How do I get clients? If you’ve asked this, then read this post. It’s the masterclass you need.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably just like half the posts I see in big entrepreneur groups saying “How do I Get Clients? I’m Struggling to get paying clients into my business and not sure what to do? Any suggestions would help! I am a health coach. Looking for strategies that have helped you in the past?”

If this is your first time here, hello! Welcome! I’m Cynthia. I’ve been in marketing since 2002. I’ve worked at various agencies, helped numerous people launch their first ever business and scale it beyond 6 figures. I’ve even built a few of my own online businesses and they afford me the privilege to never have to work a day job again in my life.

I’m not here to pitch you a magical solution. This post is about how you can take action right now to plant the seeds so clients start enrolling on a regular basis.

Health coach or not, the number one disconnect I see in online businesses who are struggling to get clients in the door is the very beginning of their funnel. Let’s break down what a funnel looks like, then I’ll explain how to fill your funnel.

Firstly, a sales funnel isn’t a bad thing. I suspect the click funnels boom might have tainted the phrase sales funnel. Every profitable business has a sales funnel. It’s literally the process your clients go through from first introduction to you all the way to making the sale.

Discovery

The first part of your funnel addresses how people find out you exist. If you’ve had clients in the past, are they telling other people about you? This is how word of mouth starts. Who do you know that’s hyping you up to others? Could be someone watching you and your clients get results. Build a hype squad of your own. I’m sure your friends and colleagues wouldn’t be turned off if you asked them to tag you in Facebook groups or posts when they see someone asking about something you know tons about. Many people LOVE being helpful and singing praises. I bet they start talking about you offline too. That’s how it works for me! I’ve built a worldwide hype squad for my services. I started where I was at, showing up locally to networking meetings. I hyped up others to people I met. They started hyping me up in return. Now some of them I’ve been friends with for 20 years! That’s a SOLID hype squad!

Discovery doesn’t have to be word of mouth. Maybe you’re brand new and have had zero clients of your own. That’s fine! This might be your starting point for discovery. Start creating high value content. Blog posts like this are the first thing I tell everyone to invest time and money into.

The lifespan of a blog post is infinite. Why is it infinite? Because the search engine indexes it, the longer it’s in existence the better search engines will like you. It helps your other content rank higher by having the reputation of quality content attached to you already. Every new post will have a higher chance of success the longer you’re blogging, and the more likely you are to show up for the keywords you want. SEO is so much easier than the average person knows. It sounds technical and scary but I assure you, there are a few tricks you can start doing that aren’t complicated. I’ll write about using SEO later, there’s a lot I want to share! Every successful marketer swears by SEO, it’s the groundwork to build a solid foundation for your business.

Quick discovery is a different game. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram expire your content fast. This isn’t great for us. These sites want a constant feed of new content to show users so the users stay on the site addicted to the dopamine hit of each post they view. You have to put in 10x the effort to reap the rewards.

Any platform you focus on you have to build the relationship. I’m sure you’re SICK of hearing that and what does it even mean anyway? You’re not going to get far if you show up with a basic profile that isn’t optimized in a way that tells your audience what you solve for them. You’re a business and your profile should reflect that. Without it you’re just some new random person without social proof asking them to pay you for something you might not be qualified to even do.

Set up banners so there’s a headline on it spelling out within seconds what you’re all about including what riddle you solve as a business. Have a profile photo that’s easily recognizable. Add image descriptions with links that make it easy to get on a call with you or get your entry level thing with just a click. Make sure you contact info is filled out and your audience can see it so they know how to reach you. Pin a post to your profile. This should tell people how to work with you.

Let’s get into content for social media discovery next. You’ll need a lot of posting all the time compared to blogging. Get used to creating content and prepping it to post at a later date. This is batching it’s going to be your saving grace. If you’re not showing up with posts when you’re new, then you’re quickly forgotten about. I’ve seen coaches and web designers slam dunking it on social media organically for 3+ years, then suddenly go silent on their profiles. They moved on to other platforms, other jobs, started relying on running ads, SEO, their email list, and blog once it was established. Social media can certainly be your starting point. If you love it, you can definitely benefit from sticking with it and use it as a tool in your business.

I highly recommend always have a way to collect emails outside of social media. People lose their accounts every day. It could be because of a hacker, it could be you posted something 7 years ago and the AI decided that’s inappropriate for their standards today. (I’ll do a post about email marketing on here in the near future.)

Hello Substack, I love that place now! I personally started with free options like Mailchimp. I grew into other platforms and moved my list as needed. Find what you like. Explore options. Try things out. There isn’t a one size fits all solution. If you want an easy solution that allows people to opt in with their email, stick it on a list you can export, and easily send them your content updates via email and within the platform you’re working with, AND lets you set up a subscription — Substack will be your jam.

Types of Content

No matter where you’re sharing content, your blog, social media, newsletter, subscription based system — you need these 4 pillars of content present.

