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Making Your Sphere Work for You: How Acquaintances Become Clients
Cold calling, mass mailers, email blasts - trying to market your services to the masses can sometimes feel like yelling into a void that yields little results. Your most valuable asset in sourcing clients can be found much closer to home, your sphere of influence. Check out the tips below to see how you can start running a business that turns acquaintances into clients.
1. List em’ out
Many people think they can count their sphere of influence on one hand, but setting aside an afternoon to carefully consider everyone who could be included in your sphere. The parents of the kids on your child’s volleyball team, the people you see regularly at the dog park, your favorite barista who makes the perfect latte, or the people you always sit by at church or sporting events. All of these people are within your sphere. It can be a tedious task, but taking time to write down every person within your sphere and regularly updating it is your biggest resource when creating a business that relies on sphere of influence over paying for leads.
2. Let em’ know
You have now identified all the people in your sphere, and it is time for the second step in the equation, making your sphere aware of you. We can easily assume that everyone knows about our business, but take a moment to consider how many people you know of who you couldn’t necessarily say what they do for work, simply because they have never told you. Be proud of what you do, and confident in letting people know. You don’t have to be a slimy salesperson, you simply need to be honest in showing others how passionate you are about your business.
Check out more about developing your sphere
3. Listen to ’em
Your sphere wants to know that you care about their life. The more you take note of where they are in life, what they have going on, the more you can ask genuine questions about them. It can also be helpful to know where people are in their life so you can give them the best service when they come to you. In real estate, for example, it helps to know that a member of your sphere is looking for a bigger home because they are expanding their family, bonus points if you know they just had their baby shower and can ask how it went!
4. Friends of Friends
Your sphere has their own sphere, and you want to be the person they recommend when they hear someone is needing a service in your line of work. There is nothing in business quite like hearing from a new client that they heard of you from someone in your sphere.
5. Change your perception of influence
The word influence can sound like a negative, however having influence over someone doesn’t need to have this negative connotation. You are not persuading someone to make a purchase they don’t want, however you are showing them that you care about them as a person and will give them the best service. These people will bring their business to someone, and you want to be sure they bring it to someone who knows them and cares for them. And who better to give them their absolute best than you?
Hopefully these tips helped you see how much power your sphere of influence has and how it can radically transform the trajectory of your business. Do you know of someone who could use these tips in their business? Share this article with them!
