal trainer, was not siding with these controversial fad diets as the only way to do things. We are all different in what works for us.

I had an opinion on every single one of them, but my opinion was to show both the pros and the cons. You have to be willing to stand for and against things and be strong in your personal method, but that doesn’t mean saying there’s only one way.

You must believe in your method, so people trust you and trust your method.

You need to have lived experience because if you’ve lived it, people can feel that.

For example, if I was teaching Google Analytics, and SEO, that’s not something that I’ve really learned.

However, I’ve lived content creating, presenting, and automation systems. These are the main ways I’ve grown my business. So these are the 3 main things I help people with.

The 8 pillars in my accelerator program are all things I’ve done myself. It’s so important that people can trust your way of doing things.

Now I want to touch on 3 other things that sit under the banner of building trust.

Social Proof

You can show trust for your content with social proof. You can include stories, case studies and testimonials of people you have helped.

When you tell a testimonial, you don’t have to say, “Here’s a testimonial…” You can let it come naturally through in your content. You can be talking about a subject, and then you might bring an example of someone you’ve helped within that subject.

For example, I have a client recently who did a webinar and she made over $12,000. I just include stories like this within my content, that line up with the content I am creating.

I also have a client who I helped move from being a CEO of a medium-sized company to leaving his job and starting his own business, so I shared this in my content around the difference between a 9-5 mindset and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Bringing stories and examples of lived experiences of your clients that you’ve helped adds social proof to your content.

Social Circle

Who are the type of people you attract? Who is attracted to you and who is in your social circle? Do you have a community that is full of people bitching or complaining? Do you attract people who are toxic?

We have to really look at our standards of who we allow to spend time with us in close proximity.

Last night I went to my friend Lisa Jane’s networking event online. I’d had a full day of clients before so I had a long day. I turned up because I knew she attracts quality people. I knew that the people who came would be quality people.

Your social circle makes an impact on the way people trust you also. If you surround yourself with like-minded, authentic, growth-minded people, those are the types of people you will attract.

Social Experience

Do you have a lived, embodied experience of what you’re teaching and sharing?

Are you being an example of possibilities?

Few things are more of a turn-off than someone not living what they’re saying.

An example of this is a health coach who has some bad nutrition and lifestyle habits.

Or a relationship coach that wasn’t good at relationships.

Obviously it’s not about perfection, but about being a role model.

Would you rather work with someone who has lived and embodies what they teach or would you prefer to learn from someone who is just teaching a theory they’ve never actually put into practice?

Are you constantly setting your standards high and growing towards them, and not just teaching theory?

2 – Curiosity

The second ingredient you need in order to attract clients through your content is curiosity.

I’ve spoken about this before in previous blogs, but it’s such a powerful ingredient to include in your content, so you can open up a desire and have your content convert.

It’s the difference between something being nice to read or it being a must-read. It’s the difference between something being nice to watch or something that you absolutely have to watch.

TV series do this well. They leave open loops in your brain, so you’re just wanting to close that loop. You are just waiting to see the new episode so you can close the loop. This draws curiosity.

In business, you do this by teaching people something they didn’t know. And then you show them that there is more that there is still to know, which makes them realise they need to know more. This shifts their perception and makes them somewhat more curious.

It’s not that you’re trying to be elusive or vague, or dangle a carrot and then take it away and say, “Hey, contact me if you want more information.” You need to give as much value as you can.

You also need to open the slope of curiosity, where they want to know more because they’ve just had an epiphany that there is more to what you are teaching.

This helps people realise that you do something different from what they’re used to, or you come from an angle that is different to what they’ve heard before. They see that you teach in a way that’s slightly different or your content lands differently.

To make this happen you have to craft your content. When you take time to craft your content, you don’t just check it to make it perfect,  but you craft your words to create a shift in someone’s perception and this opens up that curiosity.

That’s what makes people private message me. After I share a video or share a piece of content, I often have people DM me. I share a lot in my content and I don’t hold back, but I am also transparent in that I show that there’s so much more to know

Curiosity is a really cool ingredient to include in your content. If you learn to make people curious and you apply this in your content, it can be a  game-changer in your content and the way you connect with potential clients.

3 – Take Action

The third thing I recommend that every piece of content needs is it has to have a call to action.

I recommend that all of your content inspires some form of action. You might do this overtly or covertly.

I don’t always say to people to DM me or click a link in my bio. Some posts pose a question, and this gets people to start shifting in their minds, in order to take action.

You have to ask yourself – what is the purpose of the content piece.

What’s the point of crafting a beautiful piece of content that’s interesting and nice to look at, but if it doesn’t inspire someone to take action?

All your content should help someone take action, and that action might be a very small step, but it’s one step closer to them improving their life.

Not everyone who reads your content is ready to talk to you or to invest in you straight away.

Some people wait 3 or 6 months before they contact me, for example. I’ve had people sit on my email list for a year before they get in touch with me. Other times people contact me straight away and make a fast decision to work with me.

I consistently put out content and I consistently get clients, because of the varying stages of the buyer’s journey that people go through.

The buyer’s journey starts with someone becoming aware of you and then they need to build trust. This leads them to become aware they have a problem, then they become aware of the cause of the problem, and this flows to them becoming aware of the solution. This then follows to the buyer becoming aware that you provide the solution.

People go on the buyer’s journey at different rates, some people do it quickly, some people take longer.

When you sit down to create your content posts, start with the action you want the person to take and then work back from there.

A major benefit of starting with the end in mind is that people get used to you inspiring action. They get used to you popping up in their social feeds, and they begin to know that you give quality content that will inspire them to take action. So they take the time to read and watch your content.