Entertain. Find ways to drive up engagement with an on brand entertaining twist. People come to social media for the dopamine hit as well as for solving problems. They are here for the connection. When you entertain you hook them in. This could be use predictive text to fill in the blank. Those do amazingly well for likes and comments. People also see you as the FUN entrepreneur they follow. Fun makes you memorable so they will notice your other posts as well. When that FUN is also using keywords for your brand’s content, suddenly you’re now showing up in the feeds of the people who engaged with the predictive text fun post. That’s how you hack the algorithm, so people are shown your content.

High Value. I love high value content. An outstanding long form post packed with golden nuggets on a topic I’m interested in sucks me right in. Back to the secret trick with the keywords. Use the ones from your Entertain post you recently did so those people are now served this high value post. Those key words are the secret sauce marketers leave out so you pay them. That’s the zone they mastered because most people don’t want to do it and aren’t told to do it. Not sure what to post for high value content? Ask on your profile. Ask in your group join questions. Check posts in groups. I have a standout online membership with Women Helping Women Entrepreneurs. The main group has 600k women entrepreneurs in it and it’s free, you can go there and read posts, ask questions, but you can’t share links, promo post, go live, or create events unless you’re a paid member. I highly recommend using this group if your a woman starting your own business. Look for questions in groups, on quara, anywhere on the internet people ask questions. Answer those questions in a piece of content. That’s high value & wanted information by your audience.

Proof/Trust. This is the key piece that should be used often. Don’t just slap a testimonail post up. Include it in your high value content. Share a win your client had. Brag about your client’s success. People what to see what you do for others, not just for yourself. Use story telling in all of your content to draw readers in. This is a key way to bring entertain to all of your posts. Position your proof/trust so it’s exciting. People want you to be excited to tell their story next, which means they have to work with you.

Promo. I see promos just slapped up as a post from time to time. It has ZERO value to you when you do this. The networks aren’t going to see it as a valuable item to show to people. People don’t want to be sold to, they want to be entertained. Bring storytelling to your promos. You can easily do this if you’re telling everyone about a win your client had. At the end of the story merge it in as a promo by creating a call to action that flows with the story. If you want a win I have space opening up next week. Let’s get you enrolled. Book your call now. Don’t slap links in there. Say visit the pinned post on my profile. Why? Because posts with links in them aren’t getting shown the way you want them to. Facebook wants you to pay them to promote external links. Maybe tag a pop up Facebook group they can join to get more information if you’re more about making about the space opening up if you don't want to pin a post.

Back to the funnel — What does a funnel include?

Discovery — we just discussed how people find you and how to use social media to enter people into your funnel without looking like a Spammy McSpammerton.

Leads. When you convert a follower to a lead you collect their email address at a minimum. This could be when they sign up for a discovery call, download something you email to them with a lead magnet, or have a discussion in your inbox. If you’re not converting your inbox into leads, here’s how I do it. Hopefully this gives you some ideas for getting leads in an easy way.

So & so asks for advice. I tell them I’m a bit overloaded today but if you fill out this form and pick a time I’d be happy to do an audit with you. Swap audit for whatever free or low ticket offer you have that relates. This isn’t about selling. It’s about building the relationship so you can sell soon. If it’s something you’ve blogged about, tell them I’m a bit swamped right now but here’s a post I put up about this to get you on the right path. Link them to it. On your blog post ensure you have an email opt in form AND a way to buy from you. Suggest they also opt in for more information & invites to open office hours or whatever you offer.

Personally I host an open office hour once per month for my email list. This open office hour is the most powerful selling tool in my business. ONE HOUR per month I answer questions on a zoom call and pitch an offer they can’t get from any other part of my funnel. It’s never the same offer & I let them know that so it’s scarcity driven without being a slimy marketer. It’s about valuing my time and if you want the lessons later you have to join the subscription offer for the replay archive.

My blog brings me leads I’ve never spoken with. Using a platform like Medium or Substack helps my blog get viewers. Social media also drives traffic to it. The blog is the cornerstone of my business. I own the space, I own the leads, I own the content, I can take them with me anywhere I go. No risk of losing my leads should I lose my account. No risk of being locked into a platform.

Offer Low Ticket. I love offering low ticket. I love my start ups with next to no budget. I am THRILLED when they start seeing success that leads them to never having to work a corporate job ever again if they choose not to. This type of freedom brings so much joy to their life and family.

I also love it because it’s a great way to filter out people who aren’t a good fit without the overhead and guilt of issuing a refund leaving them back at the start. Ever have to work with someone so jaded by a past experience that you weren’t even part of and they treat you like a shmuck? Yeah it’s super unpleasant and I quickly exit those people. We’re all human which means we’re all in different places in life. Some of us healed our mental health, others are wildly insane with over the top demands and refuse to respect boundaries. Low ticket shows me who doesn’t belong & you should use this as well. Lower your stress, reduce annoyances, & gate keep your time.

