How to Get More Clients By Offering Them Less

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The Client Letter

How to Get More Clients By Offering Them Less

February 1, 2011
Sedona, Arizona

We’re taught to believe that having talents in many areas gives someone an advantage when pursuing success.

I don’t believe that any longer.

In fact, I’m coming to the realization that having talents in many areas can actually be a huge liability.

I still remember one of the professors back at music school who basically said something like, “If you can do ANYTHING else besides music for a living… do it. Only pursue this if you have no other choice.”

He said that for a number of reasons. First, pursuing a career as a professional musician is not easy. It’s basically constant struggle in pursuit of a perfection that is rarely achieved.

Second, to pursue a career in music and not end up living the life of an old, bitter and cynical musician, you really have to love what you do.

I’ve kind of been “cursed” with the talents in many areas thing. OK, it’s really a blessing too, but for today’s letter, I’m concentrating on the dark side of things.

Having talents in many areas is good for the ego, but in the professional services business, it can create quite an obstacle between you and success.

Talents in many areas leads you away from clarity in communicating what you do. And that can be a huge problem.

A few years ago, I decided to “branch out” and extend my services beyond copywriting into the world of consulting.

After all, I know a lot about a lot when it comes to running a business online and I could offer a huge amount of additional value to my clients who “thought” they were just hiring a copywriter.

Seemed clear enough to me.

But my prospective clients weren’t really looking for a consultant. They just wanted solutions to their problems. Great copywriting was one of their problems, and they knew it. EVERY savvy internet business owner knows it.

To show up and explain that, “I do a lot more than copywriting… think of me as more of a consultant…”

Well, it just didn’t resonate with many people. And it just muddied the waters.

I was a walking Swiss Army Knife of solutions in search of problems, instead of THE solution to a very specific problem.

I finally wised up and started calling myself a “copywriter” again.

Now it’s easy to attract clients because they KNOW what I’m about.

Sure my ego probably doesn’t like it. It would rather have me say, “Hey, let me tell you what I can really do. I can do almost anything. I’m awesome.”

Unfortunately, the ego is a terrible salesman, so I ignore him.

Once the door is opened and I’m working with the client, THAT’S when I can push things out a bit and let them know what I really do.

To attract clients however, I find that offering LESS is actually the path to more.

See you next time,

Jason Leister
Editor, The Client Letter
Creating Success for Independent Professionals
ClientsSuck.net

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