This week I posed the question: How is your client engagement?  And went Live in my free Facebook Community The Collective with a training session on “How to Create a 3 Stage Client Engagement System”.

As business owners, and particularly of service-based businesses, having a robust and consistent strategy in place for welcoming prospective clients into our world, and then authentically building relationships with them, is paramount.  Otherwise, you could be setting yourself up to experience a "boom and bust" revenue rollercoaster, wondering where the next client might be coming from.

My Client Engagement System, which I share with you below, is very much a "bird's eye view" of what can become an overly complex process.  What I would like to stress is that it is important to keep things simple, to focus on the end goal (building solid relationships with people), rather than getting tied up in the nitty-gritty of the tactics, such as IT automation, at this stage.  Watch this space, I will be going into more detail on each stage of the Engagement System in future pieces of training.

I would recommend choosing a strategy based upon what you enjoy doing, for example, if you love writing perhaps try blogging; if you love in-person networking, join a networking group.  Just choose a methodology and a routine that works for you and stick to it.

My 3 Stage Client Engagement System:

Stage One: Grow Your Audience

The main objective at this stage is to make connections and continue the engagement, ideally by gaining the person's email address.

Some ideas to grow your audience from an online perspective: 

Through lead magnets (your giveaways and freebies), such as PDFs, guides, cheat-sheets, quizzes, group challenges, e-books and mini-courses; through blogging, through SEO, through your website, through online communities.

Some ideas to grow your audience from an in-person perspective: 

Through networking groups, conferences, training courses, events and shared workspaces.  I believe you should approach every new person you meet with genuine curiosity.

Stage Two: Nurture Relationships

The main objective at this stage is to authentically build relationships with your connections.

 My top tips are: 

• Be genuine and be yourself

• Serve don't sell - be driven by the idea of delivering real value to your audience, without concern for over-sharing; your audience and contacts should be thinking, "If this is what she gives away for free, imagine what her paid-for services are like!"

• Create win-wins - become a connector of people; go out of your way to help others and they will help you

• Be consistent - choose a strategy and stick with it - this will build trust in your audience that you are going to stick around and that you deliver on your promises

• Use clear CTAs (call to action) - let your audience know what it is you want them to do next; take them on a journey with you

Stage Three: Connect 1:1

The main objective here is to build 1:1 relationships and to create paying customers.

You need to "invite" your audience to engage with you directly, either by, literally, inviting them to speak to you, or by directing them to your website, etc., and clearly show them the ways in which they can work with you.  Create a tiered offer and/or a services "menu" that your prospective clients can identify themselves with.

So there you have it, a simple client engagement framework that you can tailor accordingly to your preferred ways of working and structure according to the demands of your week/month.  Good luck and, above all, enjoy the process!

Vicki Messenger is a Women’s Business Coach, empowering aspiring, early-stage, side-hustling and pivoting female founders to create extraordinary lives through businesses that they love.  You can find more of Vicki’s articles and complementary resources at www.vickimessenger.com.

And, why not join our growing community of like-minded women in business, and find daily tips, tools, inspiration and mindset matters, as well as weekly live trainings here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecollectiveforwomeninbusiness/