Hey, it's Samantha Hartley of the Profitable Joyful Consulting podcast. This is season nine, and we're talking about the brand called you. You know, when you are growing your business, the focus needs to be on lead generation. That's business development, sales, getting new clients, all of this language means lead gen, lead generation. And so what I wanted to talk about today was specifically finding ways to do that that are in your Joy and Genius Zone. For so many consultants, the prospecting piece is like yucky and distasteful. And could I just get enough momentum in my business where I don't have to do that anymore? But the truth is that that part of the business is so enriching. It teaches you things, you learn about your clients, you interact with people when they're thinking about working with you. It gives you content. It just builds you into a better person and a better business owner.

So doing your own business development or your own lead generation, I think, is the one of the most important things for you to do as a business owner. A lot of people want to come in and outsource that right away, and it's really, to me, a mistake to do that because you never quite learn as much about your perfect clients as you do during this process. But for a lot of people, they feel like, well, I should be doing something else. Like I should, I should build these funnels or I think I'm supposed to have like a lead magnet on my website and then that's going to have a funnel and or, you know, I'm supposed to be doing these like speaking engagements or I think I'm supposed to be doing on something on LinkedIn, but I never get clients that way. So there's all of this stuff that we feel like we're supposed to do, and it never really comes down to the thing that works for you.

So I want to talk about today, the ways that consultants get clients. This is not a big mystery of like a million different ways clients can come to you. There's basically five ways the clients will come to you, and I'm going to share a little bonus one at the end, but I'm going to talk about what those five ways are and what I want you to do is to align your lead generation with your Joy and Genius Zone, the things that you are actually really good at and they give you energy when you do them. And if there are lead gen methods that don't do that, then you shouldn't do them.

So I'm going to start at the very beginning when I was first getting clients for my business. Now the funny thing is, if we jump ahead, I was asked to do a workshop on networking and I thought it would be a really good lead generation opportunity for me because I get to talk in networking, I get to talk about messaging and also networking and a little bit of sales. and so anyway, great showcase for my skills, right? It's a hosted event, which is a way to get clients. So I did this workshop and I was writing up the flier for it and I thought, What's the hooky way for me to describe this workshop? And I thought, Why am I an expert on networking? And I thought in my business up to that point and actually in my life getting jobs, I'd never gotten a job or a client any other way than networking at that point. Now, since then, sure, I mean, my most recent client came to me through having seen one of these YouTube videos of my podcast on YouTube. OK, that's kind of a funky way. But if we go very back, back to the very beginning, then all my clients came to me through networking. So I realized that and this huge epiphany as I was writing the flier for that workshop. Why is networking a good way for me? Well, what I love about networking is you like, show up, be yourself, talk to a few people, and that I lead with business cards. And then like next week, I've got appointments and like five minutes, I've got clients. So it was a really effective way, has always been a very effective way for me to get clients for my business.