These are the keys to consistently making offers but having them not seem like you are trying to push a sale, because the next step is not something they will have to pay for and also you have provided value.

Do you want help doing this so you can get more clients and grow your business?

I work together with my clients in the following areas:

1) Making your offer irresistible. I help you get clear on the best packaging and pricing for your stage in business and the stage that your ideal clients are at.

2) Clarifying your language. I help you understand the beliefs your ideal clients have and what you want them to believe. Most importantly I help you use the right language for your ideal client, so the right people can immediately see what you’re all about and that your program is right for them.

3) Creating organic, compelling content that converts. I use my proven process to craft the right language that calls in truly ideal, quality clients and I make sure you’re following the frameworks as precisely as possible. This will ensure you get enquiries from your content.

In order to be the best candidate to get results, you must have experience serving clients in your area of expertise and getting results, and already have a pretty clear idea of what problem you solve and who you enjoy helping the most.

If you’re not sure if you meet this qualification, message me on Facebook or email me at info@katmillar.com and we’ll discuss it.

You need to be willing to create content consistently, either writing and/or being on video and sharing your thoughts about the topics you’re an expert in.

If you’re interested, get in touch and we will have a chat and see if you are a good fit.

I look forward to chatting with you!

Kat.

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3 Things Your Social Media Posts Must Have To Attract New Clients

Are your social media posts attracting the clients you’re hoping for?

If you want to grow your business to $10k+ months consistently, knowing how to craft content that connects with your ideal clients is essential.

You need to understand the principles to gain and MAINTAIN people’s attention, so you can inspire and influence the right people to work with you.

Have you ever wondered what makes a post a MUST-read, not a ‘nice-to-read?’

Over the last 5+ years helping coaches, consultants, and experts to create compelling content, I’ve discovered there are 3 main things that need to go into social media posts to attract quality clients.

This is a major piece of what I do as a business coach: helping people to create content that not only gains attention but MAINTAINS attention so that people want to take action on what you’re sharing and be inspired to work with you.

When you include these 3 elements into your content in the right way, your content PULLS the right people to your posts, and attracts clients to you CONSISTENTLY, without you having to pay for ads.

You can apply these elements in your content straight away to be seen as an authority, sign up more clients, and finally make the money you deserve!

You can use these principles on video as well as in written content, including blogs and emails.

The 3 main issues I’ve discovered that stop people’s social posts from connecting with ideal clients are:

  1. Not enough credibility
  2. Not creating a mindset shift
  3. Being too vague

So how do you overcome these problems? Here are 3 powerful ways…

1 – Authority Positioning

Content with very little (if any) authority is an issue I see all the time.

This is where people post tips or ‘how-to’ teaching, but don’t come from a place of sharing their own credibility and experience.

Positioning yourself as an authority builds trust and credibility.

If you don’t position yourself as an authority, people won’t value you.

In order to position yourself as an expert, it’s important that you don’t just give tips, because anyone can Google information. What you need to do is ‘move’ a person when they consume your content. Inspire and influence them to act.

You can up-level your positioning by giving case studies, testimonials, and sharing from your own life.

A lot of people resist positioning themselves as an authority and expert because they have fear around it.

One of the biggest problems people have when it comes to positioning is that they’re not confident in making bold statements, asking bold questions, and being boldly niched.

Being boldly niched is really important because when you niche down and become micro niched, this is when you will find your ideal clients.

Sharing your credibility and presenting yourself as an authority is key to having people listen to you.

A lot of people struggle with imposter syndrome and not feeling good enough to present themself as an authority. It’s a massive mindset issue that can take you out of business.

You need to get over this fear of not wanting to position yourself as an authority. It doesn’t take long to fix this issue. I’ve had people clear this in as little as one session with me.

Obviously, there are layers to this issue and you need to go to the root cause and clear that limiting belief.

This invaribly pops up when you are wanting to go to the next level.

If you want to go from a startup to 5K months, your mindset around this might create a ceiling for you to keep you ‘safe’.

If you want to go from 10K months to 20K months, then you must address the limiting beliefs you have to get you to the next level.

Remember, when you’re positioning yourself as an authority, you can’t guarantee that someone will make what you are claiming, cecause each situation is different. The person has to do the work, be committed, and work towards an outcome. If they do the steps you advise and put in the work, then they can achieve what you are claiming, but they have to do the work.

If you have achieved it, or you’ve had someone achieve it, you can be confident in your authority positioning. There’s no magic rule that says you have to help a certain amount of people achieve a result before you can position yourself as an authority.

However, you need to know how to articulate how to help someone get it. Then you want to show up with that authority.

The definition of authority by Merriam-Webster dictionary is…

“The confident quality of someone who knows a lot about something or who is respected by other people.”

I really like that definition because confident qualities are when you know a lot about something, you have studied and researched it, and you’ve got experience about something, and you’re probably respected by other people.

There are 3 E’s you need to share when you are showing your authority…

1 – Evidence

2 – Experience

3 – Education

The way to position yourself as an authority is to give evidence of the fact that you know what you’re talking about, show your experience and then also educate people. Your social media posts have to have some element of authority positioning in them.

2 – Belief-Shifting Language

Belief-shifting language is where we are super clear on the belief that our ideal client has, and the belief we WANT them to have, and we craft our content in a way that bridges that gap.

Often people are actually consuming your content but not actually having a shift in their beliefs.  So they learn something, as opposed to having an ‘a-ha’ moment.

I was working yesterday with my mastermind private group, and we were talking about the beliefs that their clients currently have. It’s these beliefs that you have to aim for in your content to shift.

To shift a mindset, you need to be super clear on what beliefs are not serving your ideal clients and then shift them to a mindset and belief that will serve them. This is based on the premise that you have something that’s going to improve their life, that is going to be valuable to the right person.

So you want to work out what beliefs your ideal client currently has and then address these beliefs. You can do this on a piece of paper.  And then you craft your content in a way that bridges that belief gap.

Aim to shift only one mindset or belief in each of your posts. People don’t take any action on your posts because they haven’t had that epiphany moment. And it doesn’t need to be big, but it’s a revelation or a shift in their thinking.

Think of content as a strategy. It’s not just one post, but it’s multiple posts. I signed up 3 clients this week and the one I signed up today was because she had been reading multiple posts from me.

It’s been a journey for her to trust me and my capability as a business coach. And this has been built over time.

It’s not about selling to people on one post. It’s about pre-selling people over time. Then when you’ve planted lots of seeds, and the person is ready and had an ‘a-ha’ moment, they will be pre-sold before they have a strategy call with you.

If you keep showing up with the right content for the right people, you’ll keep getting clients.

When they’re ready, they’ll reach out. It’s a beautiful thing!

3 – Clear Problem, Cause & Solution

The third thing your social media posts need to include is the clear problem, the cause of the problem, and the solution to the problem.

Many times the reason people’s posts don’t lead to attracting clients is that they’re too vague. They’re too big picture, too fluffy, or even too overwhelming.

There are too many ideas going on, as opposed to addressing a clear problem, the cause of the problem, and giving a clear solution.

This is what I help people to achieve in their content. It’s one of the main things I work on with my clients, because ‘closing the gap’ is so important.

Being too vague leaves people nowhere.

An example is people may write in their post, “Are you feeling stuck in your life?” Or “Do you want to fulfill your potential”

The problem with this is that is not typically the conversation people are having in their own mind.

The conversation people are having in their own mind, is usually very specific and quite detailed.

If you think about conversations that you have at a bus stop or at a checkout line. You don’t normally say things like, “I’m stuck” or “I’m not fulfilling my potential in life.”

People don’t typically use that kind of language. They use more specifics.

Like “My daughter is misbehaving, and she’s constantly throwing her toys out of the cot.”

Or you may say something like, “I just really want to be able to fit my fit my dress for this party coming up.”

Compelling content addresses specific concerns.  You need to be bold and niched and be specific about who you help and with what area you help with.

You’ve got to choose a very clear problem and a very clear niche that is not too big picture.

Once you’ve chosen your micro-niche, look at the problems the people have and address these problems.

But don’t just go on about the problem. Share the cause of the problem, and provide ways to solve their problem, and the solution in your content.

This is where you present a framework, process or roadmap that people can follow to get them to the solution they are seeking to their problem.

So ultimately, what need to do is create multiple posts as a strategy.

The steps I follow to create compelling content that resonates with my ideal clients are:

Step 1 – Create a post outlining a problem someone has, and write it directly to a person who wants a specific outcome you can provide.

Step 2 – Explain the connection between the outcome they want and the type of help you provide.

Step 3 –  Explain what your offer includes and who it’s for, then invite people to reach out to you.

Always call out a group of people in your posts. These are your niche. If you go through some of the posts on my Instagram and on my Facebook, you’ll see that I do this.

I explain who the events are for – ie: coaches, consultants and service-based entrepreneurs. I then mention the specific results that people are seeking help for, like building a pipeline of ideas and a pipeline of clients so they can scale their business to 10k months or more.

The reason we invite people to reach out to us, rather than posting an external link, is because Facebook doesn’t show your posts to many people if it has a link in it. They don’t want people to jump off Facebook onto your landing page or your website.

When you put an external link, maybe 1% of your followers see this. So you invite people to reach out to you instead. And then you can share your landing page with people.

I signed up 4 dream clients this week by applying some of these compelling content principles, as well as the other ingredients I teach in my ‘Compelling Content Formula’

The system is what I personally use to get clients consistently and make $10k+/month in my business.

I typically get at least 3 discovery calls booked into my calendar every week by applying these principles.

And now I’ve decided to create a brand-new 30-day content makeover mastermind to share the exact strategy!

I’ll be leading a small group of people through my proven process to create the right language to call in truly ideal, quality clients.

It will cover how to craft organic content so that the right people will be attracted to you and want to work with you.

I’ll also be doing weekly live ‘make-overs’ of your content using my compelling content formula…

…so you not only learn the skill of creating content that converts but also know exactly how to apply it to your particular business straight away, and on an ongoing basis.

This mastermind is for people who are already in business, have already had clients, and are pretty settled on a particular niche.

You must enjoy sharing your thoughts about the topics you’re an expert in.

It will be a very exclusive small group so that everyone gets personal coaching with me on their content in order to attract the right clients.

If you’re interested and you’d like to be considered for the mastermind, send me a message on Facebook, or email me at info@katmillar.com.

I’ll ask you some questions to see if you’re the right fit for the program. If you are, I’ll share with you the details to get you started.

I look forward to chatting with you!

Kat

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How I Stay In LOVE With My Business…And How You Can Too

Do you feel like business is draining at times?

There’s sooo much to learn and do … and it can be exhausting.

After being in business for 18 years, I’ve discovered something important that’s stopped me from giving up when it got tough.

I’ve realised that if you want to stay in the game, it’s essential to stay in love with your business.

Would you like to get your joy and inspiration for business back?

I’ve been chatting to people recently who are struggling and finding their business draining. This has inspired me to talk about staying in love with your business.

Business is definitely not easy and it’s not for the faint-hearted. Business is one of those things that can be hugely exhilarating and also massively challenging.

It is so important if you want to stay in the game … that you stay in love with your business.

Think about your business like a relationship. All relationships have ebbs and flows, ups and downs.

What is your relationship with your business like?

