Sustainable Success is Built On A Warm List …

As a general matter, being intentional about increasing your lists (i) potential clients, (ii) current clients and (iii) business associates is one of the most important things you can do to ensure not only the success, but also the sustainable of your business, especially if you are online.

This is true regardless of whether your business provides physical projects, specialized services (like legal, accounting or coaching), digital products (like ebooks and audio lessons), or live training programs (both on-line and in-person).

Retailers like Target, online service providers like LegalZoom and companies providing coaching services like MindValley all use lists to stay in touch with their clients and customers through periodic electronic mailings. If these types of businesses are using lists … why aren't you?

The process for growing your lists of potential clients and current clients is pretty similar, so let's start here …

Here's Why It REALLY Matters …

A warm and receptive list that you nurture by constantly providing valuable content will begin to trust you, your integrity and your candor. This is as good as having money in the bank. Why? Because, when you offer valuable content for free or at a cost, your list will respond. When you take care of your list, they will take care of you.

Take Care of Your List …

Help Your Clients and Customers Get Better Results. Potential and current clients are both interested in knowing how to maximize the value of your business, so send them valuable tips on a fairly frequent basis. Helping your current clients and customers get better results AND showing potential clients how they too can benefit from your business offer is a great way to build a tribe of raving fans. And … raving fans are happy to tell others about their results, which leads to more clients. This is essential to systematically growing your business.

Show Your Folks What Is Possible …

Share Success Stories. Success stories are great things to share with both potential and current clients. Regular communication with your potential & current client and customer list provides a platform for sharing success stories in a way that is authentic and not salesy. The most compelling success stories are built around a story of transformation. Here's the good news, if you have a business offering that helps people in any way whatsoever, you are in the business of transformation.

• Helping people …
• win legal battles
• protect their personal or business assets
• increase revenue
• decease expenses
• attract more clients
• de-clutter their mental or physical environment
• lose weight
• increase savings
• increase wellness
• increase business valuations
• attract more website visitors
• experience less stress and enjoy more peace

… are all things that can cause “thorough or dramatic change” in a person's life, which is the definition of transformation.

Let's Start Building …

Now that you have a few ideas about how to nurture your lists of potential and current clients & customers, let's cover 5 things that you can do to increase the size of your list.

1. Create a special gift for people who subscribe to your list. This can be a simple as a “Top 10 ‘Must Have' List” that provides information about a hot topic for your target market. If you go with this type of gift, be sure to include engaging graphics to make your list “pop.” A video series containing substantive information about a hot topic also makes a great “special gift.
2. Invite your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and LinkedIn connections to subscribe to your electronic list. You can do this by posting an offer to get your ‘special gift' on your social media account pages.
3. Invest in a series of Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Ads that send people to a special page that either (i) contains an offer to download your special gift or (ii) simply invites people to subscribe to your list. This is called a squeeze page. You can check out one of our squeeze pages at http://UpwardAction.com/GROW.
4. Add a subscription box to the end of your blog posts. If a website visitor is reading your blog posts, he or she may very well be interested in hearing from you on a more consistent basis. This is an effective way to leverage the interest of people who are already engaged with your content.
5. Make a list of 3 to 5 people who have a large online following and serve your target market in a way that complements your business offerings. Build relationships with these folks by actively engaging them in conversation. Social media provides an excellent platform for actively engaging people in conversion. Use it!

Give, Serve, Receive  …

After you have invested time in building relationships with colleagues in your target market, begin to present these folks with the opportunity to offer a special gift or a heavily discounted program or product to their target audience. Make sure that whatever you offer is incredibly valuable. Your goal is to make your colleague look like a superstar while building your list of potential or active clients.

If you decide to offer a paid product, create an affiliate account for your colleague and pay them an especially generous affiliate fee which could be a much as 50- 75% of your profit. Why so much? Because … you are using this opportunity to both build a relationship with your colleague and increase the size of your lists of engaged potential & current clients.

It's Your Turn …

There you have it … 5 ideas for increasing the size of your list all the while providing valuable content to your target market in a way that positions you as a leader and an expert.

Now that you know what to do, it's time for you to take UpwardAction®. We'd love to hear about your progress. Simply hit reply to send us a message or let's connect on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

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