So I'm going to break down why that is and then what the other different ways are and how you'll know if that's a good way for you to focus. Why is it do we need to look at why it's a good way for you to focus? Because if you hate doing these things, then you're not going to do them and they're not going to get your clients, right. You have to be able to do these things on an ongoing basis. So networking was a good fit for me because and it would be for you if you have a magnetic personality, and that's kind of a self-aggrandizing compliment I just gave myself. But when I'm in networking situations, first of all, you know, I don't love, nobody loves to go into a room. Maybe somebody doesn't love us to go into a room full of strangers. I don't love that part, but I really do like meeting people, and I think people are interesting. So I tend to be somebody who, when I'm in a room full of people like people, will come over and talk to me, or if I go over and talk to them, we get into really good conversations. So it was always, if my target audience is in that room, I'm having a good time and I'm meeting the people that I need to meet. So if you're magnetic is the first quality. And also if you're like energetic because you've got to get yourself off the couch and enter the house and to the networking meeting. So that's a little bit of a hurdle of energy, but you don't actually have to be an extrovert, and extroverts aren't necessarily the best people for these events. A lot of times an introverted person can go in and kind of like, turn on the energy for a little while, meet a few people and then get out of there. So networking is a really good strategy for you if you're somebody who really is genuinely interested in people. I didn't say it was liked, but generally genuinely interested in people. And when you have interactions with them in business settings, they tend to kind of like trust you and develop, connect to you quickly. So I think that's what makes networking a really good fit for you. Nowadays, we do online networking. I think it's just not never and not and not now and never will be the same as in person. There's just something much more powerful about meeting people in person. You know, it's 90 percent as good to meet them online. So if that's something that you've tried, that's good. But networking is not for you. If when I started talking about it, you said, no way. Never. Thank you. I'd rather starve and die than go to networking. OK, cool. That means it's not a good fit for you. And let's just not even think things like I should be or I should do if it's not a good fit for you, don't do it. Like cross it off the list and move on to the next thing. So that's networking. That is one of the top five ways for consultants to get clients. Just go out and meet people. Get introduced through your network, you know, whether networking is at events or it's just like, Hey, so-and-so said that they knew you, so would you mind if we have a chat, that kind of thing just working the net of the people who you know?

Second thing and these are in no particular order. It's just these are like the five ways that consultants get clients. Second thing is publishing, now publishing is very broad. It means like creating content and putting it out there where your audience can find it and consume it. And I'm speaking in very general terms because content can be video like this, it can be audio like this is also audio on your podcast app, but I'm creating it as both. This will end up as a script that somebody can go, read and discover online. So it's articles you write, posts, social posts, memes. Absolutely. Any kind of content that you create is going to be considered publishing. If you put it out there where somebody can consume it, whether it's in a book online or wherever, you know, I have a three part series on content marketing, which I will link to in the show notes, and you can go learn more about that if you feel like, I think I could do more content. So that's publishing. Back in the day, it was much more like articles written for periodicals or newspapers or books, and it still can be any of those things. It's just that the internet has democratized publishing, and now you can be a publisher too, if you do it like a long, really good Twitter thread. So if you are somebody who has a lot of ideas and feel like you can abundantly create content and you're good at shaping that content, packaging it into whether it's articles or, you know, memes, it could be, you know, drawings that you do, whatever way you package that stuff, if that's something that you're really good at, and I feel like I could consistently crank out a lot of that, then probably publishing is good for you. I think publishing is probably mandatory for every consultant because you're in the expertize business and the advice business, and our clients really want to be able to go somewhere and see something that you've written or content that you've produced, videos that you've made and feel a little more comfortable with trusting you as an expert. So I think it's really valuable. The only cases I've seen people not publish is if their work is really not based on their own IP. So maybe you're a licensed so-and-so consultant or a certified deliverer of somebody’s program. And then it's maybe not your own content. But even in that case, what I would say is it's probably still good for you to create content around your experiences using that person's stuff. So that's publishing. Publishing; if it is heavy for you, and I do have clients like this and I know there are plenty of businesses where they're like, Listen, the thing that we're good at is this, and what we're not good at is getting that stuff out of our head and turning it into content. And we'd really rather outsource that then there's plenty of people to whom you can outsource that. And they will do that on your behalf. As long as that's a strategy, make sure you're giving them something to work with and getting that content out there consistently. You don't have to be the one who is packaging all of it. You just have to be coming up with the unique point of view that is yours. If this is about the brand called you, the content you create should be distinct from anyone else’s, as it should be absolutely unique to you. And what I really look for is when I read or watch someone's content, I think, well, nobody could have done that the way they did, right? So anybody can talk about the five ways consultants get clients, but they can't tell you my networking story because it's my story. Right? Same with your stuff.

So next thing is referrals. So many consultants are addicted to referral streams from their referral partners, and that's the way they get clients. And that feels great until or unless those referrals ever dried up. So I am just committed to helping every single one of my clients generate their own revenue streams, their own lead sources and pipelines. You have to be able to get your clients coming to you on your own in addition to the referral partners. You'll feel better and more secure and less dependent on others, if you can do that. Having said that, referrals are amazing. Yay, business fell into your lap. That's always terrific, and you can structure referral relationships so that you have referral agreements so that people consistently send you referrals. All these things are great, so referrals are good for you. If you are somebody who connects with your peers in a way that creates trust like they really deeply trust you and they want to send you business and they do. And you'll know that this is right for you because they are like, you already get a bunch of referrals and that's, you know, a thing that already works for you. You'll know that referrals are not a good fit for you if you're not getting any right now, like if you were going to get them, you would've probably gotten them already. So that's an area that you can bone up on and improve. And again, I'll link to the referrals episode because I've talked about referrals before, but if you really want to make referrals a major source of business for you. And that's just something you're great at, then connect, connect and I have one client, especially who is just amazing at connecting. And so I will tell her, here's what you're doing is on a regular basis, you're getting in front of them and just reminding them, Hey, I exist, hey, I do this. Or you're saying, Oh, thanks so much for that referral. Here's the great work that we did together, which is making you look good, you the referral source, or you're saying, Hey, everybody was so happy. Thank you. Or you're sending them referral commissions, maybe. So I always like for a referral partners or people who have sent you referrals to just be excited to see your name every time it comes up and to think of even more people that they can refer to you. Right. So it should be very gratifying emotionally and possibly financially for them to send you referrals. OK. That's how you make them work for you.

Fourth way that consultants get clients is speaking. Now, plenty of my clients also speak for paid speaking engagements, so they speak for money and not always for free, even if you speak for free. This is a good strategy for you. If you are at ease with authority, you have expertise. You speak well like you do a good job when you do a speaking engagement and audiences like you and you get asked back like this is a good fit for you as a marketing technique. If you're really good at it or if you are committed to getting better at it. So that's, you know, speaking I love because up on that stage, whenever you're in front of an audience, you, you know you are the authority unless you blow it. So get up there and like, use the prestige of the audience/speaker format to build your credibility and your expertise. You should have compelling content to share and be able to come up with that and package that in ways that audiences love. Speaking is not a good lead generation strategy for you if you don't want to travel and get in front of audiences. I mean, sure, you can speak in front of zooms if you'd like to do that, but a lot of speakers are going to want to travel. You're going to want to speak in your local market. And if you hear this and you think stage fright or you don't want to speak publicly, then that's not your one, right? And there's plenty of other things that you can do to get clients. But if your joy and genius is like, Hey, if I'm in a room and there's a stage I want to be on it, then this is one that I would really look into for you.

And the last one of the five main ones is something that I did before on a presentation called a previous podcast about the a big dose of you having a big dose of you is when you host events of some kind, whether that's a live in-person event or a hosted Zoom where you have some people attend to that. And this is a great strategy for you. If you can get butts in seats like you're somebody who has enough of an audience or a following that if you say, Hey, I'm doing a thing, you can get, you know, 10 to 30 to 50 people in the room. And what I always say is you only need one to buy, if you sell high ticket. So can you get five in a room as a start? Sure. So your ability to get butts in seats makes this a viable strategy. You need to be able to lead and moderate a group because when you do one of these events again, whether it's in-person, if you got 25 people in the room, you've got to be able to get their attention and corral them and structure that whole thing and set boundaries about when breaks are and whatever is going on in there. So that needs to be a gift of yours and something that you're comfortable with. And then you ideally are comfortable on the fly because things go right and things go wrong. Some of the things that go right in those kind of groups are people are excited and they ask you a lot of questions. You need to be able to manage time for your event. You need to be able to answer questions. A lot of what you're going to be on the fly, you can't predict what someone's going to ask you. What do you do if nobody has any questions? So really having the kind of improvisational skills to be able to manage those events were like, We're looking at you, you're in charge and you've made this thing, so you need to be able to kind of take care of it, take care of the container,that you've created. It's not necessarily for you if you don't like group dynamics and you don't want to have this kind of thing. If you don't enjoy like groups of any kind or size and you really prefer kind of more intimate like one on one relationships or smaller engagements. So that's OK, right? That's in any way that you choose to be is the right way for you. I'm just saying that if this isn't your vibe, then it's probably not going to be also the strategy for you.