When your relationship with your business is good, then often the results of that produce great outcomes for your business.

Like any human relationship, negativity impacts your business and can throw things off.

I like thinking of a business as a pipeline and when things aren’t working, rather than getting super emotional and thinking something is wrong with me, I just look at what’s wrong in the pipeline. I look at where the leakages and holes are that need to be filled.

In my last blog, I spoke quite in-depth about the 3 things that I look for when I’m looking for quality clients, and it’s also the 3 things that I look at whenever I’m struggling in business. You can read it here.

There are 3 areas I recommend you look at if your business is struggling:

1. Attitude

2. Skills

3. Effort

If your attitude towards your business is negative and skeptical, and you’re struggling with your mindset, then that’s going to overflow into your results.

When you’re feeling discouraged and negative … it has a negative flow onto your outcomes.

If you don’t keep up-leveling your skills like – copywriting, sales, presenting, and marketing skills, that will also affect the growth of your business.

If you’re not putting in effort – showing up consistently, that affects your outcomes.

It’s important to take a VERY honest look at these three things and face whatever you’re avoiding in order to spark your joy and passion again.

There are 3 ways I’ve found to stay in love with your business:

1 – Align Your Business With Your Personal Values

The first way to stay in love with your business is to align your business with your personal values.

Are you taking action in your business regularly that is aligned to what is important to you in life?

The way you work out what your values are is to look at your life.

What books are on your bookshelf or in your Audible account? What podcasts do you subscribe to? Look at what’s booked in your diary, what’s pinned up on your walls, and look at how you spend your time. Look at the people in your life you spend time with.

My highest personal value is freedom. That’s why I’m an entrepreneur, because I don’t like working for someone else.

Another personal value for me is growth. So I spend some time every week on growth activities, like reading, researching, or crewing at business events that I’m passionate about. I love educating people also, so this is a high value for me.

I love connecting, supporting, and helping people – one of my top values is connection. I love connecting with people face-to-face, which is why I love doing live events.

I notice the shift in my energy and my joy levels when I’m connecting in person with humans. There’s nothing quite like face-to-face with real-life people and events.

Because of this, I decided to put on an in-person event that is coming up soon. I was inspired to run a live event again because I recently went to an event in Sydney and it was so powerful. And it fired me up and got me passionate again.

Ask yourself what your personal and business values are.

And then align your tasks, actions, and your habits with these values.

If contribution is a high value of yours, and contributing to others is going to keep you fired up, passionate, and feeling alive, then start reaching out and supporting more people.

When I’m finding things challenging and nothing seems to be working, I know if I can get on and help someone, It makes me feel so amazing and uplifted. When I help others,  I end up feeling inspired.

Business always has highs and lows, hills and valleys.

If you’re in a valley right now, I encourage you to keep walking. You will get through it. However, you don’t want to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Einstein calls this insanity.

When things aren’t working you’ve got to look at the pipeline or you’ve got to look at where the gap is because there’s always a way to fix it. There’s always a way to tweak it, as long as your passion is there.

If you’ve fallen out of love with your business because you’re just doing it just for the money, and not for service and contribution, your business becomes soulless and transactional.

Imagine being in a relationship, that the person just wants you on the side to fulfill their needs, then there really isn’t much of a relationship is there? It simply doesn’t work. So if you’re doing business just to make a bit of money, rather than being in love with your business, it’s going to cause you problems and you will feel unfulfilled.

2 – Fall In Love With The Process

There are so many facets to business and you have to fall in love with the process of all areas of the business. If you just love coaching people and don’t want to focus on marketing, sales, or other areas that your business needs focused effort in, then it won’t work.

You need to fall in love with learning how to do Facebook ads or learning how to run events. You don’t have to learn all things at once. Learn one new thing, master that, and then learn another.

These things are a series of micro-changes that you make in your business that can bring you exponential growth. Business is a series of tweaks as you go. If things aren’t working then tweak what you are doing.

If you’re not in love with the process and if you don’t learn to love the process and reframe some of these things that we have to do, like marketing or sales, then you’re probably better off in a day job.

I’m not here to try and convince you to start a new business, but if you want to stay in your business and not give up, then you need to learn marketing, sales, writing, and other skills.

I highly recommend learning these skills before you outsource them. Because you need to know what you are paying for.

I was talking to a lady recently who had paid someone $5000 to do some marketing work for her. She’s finding there’s a lot of communication breakdown and it’s super frustrating for her because she doesn’t know how to do any of it herself and hadn’t learned it.

I always encourage people to take control of their business and learn all the areas themselves. That way you’re not relying on someone else.

When your business is at a great stage, then you can outsource your business. But you can’t just outsource everything just because you want to be a coach.

I didn’t always love marketing. The way I fell in love with marketing is by reframing it. I reframed it by thinking; I love coaching. I love presenting. I love them because I’m helping people. I’m making a big difference to people’s lives and they get their a-ha moments and get valuable education.

I can also get that great feeling through marketing. And so I linked the process of marketing, sales, presenting, copywriting, etc to my highest values.

With marketing I asked myself these questions:

  • How will marketing give me more freedom?
  • How will marketing give me more growth?
  • How will marketing give me more connection?

Ultimately marketing is about helping people. It’s helping people shift their perspectives and have a breakthrough.

It becomes less about the outcome of how many clients are you getting, and it becomes more about who you are helping. This is how you learn to love the process.

3 – Keep Levelling Up

My third way to stay in love with your business is to keep levelling up. It’s important as humans that we grow and progress.  If you keep getting stuck in your business and things are staying the same, it’s easy to fall out of love with your business.

If you’re not growing and consistently investing in skill acquisition, it’s really hard to stay in love and stay passionate about your business. Passion and excitement for your business come when you are investing in your growth.

