The Most Effective Way to Nurture Prospective Clients and Establish Yourself as a Trusted Expert in Your Field

To keep giving you relevant and timely content, we update our most popular posts. This article was last updated in May 2021.

This is the second part of a five-part series curated specifically to help you fill your client roster, sell out programs, and create passive income. Before reading on you might like to read Part 1 here.

Have you ever worked your ass off to create an offer or program you know your clients will love, only to hear the stomach-dropping sound of silence after you launch it?

You’ve eliminated jargon and have a well-written sales page for a service or product that solves your prospects’ problem… So why aren’t people buying?

The answer is simple. If prospects see your stuff and say, “That looks awesome,” but they’re still not buying, it’s because part of them isn’t 100% sold that you can help them.

Which makes you then wonder, how do you prove to them that you can help them so they’ll hire you?

That’s exactly what I’m going to talk about today. When you implement this simple strategy, prospective clients will really get that you can help them, meaning they’ll also be ready to hire you!

Sound good? Let’s dive in.

The Common Sales Mistake Most Business Owners Make

When a prospective client is drawn to what you do, it’s all too easy to immediately try to sell yourself to her.

Let me be clear: This is a giant mistake (unless they’ve specifically said they want to hire you).

And it’s not just a mistake that new business owners make. I’ve seen plenty of experienced entrepreneurs fall into a sell-sell-sell mindset.

At best, doing this will slightly annoy people. At worst, it will make you seem pushy and desperate which will send prospective clients running far, far away.

If you think you could be jumping too quickly into “selling mode,” follow the steps below to build trust with your prospects first.

Click to TweetAre you jumping too quickly into “selling mode”? Jenny Shih shares her favorite ways to build trust with prospects first.

Even if you believe that this isn’t a problem for you, I recommend you read through the steps below to ensure that you’re nurturing a relationship with your prospects in a way that inspires them to hire you. It’s crucial to have this in place before moving onto tomorrow’s tip.

Give People a Taste of What You Do

When someone likes what you’re up to but isn’t ready to buy — whether you’re selling one-on-one services, group programs, or digital products — you can start to “warm them up” by offering them a free taste of what you do.

The free taste can be a free mini coaching session, a PDF download, a video series, audio recording, 5-day challenge… there is no limit to the options you have. This free taste is often called a lead magnet, freebie, free offer, or opt-in offer.

No matter what you’re wanting to sell, you need a freebie that proves to prospects that you can solve the problem that your paid offer promises you can deliver.

Here’s how to brainstorm the right freebie.

Start with a problem your prospects are facing

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s a micro-problem you can help them solve quickly and effectively?
• What’s a small challenge they just can’t figure out?
• What tip or trick are they missing that would help them take a step forward?

I like to use a backyard barbecue example: Imagine you were at a backyard barbecue and someone asks you what you do. You tell them what you do and they are intrigued, and so much so that they have questions!

You obviously won’t go deep and coach them in public, but you could give them a tip (or five) to get started. What questions would they ask, and what on-the-spot advice could you give them? Use those ideas as jumping off points for creating your freebie.

Once you’ve created a list of small problems you can solve, circle the ONE that you think will benefit your client the most and turn that into a freebie.

If you’re having trouble picking just one, choose the one that you’re most excited to write about. The energy and positivity that will come through in your writing will make it a sure winner.

Keep in mind that whatever you choose should be something that provides instant or near-instant gratification for the subscriber.

Create your freebie

Now that you know the problem you want to solve, your next step is to create a solution to that problem in the form of a free offer.

Stuck on what to create?

Here are some examples of what your freebie could look like, depending on your income stream.

If you’re selling one-on-one coaching, think about what your prospects might need to know before they start working with you, then create a free offer that helps them do that.

If you’re selling a group program, consider giving them an overview of what they’ll learn in the program. It should be just enough so that they understand that you can help them, without giving away the whole program for free.

This could look like a 3-part video series (which you’ve likely seen me and other marketers create for a big launch). It could also be a daily challenge or live webinar.

And if you’re selling a passive income product, all of the above strategies will work if you set them up and fully automate them (we’ll touch on some strategies for this tomorrow). Another option you can experiment with is giving out a free excerpt from the product, like the first chapter or module.

Post your freebie

Once you’ve created your freebie, you need to put an opt-in box on your website so people can sign up to get your freebie.

Your opt-in box should explain the benefits of your offer, and give your readers a clear understanding of what they’re going to receive when they sign up.

Make sure your opt-in box is easy to find no matter where customers enter your site. This includes posting it on your home page, about page, and sidebar, as well as below your blog posts.

You should also create a “squeeze page,” which is a stand-alone page where you highlight your free opt-in offer.

This page comes in handy when you invite people to your opt-in from elsewhere on the internet. For example, you can link to your squeeze page from your bio below a guest blog post. You can also link to it directly from social media.

What If Prospects Still Aren’t Buying?

While an irresistible freebie is a proven way to build trust and credibility, it’s possible that your prospects will still hesitate to hire you even if they love your free offer.

That’s normal! They want to make a smart decision, and it’s your job to help them decide if hiring you is the right choice to make.

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you the key to building massive trust with your clients so that they’re over the moon about working with you.

Your Next Steps

Ready to give your prospects a taste of what you do? Take action now!

1. Get clear on what freebie would best to lead prospects to your services, programs, or products.

2. Create a freebie that supports your offers.

3. Post your freebie on your website.

Have questions? Leave a comment below. I’m here to help!

Here’s what’s included in The 5-Step Business Momentum-Builder:

Part 1: How to Fill Your Client Roster and Sell Out Your Programs by Focusing on Your Clients’ Most Pressing Problems

Part 2: The Most Effective Way to Nurture Prospective Clients and Establish Yourself as a Trusted Expert in Your Field

Part 3: How to Use Blogs, Podcasts, and Webinars to Build Your Credibility and Increase Trust with Prospective Clients

Part 4: The Reason Why Clients Are Hesitant to Hire You (and Exactly What to Do to Help Them Take the Next Step)

Part 5: How to Fill Your Pipeline with Perfect Prospects Who Are Hungry to Buy Your Services, Programs, and Products