So those are the five main ones now. One that I didn't mention that, I think is either, we assume that we should do it or we forget about it and don't do it, is direct outreach. Direct outreach is, you know, it's not necessarily cold calling, but it is contacting someone. It's picking up the phone and calling someone. It's sending them an email. And again, like I said, it doesn't have to be a cold. Maybe you've connected together on LinkedIn and you want to send them a message on LinkedIn and say, Hey, what you're doing looks interesting. Would love to get on a call and chat, or some version of that. It could also be going back to somebody who maybe didn't buy originally. But you think there may be something there? And it's like, Hey, we have been in touch in about six months, but I was just wondering how things are going with you? So that kind of message is considered direct outreach. I could call that follow up. Just being, you know, in the kind of the various vocabulary there, because what it basically is is for me, I'm reaching out to someone else. So direct outreach really underlies all of these other strategies because it's like we have to get in touch with people in order to make any of these things happen.

So let's reflect again on Joy and Genius Zone. Genius zones are the things that you're amazing at. You might be amazing at speaking, at connecting with other people, at creating content, at following up with somebody or doing really great work on that your referral sent to you. So look at those things that, you know, like what? My strengths are. Like these three things, I really I really rock at these things. And then I want you to look at the things that give you energy. That's the joy zone. Joy Zone is it's fun and it's wonderful, and I feel after I've done it more energized than other activities, right?

So if you think about networking and you think the thought of going to networking like an hour that I spend there will drain seven years of my life away. Not a good fit for you. If you go to it and you think, Hey, I love that and I was like, excited. Now I will tell you, as an ex on Myers-Briggs, it means a kind of balance between extrovert and introvert. If I go to a networking event and I'm there for a short time and it goes really well, it gives me energy. If I stay too long and it goes, OK, it drains my energy. So that means I have to be careful with networking as a strategy, and I have to balance out my time there. Right? Just need to put a little bit of boundaries around it for myself, time boundaries and energy boundaries. So for myself, for example, if I meet five quality people, I have permission to leave. So that's a networking event for me. If I go in there and I look around and I've been there for five minutes and I'm like, I feel shy, I don't see anybody else. Like, I always say to myself, Listen, go meet three people, ideally five. But if you go meet three people, then you're allowed to go. So then I'll go like, OK, and I'll go meet the three people and I'll have a great time meeting them. Sometimes I'll even have so much fun that I'm staying and meeting five and then I leave. OK, so think about what gives you energy, whether it's like you leave that stage after speaking and you feel like fired up and that kind of propels you forward into any kind of whatever else you need to do around the work for that. Like, it's exciting enough to do that, that you're willing to like, market the event or contact the organizers or whatever. So I want you to do lead gen activities that are aligned with your strengths and your joy and genius zone, because if they are, then they'll get done. And if they aren't, that's when you find that you just constantly don't do them. So when people are like, No, I should do X, but I just never like, I never have time or I don't ever feel motivated to do that. OK, that's because you don't enjoy that thing fundamentally. Now you may just procrastinate anyway. Like you say, you love speaking, but you procrastinate anyway because it's a little bit hard. OK, so that requires a little bit of discipline, but don't try to make yourself do an activity that you're like, fundamentally, I'd rather die than go speak on that stage, because then you're really never going to do it.

So there are a few things that are keys to making all those strategies work. So the first thing is you need to know who your target audience is. And if you're not clear, you're going to waste a lot of time on lead generation activities that are either not generating leads at all or they're generating the wrong leads, which can be super frustrating. So you need to know I am going here to meet exactly this person, this avatar, this ideal client profile. So who is that person that you want to meet? They are a CEO. They are the VP of H.R., who is that person. Whoever they are, you need to know where they hang out so that you go to networking places there and not to some other nonsense where you’re never going to meet them. So the first thing you need to be clear on is your target audience.