This is how to keep that fire of passion burning for your business because you’re learning and investing in your growth. This passion and fire keep your relationship with your business strong.

You can’t just passively learn if you want to level up. You need to jump in apply what you learn to your business.

It’s not about perfection. Leveling up is about excellence. It’s about aiming to being excellent and outstanding as a standard.

When you choose to keep levelling up, you choose not to avoid hard things.

You may have been avoiding doing videos, or avoiding looking at your finances, or avoiding learning to do Facebook ads. Levelling up in every area of business means you’re constantly making those little tweaks.

What I love about levelling up, is that it makes your success inevitable.

If you want to level up in your business, particularly if you want to get more clients or sign up the leads that you do have coming in, I have something exciting to share with you!

I’m super excited about a new in-person event that I’m holding with a business strategist and a marketing strategist called Level Up.

It’s a Sydney-based, in-person event where you’ll get to spend the day with us and other like-minded entrepreneurs to renew your passion and love for your business!

I’ve teamed up with Mark Flores who is a brilliant video content strategist and marketer, and Gez Perez who is a productivity, systems, and mindset wiz.

We are sharing how to build a pipeline of ideal clients so you can scale up to $10K months consistently.

So if you are sick of playing small and tired of the overwhelm of marketing, and you want clarity and a step-by-step formula to sign up clients consistently, you can register for just $1! And then, if you enjoy it and get value, it’s just $49.

This is for you if you have a coaching, consulting, or service-based business, and you want to take it to the next level.

This is for you if you want to know how to build a system and have the formula to hit the 10k months and guarantee your success.  This event is designed to take you out of a plateau, and into being a trusted sought-after leader in your industry.

We are not selling anything at this event, it’s pure valuable content!

Check out the Level Up event here

Hope to see you there!

Kat

 

 

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How To Attract Quality Clients Vs. Energy-Zapping Clients

I’ve been having a few conversations with people lately about energy-draining clients.

Some people have told me they don’t want to turn people away who weren’t the right match because they’re afraid they won’t get other clients.

The danger of that is it can come from a scarcity mindset and can cause waaaaay more headaches in the long-run.

When you’re just starting out, getting this right from the beginning is important, because it’s so essential for you to get results with your clients as soon as possible.

Getting testimonials quickly is a priority. This gives you social proof, which is a huge part of growing your business.

If you’re not getting results for your clients, it can be hard to attract more clients. Attracting clients can become a snowball effect. When you get clients that have transformations, it brings more clients to you.

Every time you say no to a difficult client, you are opening up space in your calendar, in your mind, your emotions and in your energy and your life… to bring in an amazing client to work with.

And amazing clients give you so much joy and fulfillment!

They are rewarding to work with, they get results and see a transformation.

When you say no to people who aren’t a good match, you’re saying yes to amazing opportunities to work with people who are committed to getting results.

Become Known For Your Niche

Being tighter niched builds more trust, because you’re known for only looking for certain people, and you’re not trying to convince everybody.

When you become known for working with someone in a particular niche, you attract more of those types of people. It shows you don’t take on just everyone. It’s called the tribe effect.

Robert Cialdini talks about this when he speaks about influence. The tribe effect is a phenomenon where people feel they are a part of something bigger, it taps into camaraderie and a ‘family’ feeling.

For example with CrossFit, they create a feeling for people to feel they are part of the CrossFit tribe.

It’s the same with the marines or with VIP exclusive events. People want to feel part of something exclusive, unique and they want to feel special that not everyone is doing it. People have had massive growth in their business because of this tribe effect.

This is really important because your reputation is worth so much more than money.

There is so much power in reviews like Google reviews or Facebook reviews when you first start out. Just one bad review can tarnish your reputation.

When I first started out in business, I decided I’d always put my reputation above money, because money you can get back. A tainted reputation is really hard to get back. If you’re working with a client who is not a right fit, you’re not going to get results and you’re both going to be resentful.

So, how do you decide how to take on a client?

There are a few things I recommend you look for…

Attitude, Skills And Effort

This is a concept created by a billionaire Japanese man, Dr. Inamori Kazuo., who uses this philosophy in engaging the company’s employees. Staff are assessed by their attitude, their skills, and their effort.

Attitude

When I’m thinking about whether someone will be a right fit to work with, I make mental notes about their attitude. Are they keen, positive, and committed? Do they keep showing up with a good attitude and bring energy and optimism?

That’s why whenever I hire people, like my three assistants at the moment, I hire based on attitude, not solely skill. Because skill can be trained. Yes, some skill is important, but attitude is even more important to me.

I do this with clients. If you think about it, you might only need 10 or 15 clients to have a functioning, great business, it’s not like you need 100 people. So you can be quite particular about who you choose to work with.

You don’t want to open up spaces in your calendar and then when it comes to looking at who you have booked in for the day, your heart sinks.

I remember once I worked with a guy who was rude and disrespectful. I’d say happily, “Good morning.” and he’d reply sternly with, “Let’s just get on with it.”

I’d be nervous and flustered and it didn’t bring out the best in me. His attitude impacted me and I made a decision after that not to take on people like that again.

Skills

Skills are also important. I don’t want to take on someone who has absolutely no skills. I want someone who is good at what they do but has some gaps.

I’ve been working with a client Jen for a while. She’s an amazing speaker and author. We worked on putting together a heap of systems to run her very first webinar. She had to quickly learn Click Funnels, Zappier, Vimeo, PowerPoint, Mail Chimp, automation sequences – the works. It was such a steep learning curve for her.

Her attitude was, “Let’s do this, let’s learn it and get it sorted out.”

