I recently interviewed a prospective client. I asked her to briefly describe what she did. She said it was complicated, she did so many things. I asked who her clients were, she said she couldn't define them, that that she dealt with everyone. I then asked how her business was growing and she said she was losing money and clients and had no referrals. You get the picture.

If you can't describe yourself, your ideal client and your business in brief, simple language, how is anyone going to hire you or give you a referral? As a business owner, you need to be able to tell advocates, clients and networking participants what you do, how you do it, who you do it for and why they should choose you.

If what you do is help people grow their business and how you do it is a) one-on-one, b) training and c) workshops, that presents a clear picture to prospective clients. The next section, who you help grow businesses for, is self -explanatory. The only question here is the size of the business.

Positioning yourself by concept or model removes the stress for you and your clients. Create a model that motivates both you and the client as well as taking the fear out of working together. Establish a model that excites and attracts clients. For example, your model could be that you work with people for a specific amount of time, say ninety days, for an established fee (stated up front!) and you have a predetermined number of conferences with them. This method makes it very easy for the right person to say "Yes!".

A model or environment that clients can connect and feel safe with is essential. If it is presented as "work", they won't hire you. The experience for each of you needs to be rich, fulfilling and enjoyable.

Another example; it's one thing to say you're a personal coach; a more definitive statement could be to say you coach women who are divorced, own their own home, don't have a job, career or college degree and need to reevaluate their lives and their future income. It's specific, would attract the perfect client to you and your method of working.

The last question is, why choose you. A simple answer is that you have the knowledge, skills and experience critical to their success.

© 2001 Joanne Victoria, All rights reserved.

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