The second thing is your offer. So none of this stuff is going to turn into business, and that's the whole point of it. It's not busy time and busy work. It needs to turn into business, and none of it will turn into business unless you are clear on your offer. So how does that happen? This is our number one. Everybody hates this word, but this is the key consistency. Consistency that you have to do these activities and you have to do them consistently. That means every single week. Like clockwork could be every single day if it's publishing, every single, whatever time increment ad here. Probably not months while they're going to be more frequent than that. This is again why it has to be linked to your joy and genius zone. Because if you're like Blahhh, I don't want to do that, then it's hard enough to do things consistently. If you love them, right, let's say you find a kind of exercise that you love and you're more likely to do kickboxing. That's me. I'm much more likely to do kickboxing then. Oh, I don't know the bodyweight push up thing, let's say. Right? So choose the thing that's funner for you, because then you'll know that you'll do it consistently. That's what we're doing here. We're choosing things that you love and can do consistently.

OK, maybe love was a strong word, so you need to do things consistently. The second thing that you have to do is follow up. Absolutely. All of these will go down the drain as wasted effort unless you're following up. So you do that networking event. I leave with those five cards. I told you five business cards or five connections that I've just added to my LinkedIn. When I get back to my office the next day, I have to send follow up messages. I have to take the follow up action. OK. Yes, that's the hard part. That's where the work starts, where the discipline is, and to a certain extent, follow up needs to be in your joy and genius zone. So, for example, if you love chat but you hate the phone, then send those follow up messages by chat by LinkedIn Messenger, by Facebook Messenger, by text. Go ahead and send them that way. That is your Joy and Genius Zone, and that's going to work for you. It's also ideal if it's theirs as well. If you're a phone person, hop on the phone the next day and give everybody a call. Right? Work in your Joy and Genius Zone, et cetera, for the referrals and speaking and things like that. But let's say you leave a speaking engagement. You manage to get cards from a bunch of people after you spoke who ran up and said, Oh my gosh, this was great. Contact me, so you've got to follow up with those people. So the follow up piece is, after all of these things, is what's key. OK. So consistency and follow up. And then I think it's helpful just to remind ourselves that we need to be other focused when we're doing this. I've been talking about your Joy and Genius Zone, but whatever we're doing, we need to have the what's in it for them message and everything we do. So think about them, put ourselves in their shoes. What do they need? How do we meet them? Like, where are my perfect clients? What are their qualities? How will I recognize them? And what can I say to them in terms of my message or in terms of the activity that I'm taking in terms of the content that I'm creating, that it's going to interest them? So if you’re other focused, you're going to find that all of your work is easier, it's more resonant and you know, it just gets better results.

The key thing with a direct outreach that I wanted to mention is you have to be brave and really a lot of the things that we're talking about. We just have to be brave at the end of the day, and I want to encourage you to be brave because when you do these activities consistently, what you're going to find is they will sustain your business. They will sustain your business with a consistent lead flow. Consistent marketing leads to consistent lead flow. It just is, right? That is just the thing that happens. So when you get busy with client work or when you find that all of the options that you had are distasteful and you don't really want to do them, then they fall off the radar and they don't end up getting done. And then you experience revenue rollercoaster, which is dips in your revenues because they weren't sustained by consistent marketing. OK, marketing should not be a thing that you hate to do. It should be as fun as it can possibly be. And based on the things that you're really good at and the things that give you energy and just think about it like you love your perfect clients, like let's go find them, right, let's do the activities that take us closer to those perfect clients. OK. All right. I wish you an easy time doing this.

I wish you that you can by focusing on the things that are special about you, that they will help you to connect to those clients who are searching for you there. Like out there looking for you. They're wishing and hoping and praying that you will end up somewhere in front of them so that you could help them solve the problems and the challenges that you do for your clients. So with that, I will wish you a profitable and joyful consulting business.