Her skill level wasn’t in these things, so the tech was challenging for her, but this is where I could help her.

What’s more important than that is that her skill in her craft was excellent.

In her first webinar, she had over 55 people attend live, and 23 registrations for her program, which made her $12,476 AUD!

Effort

You don’t want to be working with someone who doesn’t put in the effort. Then you have to handhold them so much, it’s like you’re dragging them into change, instead of partnering as a team and working together to get results.

Are you really willing to work with someone who doesn’t want to put in the effort?

Who never does what they say they’re going to do, and doesn’t take consistent action?

The Energy You Feel During And After Your Sessions

Another way to tell if it’s a quality client vs. an energy-zapping client is to ask – What’s the energy that I feel during and after a session with someone?

Do you feel happy and uplifted or do you feel drained?

If it’s a quality client, you don’t feel drained afterward. If you’re feeling drained, then there’s some kind of leakage happening and some kind of misalignment.

I’m working with a dream client at the moment, who signed up for my Accelerator program, plus one-on-ones with me. She paid upfront and said she doesn’t want to see me fortnightly, she wanted to see me weekly. She upgraded her upgrade.

She comes to me so keen and full of energy. She never complains, just keeps taking on the challenges. After speaking with her I feel so much energy and confidence that I can help her get results and that what I’m doing with her is really helping. You don’t want to have clients that are taking up space and that you can’t really help.

5 Traits of Quality Clients I look For

There are 5 traits that I look for when taking on a client.

1 – Coachable

The first trait I look for is – is the person easy to coach and open to feedback? Do they get offended easily or are they willing to receive feedback?

I just did a copywriting makeover tonight with my Inner Circle group and there were 5 women in there. There are all coachable and eager to learn, which made it SO rewarding for everyone.

2 – Committed

Find clients who are committed to their results. You don’t want flaky clients. You want clients who are not mucking you around – saying one thing but doing another.

3 – Willing To Grow

You want clients who are willing to grow and change, and they respect you because you are such a good match. They don’t think that just because they pay you money, you’re expected to just fix them. They want to work as a team with you to learn and grow.

4 – Have An ‘Until’ Mindset

Clients who have an ‘until’ mindset are clients that keep going until they get their breakthrough. They will keep going until they figure it out. They don’t quit just because something gets hard or uncomfortable.

I worked with a lady once who wanted to set up automation systems. Just two weeks in she said it was way too hard for her. Instead of working through it step-by-step, she just gave up!

I’ve struggled in the past to say no to people, but I had to find the courage to say no to her because I knew we were not a match. If someone gives up that easy, they’re probably not built for business.

Now, what helps me say no to people is to think that someone else is missing out, who is ready to make changes in their lives. If I continued to give this slot to her, I would end up frustrated.

5 – They Value You

Choose quality clients who value your time, your knowledge, skills, and wisdom.

You have to shift your mindset from a scarcity mindset in which you want to take on everyone, to a mindset of valuing yourself. This can come back to a self-worth issue.

Mindset Shift From Scarcity To Value – 3 Mindset Distinctions

There are 3 mindset distinctions I recommend:

  • Mindset Of Trust – Trust people will come and fill those spaces that are quality clients.
  • Abundance Mindset – There is an abundance of clients out there if you are good.
  • Mindset Of Courage – You need this to actually say not to people. You need to be bold and brave in your business.
5 Ways To Spot Energy Zapping Clients
1 – Do You Sense They Won’t Get Great Results?

You can pick up a sense with energy-zapping clients. You will sense they won’t get great results. You won’t get the satisfaction of really helping them. You won’t get testimonials from them and your investment of time won’t bring a great return. This feels like such a waste for you and for them also.

2 – Do They Affect Your Mood?

Energy-zapping clients affect your mood, not just for this energy-zapping client, but for other clients also and for your community. You get stuck in negative thinking after the session, instead of other more important things. If you have an energy-zapping client, you will take that energy into the next client meeting, and this is not worth it.

3 – Do They Make You Doubt Yourself?

Energy-zapping clients can really make you doubt yourself. There are 3 important mindsets you need to show up with: 1) Conviction 2) Certainty 3) Confidence. Energy-zapping clients can drain you of these things.

4 – Are They Demanding Or Disrespectful?

This is subjective, because sometimes people aren’t outright demanding or rude, but they push the boundaries that go beyond what you’ve promised. I’ve had this a lot of times, where I’ve had to put strong boundaries up.

I’ve had people contact me and want me to help them with building a landing page. When people contact you and say, “Hey, can I pick your brain…” and they want free advice, it shows the boundaries are not clear enough.

This really is a subjective area, because people can be disrespectful by not paying, by not showing up, by turning up late.

5 – What’s Your Gut Instinct Saying?

What does your gut instinct tell you? This instinct rarely lets me down. Taking note of that check or red flag feeling in your gut is really important. Otherwise, you end up resentful.

This is why I’ve made a decision to work with people that I am going to know that I am going to enjoy working with. I choose clients that are going to enjoy it and where I can absolutely help them because in every case, it’s just not worth it for the money.

If your intention is to attract quality clients, then quality clients will show up for you. And they really do start coming in like a magnet, if you do quality work.

You don’t get quality clients if you don’t do quality work.

Do you need help attracting the right clients?

If you’ve been struggling to say no, or struggling to find your right clients, I’ve opened up some space in my calendar to help people like you in my community.

I’ll create a personalised marketing roadmap for you based on my proven formula, to help you attract quality clients!

Click this link to apply for a free 45-minute strategy session

The right people are waiting for you.

Kat

 

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3 Ways To Convert Quality Clients, Without Feeling Like You’re Selling

If you’re in business. I’m sure that you understand the importance of converting leads into clients.

