Client Magnets Blog

Having a list of engaged clients is the best insurance policy your business can have. Your client list will sustain you through hard times, if managed correctly. With a strong list, you can always reach out and make an offer to your prospects and clients when you need more cash flow in your business. That’s why it’s so important to build a solid client list, and there are four things you must have in order to do so.

I. A List Manager
Before you make a big push to build your list, make sure you have a program in place to manage it. You may think that’s an unnecessary expense, but the time you’ll spend, or pay someone else to spend, adding, deleting and correcting client contact information will cost you plenty.

There are some great automatic list management applications out there. 1ShoppingCart.com is one of the best; it handles your online sales as well as keeping track of your list and managing email campaigns. There’s also Aweber.com, an application many online business owners use to manage contact information for their clients.

Whichever one you choose, it’s going to save you money because you won’t be bogged down by manually updating client information instead of building your business.

II. A Strong Sign-Up Page
If you’ve had an Internet business for awhile, you remember the days when all it took to get people to sign up for your newsletter or free report was a little box in the corner of your home page. If you’re still relying on that little box, you’re probably disappointed with the size of your list.

These days, most online customers are suffering from “In-box Fatigue.” Everyone in the online world seems to be offering a newsletter or free tips. Because they are, it takes a pretty compelling reason for someone to voluntarily receive another piece of information by email.

To persuade prospects to take action and want to be part of your list means being much clearer about the benefits of doing so. Consider creating a full page for your free offer, instead of a sign-up box on your landing page. Use this page to make an irresistible offer that makes them want to know more.

No matter what you’re offering in exchange for their contact information, make sure you take the time to create a strong, compelling sign-up page if you want to grow your list quickly.

III. A Motivating Offer
As we’ve already discussed, motivating prospects to part with their contact information takes more than a sign-up box in the corner of a webpage. It also takes a motivating offer to capture their attention.

Rather than simply offering a free newsletter, it’s better to give prospective customers something of obvious value right up front. After all, they’re sharing their contact information with you, so you definitely need to make it worth their while.

Some people have found great success offering e-courses. Send a series of five or six messages with a section from one of your courses in each to whet their appetites for your products. Just remember to send something of value with each message. You can do the same thing with audio clips from one of your recent courses.

On the other hand, if you’re currently breaking up your free tips or reports over several messages, and aren’t happy with the results, you might want to try sending the link to a high-quality PDF report in the first response message. Those PDFs can be dressed up so that they have a higher perceived value than a plain text report.

Offering something of value to capture prospects’ interest is one more essential ingredient in building a strong list.

IV. A Way to Attract Prospects to Your Sign-Up Page
There are many, many ways to attract prospects to your sign-up page so that you can motivate them to join your list, but here’s a quick list of methods that won’t cost you money.
• Do reviews on Amazon for books your target market reads.
• Participate in online forums where your target market hangs out.
• Give testimonials for related products your target client would use.
• Run contests with existing clients for referrals to your free offer page.

Building your prospect and client list is the single most important thing you can do to build your business. Take time to develop these four ingredients and your list will be on its way to ensuring your future success.