Be True to Yourself and Watch the Clients Come Rolling In

One of the major advantages of owning a small business is being able to communicate directly with your clients, from person-to-person rather than stuffy-corporation-to-person, which is too impersonal to really help you connect with clients and grow your business.

Not to mention that tried and true idea that business relationships are built on consumers buying from people they like, so owning your own unique style, and letting it shine through to your customers, is a great place to start when you’re looking to get clients. You want to do whatever you can to help your prospective clients see you as someone they know and trust. Following are a few ways to do just that:

Write like you speak. When you’re preparing blog posts, newsletter articles, etc., don’t focus so much on the fact of the matter that you lose yourself in the process. The secret to building solid business relationships is to write as if you’re sharing valuable information with a good friend whose wellbeing you truly care about. Along these lines, use the personal pronouns “I” and “you” instead of the more impersonal “we” (indicating a big business) and “they” (indicating generic customers).

Let them see (or at least hear) you. Another great business growth strategy is to put a face and/or a voice to your marketing communications can instantly humanize your company, reassuring potential clients that there is, in fact, a living, breathing human being on the other side of that website. Plus, it’s much harder to hide your personal style in the ebb and flow of conversation. So turn on the videocamera (or the voice recorder) and record a short message to your audience. Trust me, they’ll love you for it!

Don’t hide the real you. All too often, we as service providers hide who we really are out of fear that we’ll offend people and (heaven forbid) repel some clients. But here’s the reality: you’ll only turn off the people who probably aren’t a good fit for you anyway, and who would be less than thrilling to work with. We all have our own unique style, and the best provider/client relationships are based on personalities that complement one another. Because, after all, if you’re laidback in nature, and prefer to do business on more of a let’s-play-it-by-ear basis, you will likely butt heads with a client who is deadline driven. You’ll be at each other’s throats constantly and will likely end up resenting one another. In short, you aren’t likely to build an ongoing, happy business relationship with someone who is your polar opposite. By letting the real you shine, you will naturally attract those who respond positively to who you are, and with whom you can build a lasting relationship. (Caveat: I’m not saying you should let it all hang out if you’re the type of person who prefers a level of modesty.)

The bottom line is that you are an individual, and you can use that fact to your advantage in your business. Just be true to yourself and your ideal clients will come a-callin’!