A lot of business owners really don’t like this idea of being salesy, pushy, or coming across awkward. I get it, because I hate being perceived that way also.

We’ve all been in a sales conversation where we’ve felt that the person doesn’t really care about us and they’re just trying to push the product or the service on us. When I started out in business I really hated selling, but the truth was, I just didn’t understand it.

I remember being at an event once and the guy said to raise your hand if you’re in sales.  I was a personal trainer at the time, and there were hundreds of us at the event. No one raised their hand. And he said, “Well, you’ve already lost the game if you don’t view yourself as being in sales.”

I remember getting this really icky feeling that I did not want to be known as a salesperson in business. But here’s the thing; when you attract the right people who are a great match for what you’re offering, it doesn’t feel like selling.

It actually feels like an enjoyable conversation and experience. It feels so natural and it just flows. You don’t have to think about what tactic you will use and how you will overcome an objection.

So how do we actually do this effortlessly?

When I talk about converting quality clients, I’m not just talking about just anyone. I’m talking about your ideal clients who are your dream clients.

Your dream clients are those who have all the traits and elements you put into your ideal client avatar, when when you planned out who your ideal clients are. So for example, your ideal client knows a lot less than you about the topic you are speaking about.

A lot of people show up with imposter syndrome, feeling like they are not wanting to sell because they feel like they don’t know enough. So you want to design your ideal client avatar for people who are way further back in the journey than where you are.

When you get the right people into that conversation, then you’re able to influence them for good. You’re able to help them to overcome the block that’s in their way. You’re able to help with the problem they are experiencing by offering the solution.

True influence is helping people find a solution. It’s helping people go from what I call, pain to paradise. It’s helping people so they can overcome the problem and overcome the block that is stopping them from taking action.

If you don’t do that, then you’re leaving them suffering and stuck in their pain. So if you want to be able to elegantly convert people and not feel like you’re a salesperson, then learning true influence is what will help you convert people into paying clients.

Since 2003 I’ve been working with thousands of people to make positive changes and get breakthroughs in their lives and business. I started out working as a personal trainer, helping coach people with weight loss, fitness, and bodybuilding.

Throughout my whole journey of 18 years in business, the main thing I’ve been doing is helping people get breakthroughs in their lives.  When you think about a breakthrough, it’s like a penny drops and people get that aha moment and have a revelation and an epiphany.

I heard someone say once that it’s best to be deliberate, not desperate.  I love that! You don’t want to come across as desperate because desperate energy puts people off. One of my mentors Ben Harvey says that buying begins the breakthrough.

Think about when you’ve had a breakthrough. Often it’s because you’ve invested somehow in your breakthrough. You’ve paid to go to a seminar, course or event workshop and you’ve had a breakthrough.

Having a breakthrough feels incredible and breakthroughs start because we make a decision to take action.  Usually, that decision to take action is because someone has influenced you. When you have the right heart and the right mode of influence, you will help someone improve the quality of their life.

I really want you to view sales as helping someone discover what they are missing. It’s not about changing someone’s mind. It’s about helping someone to deal with the problem they are struggling with.

This takes the pressure off you and you become excited to tell people what you do. If you’re in business, you have to constantly be telling people about what you do. It’s so important that you know how to sell especially if you’re a coach, consultant, healer, author, speaker or practitioner, and you want to help people improve their lives.

You won’t be in business if you don’t sell, so you have to learn to confidently and boldly tell people what you do. If you want to help more people and make a bigger difference in the world, sales is one of the most important skills that you can develop.

I remember sitting in an event once with Jeffrey Slater and he said that sales is the skill you do not want to learn, but it’s the skill you most have to learn. Most people don’t want to learn sales, but without learning sales, you will have to go back to working a normal job.

In discussing the best ways to find a quality client, I’m assuming that you have a heart to really make a difference in the lives of people and I’m also assuming you’re not trying to sell someone something they do not need. I also assume that you have a good offer, because without a good offer, then you’ve got nothing to offer anyone.

To craft a good offer, you need to have lots of quality, real-life conversations with people, that you ask specific questions that address their needs. These conversations help you to craft an offer that is needed and that you are proud of and want to share.

When you have a fantastic offer, then you can start having quality conversations that will bring you ideal clients that are a match. So how do we make that match with quality clients?

1 – Awaken Their Future Identity

Everybody has what I call a BFS, a best future self.  Everyone has something that they want to improve in their lives. It could be being a healthier, fitter version of themselves. It could be having a stronger relationship or marriage, or it could be improving the way they parent.

The first way to influence some positive change is to awaken that vision and identity of who the person wants to be. This goes so much deeper than just what they want to have, it’s actually about who they want to be.

People don’t want to buy your product or service, and they don’t want a coaching session. They don’t want an 8-week course or to watch your 27 videos. They want to be the best version of themselves in the future.

In order to awaken that vision, you don’t just want to focus on the method of how you help people or the features of your program. You want to focus on awakening in them the best version of themselves, that may have been lying dormant in their minds for many years.

You’ve got to craft your questions in an elegant way, to remind them of who they want to be. People get buried under all the yuck of life and they forget who they want to become. It’s your job to remind them.

I think of selling as a coaching session. So much of coaching is about asking the right questions and helping people change their perception. At the end of a coaching session if we’re a match, then the person will become a client.

Asking the right questions takes planning and it’s a skill you develop. It’s important for people to get a vision to see, hear and feel what it would be like living in the best version of themselves.

You want to ask people to remember that vision of being their best self and also you need to ask why it’s important to them. This takes time. You’ve got to really listen intently, you’ve got to notice shifts in their body language, and notice what lights them up.