Low ticket can also scale really well. If you offer a simple subscription to your high value content like I do, you’ll have some lifers who want to always be learning from you and part of your community. You’ll always have new people discovering you, and the ones that fall off just weren’t a good fit. I now only work with people who are on my subscription plan. The plan allows people to get support. If you want to work with me outside of the subscription, I say no. The subscription is cancel anytime. The subscription is required in order to get access to purchase packages.

The key to long lifespan subscriptions of any price is to hook them in with something they will always want to be part of or need for their success. My subscription includes an accountability piece. I have ADHD & found that many people I work with do as well. The accountability piece is crucial for them as it is for me. I HAVE to run my accountability piece or I flop too. It’s how I hacked my own ADHD so I could stay on track, and profitable. I check in with my subscribers using auto messages to find out what they need support with. We do goal setting. End of year goal, quarterly goals, monthly goals, weekly goals. I teach them how to focus and stay on track. This sounds like a lot — really it’s not. The information I get from my subscribers is like my gold mine for content creation. A never ending cyle of high value content I can provide & offer extra support on. They feel seen & heard. Validation meets action is where I find success with my low ticket and high ticket offers.

You don’t have to have ADHD for this piece to become long life for your subscribers btw. I just wanted to explain how I stumbled on this so you can think outside the box on your own to find the thing that makes people stick to you like glue. This thing that’s like glue needs to be part of your brand messaging. It’s part of your success stories. It’s embedded in every part of your business. Another post about branding, values, & mission statements later.

High Ticket Offers. These once were the meat and potatoes of my business. Once long long ago, I only offered high ticket. Early 2000s before point and click builders existed and before WordPress existed, I built websites — with code. That was my starting point. I was a 16 year old kid, charging $10k or more for a simple 5 page website. My upsells for marketing were on retainer plans. They were $5k per month per client. I didn’t even have a high school diploma and I was running a 6-figure business with just high ticket offers to “old men” (Probably age 30 haha) in suits from NYC & NJ. I still chuckle at this. I still offer this but at even higher rates and require the subscription.

Evergreen Offers. Those point and click builders I’ve even monetized — I have low ticket and high ticket evergreen offers for those as well. These are minimal to zero effort on my part. I just support updates to the files as needed. By I, I mean my team does now. I include a tutorial video showing how to install the files on WordPress. Then I show them how to use the site builder. These evergreen sales are at the beginning of my funnel. I haven’t mentioned them till now, because it’s wasn’t implemented in till after I figured out my high-ticket offer. This seems to be the case for most people. If you have your high-ticket sales in place you’re probably fumbling through the funnel process.

Let me tell you about my good friend Jennifer. We have been discussing implementing the tech stack for her funnel. She only offers high ticket offers through her social media currently. We’re looking at setting up a subscription and evergreen offers into her business. She’s a little confused and not the technical type. She’s an outstanding writer and can whip it with copywriting that slaps, but when it comes to the implementation of marketing, so not her scene. She’s a bit to close to her own branding as well. It happens. We’re working out a way to merge her storytelling superpowers in with her new coaching offers because every time she works with someone to tell their story it becomes a healing journey that they went through during the process. She’s transforming how they view their story and the impact it has on them going forward. It’s normal to need time to figure out your flow and where things fit. Sometimes you’ll add things, then immediately remove them because it was a hard no for you to offer after trying it out. Don’t be afraid to try things out and then change them. So many people over think their offers. Nothing is permanent and you’re not required to pay high ticket prices for set up.

Done for you solutions do exist. Tutorials exist to teach you how to get it set up. Maybe you’ll spend $97/mo in my low ticket offer that teaches you step by step funnel builds and lead generation ;)

Getting Clients

It all comes down to show and tell. Are you reaching people? Are you showing them you’re a business? Are you interesting to them? Are you showing them value to establish yourself as an expert? Have you given examples of successes you can bring to them? Are your offers obviously accessible? Do they know how to get started?

Take action now.

Write your posts for the month. Keywords are the topics of interest you already see. Go find people in your industry. Analyze their posts. What common themes are you seeing? Can you use these topics with your audience? Test them out. Write a short question post that’s easy to answer using the phrase you keep seeing. Guage your audiences reaction. Positive reaction with responses — use that in more posts. Negative reaction they don’t want it — ditch it. Always be doing research. Talk one to one with your ideal clients & note what verbiage they use. Find out what they post about & tie that in with your content. Those keywords are going to keep you visibile and people engaged.

I’m not leaving you empty handed.

Here is my stash to help you get started. It’s loaded with Canva templates & tutorials on how to generate your first (or next) leads and convert them into sales on repeat. Access the Stash here.

It’s everything you need to start generating leads and make sales on social media. I used to charge $497 for this! It’s LOADED.

Free Access: https://stash.cynthiaschomp.com