I often hear clients, when they are working on their marketing message, who want to say, “I want clients who are committed. I want people who are willing to do the work, who are self-responsible.”
I totally get it. Of course you do, we all do. I absolutely support you in filtering out clients that you don’t want to work with.
But not with your top-level marketing message.
When you put “willing to do the work” or “self-responsible” in top-level marketing messages, two things happen.
The first is that people who really are willing, who are self-responsible, probably have doubts about themselves. Folks like this are often self-critical. When they see what you’ve written, they think, “Maybe I’m not good enough. Maybe I’m not committed enough. I’m probably not.”
So they self-select out.
Then the second thing that happens is the folks who are perhaps more unconscious, who, for reasons of trauma or unexamined privilege, might not be committed or self-responsible, also probably don’t have the habit of self-reflection. They glide right past it, assuming they qualify.
See what happened there? You filtered out the people you actually wanted, and invited in the ones you were trying to avoid.
Oops.
Here’s what to do instead: treat your clients like adults.
What I mean by that is to tell the truth about what it takes for your clients to be successful. Instead of using labels like “self-responsible” and “committed”, tell them the details of what you mean. When you describe your actual offer, how to work with you (not on the home page of your website), you describe:
How long it takes to really get breakthroughs.
How often people should see you.
What is helpful to do between sessions.
Tell them what the commitment actually is. Spell it out.
Don’t risk losing some of your best clients by trying to filter them out too soon with judgmental language. Invite folks in, and let them see what it actually takes.
Questions? Pushback? I’m curious to know what your experience has been in terms of bringing in your best clients.
With love,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
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1 Response
great post