Notice their keywords, their body language, and the shift in the tonality of their voice. You’ve got to be able to sense how people are and you’ve got to be able to see them physically to see their visual cues. This is why having a video call is so important.  Sometimes you have to go digging for the BFS goal because it’s not always top of mind with people.

So many people when they’re having sales conversations, don’t understand this. They like to rush the conversations. I used to do this myself. Understanding people’s future vision is so important.

I remember when I was a personal trainer, I just wanted to get people out into the gym, instead of really taking that time to understand what they want and why it’s important to them. This helps so you can motivate them when things get hard.

Back in my PT days, I just ask client’s how long they’ve been in the state and what they wanted to fix.  And then I’d try and get them into a 12-week challenge so they could start losing the weight without understanding their motivating factors or what would drive them to change.

When you’re talking to people, really take notes of the words that they’re connected to. Take note of when people are passionate and note when you see a shift in their body.

2 – Educate Them

The market has really changed from a buying perspective and we’ve changed how we interact. People are more educated now than ever before. You can pull out your phone and educate yourself very easily, no matter where you are.

The idea of selling is not really selling anymore. You can sell without feeling like you’re selling, by doing education-based selling. Education-based selling is completely different.

The cool thing about this new marketplace is that if you enjoy teaching, training, and educating people, you’re in a good position to understand how to influence somebody.

When I have a conversation with someone who potentially wants to get some coaching or wants a mentoring program, rather than going through outdated sales techniques from years ago, I educate people in my conversations.

Back in 2003 when I did my apprenticeship at the gym, conversations were very scripted instead of being dynamic conversation. It wasn’t about education. Now what I do instead of talking about the features of my program, I educate people.

When I talk to someone who is struggling in their business and they want more clients, or they are wanting to improve their presenting or copywriting skills, I’ll educate them on what’s working right now for my business to help get clients.

People don’t really care about your product or program or if you give tech support. They just want to know that you’re able to give them what they desire in life, and this is where you can show them that you’re the expert and you do this through educating people.

When you take the time to educate your clients, it can really dramatically shift things, especially with quality clients. Quality clients need to be educated, they need to understand why you are different in terms of the result you can offer.

I use a 3- step method for this, and I call it the CPR method. It’s like resuscitating someone who is sick, but you’re resuscitating their vision of their best future self in the midst of educating them.

C – Credibility

If you want to influence someone, share your credibility, your experience, knowledge, and skills. Share why someone would want to work with you.

I remember when I worked as a gym instructor in New Zealand. There was a trainer there who would see someone doing an exercise wrong. Instead of walking up to them and saying to the person, “Hey, I’m Bob and I’ve been training people for the last 5 years. Do you mind if I give you a quick tip on how to protect your back?”

He would shout out across the gym and tell people what they were doing wrong. It would cause people to get really embarrassed and I would cringe when I heard it, because he would embarrass people publicly. He wouldn’t tell people about his years of training people, which would give him credibility. He would just yell at people.

So anytime you want to educate someone, you need to frame it around your credibility.

P – Process

Sharing your process with people is really important. Tell people what your process is, share that your process is step-by-step and explain how you’ve organised your knowledge. People love organised knowledge.

In a conversation, this might look like,  “Hey Tommy, so I heard you say you want to work full time in your business so that you can have the flexibility of working from home. Is this right? So, over the last 18 years of working in business I’ve discovered there are 3 main problems people face when it comes to business…”

In my strategy sessions after I ask the key question, I then create a roadmap for the person and explain how the coaching would get them results. I explain step-by-step how things will progress and I show how my knowledge is organised. People love a step-by-step strategy.

R- Results

You want to share the results you are seeing when people follow your process. You might say, “Sally followed this process and she was able to make 10k a month and was able to increase her conversion rate from 50% to 70%.”

Share your client stories and describe the results client’s got when they followed your process.

3 – You Are The Prize

You are the prize. Say it out loud with me, “I am the prize!”

There are thousands of people that you could potentially be coaching or mentoring and there’s only ONE of you.

Your time is limited, so you only want to work with quality people. If you’re working one-on-one with people, you want quality people to book into your calendar. You don’t need people wasting your time.

You want people who are ready and are seriously committed. You only want to deal with people who want to work with you, who trust you, and who want to take action.

Money is a commodity. You can get money from anywhere, but you only have one you. If you’re coming in with an energy of chasing a person in a strategy session, and if they feel like prey being targeted, people are going to run away.

However, if you come in totally neutral and you’re not chasing, you become the magnet. You know you’re the prize because you’re good at what you do. You want to attract the right clients and repel the wrong ones like a magnet attracts and also repels.

It all comes down to presenting to people the opportunity to improve the quality of their life.

You don’t need to try and convince your ideal clients, you want to find people who are already convinced because you’ve educated them and you’ve provided valuable content.

So the goal with sales is matchmaking, not trying to sign everyone up. It’s about matchmaking with your truly ideal, right-fit client.

So if you want to be known as the one that people chase, rather than being chased by them…

I’d like to invite you to a free client attraction strategy session. 

I work together with my clients to:

1) Make your offer irresistible. I help you get clear on the best packaging and pricing for your stage in business and the stage that your ideal clients are at.

2) Clarify your language. I help you understand the beliefs your ideal clients have and what you want them to believe.

3) Creating organic, compelling content that converts. I use my proven process to craft the right language that calls in truly ideal, quality clients. This will ensure you get enquiries from your content.

In order to be the best candidate to get results, it’s best if you have experience serving clients in your area of expertise and getting results, and already have an idea of what problem you solve and who you enjoy helping.

If you’re interested, message me on Facebook or email me at info@katmillar.com and we’ll have a chat and see if you are a good fit.

I look forward to chatting with you!

Kat

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