Smoothing cashflow when your business is small or new.

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A participant in the Opening the Moneyflow Course has a fairly minimal email list of potential clients, about 80 or so. It's enough to bring in a few clients, but not enough to keep her pipeline full.

While she's ramping up to increase the list, which is growing every week, she's still facing that cashflow issue: how can you keep a steady cashflow with just a handful of clients, before your marketing gets traction?

When the last session approaches.

In the first four sessions of a five-session package things had changed for my business in leaps and bounds. Big leaps. Huge bounds. I was ecstatic.

"Well, next session is our last session," she told me. "Whatever you want is okay with me, whether you want to stop or continue."

Suddenly, I felt nervous, a little unsure. Was she trying to get rid of me politely? Was she expecting me to able to handle it all on my own now?

Instead of disappearing on her after our last session, I asked her for a prescription: "Based on what you know about me and our work together so far, what do you recommend in terms of sessions or whatever so I can get to some completion?"

Pause. "Well, based on what you still want to do, you won't be done by the next session. And, it looks like you respond really well to what we've been doing together- you've made huge progress. I think you should strongly consider continuing after the fifth session. Next time we meet, I'll let you know how many additional sessions I recommend, based on what is still left undone."

I took a deep breath. I didn't have to figure it out on my own. She wasn't trying to drop me, and she wasn't going to abandon me in the middle of the work.

Whew!

Freedom can scare a client and destroy your cash flow.

Whether you're a coach, healer, chiropractor, or some other service provider, it's not uncommon when you're new in business to use some sort of "introductory" package that consists of just three or five sessions. It's a great idea, and can help uncertain clients jump in because the commitment isn't so large.

The problem is that a client can zip through those sessions in a month or so, and then you have to find new clients. And if you don't have a steady pipeline, you can't trust whether you'll have the mortgage or grocery money from month to month.

Not fun.

And, look what it does to your clients. Whatever kind of service you provide, it's going to be a rare client that is going to have gone as far as they can go with you in just three or five sessions. The vast majority are going to need more.

If, on the last session, you say something like "Whatever you want is okay with me".... well, you saw my reaction. And, I'm willing to bet that most of your clients are not going to be proactive and ask for a prescription.

Your clients are not going to be so brave. They'll just leave.

They won't feel complete, and you're left with an open client slot. Lose-lose. Yucko. Instead, it's best for both of you if you guide them. You have to sell 'em, but not the hard sell.

Avoiding the hard sell.

Once someone has signed up as your client, they are depending on you. They are looking to you for care and guidance.

You can, of course, betray that trust by telling them to spend money with you in wasteful or unnecessary ways, and there are plenty of examples of people who do that.

But, you're a heart-centered person and you truly want what's best for them, which is why you told them, "Whatever you want is fine with me." in the first place.

Don't do that. Stand even more clearly in your heart, and tell them what they really need.

Even my Sufi sheikh does it to me.

Before I had formally been initiated by my spiritual teacher (called "taking hand" in the Sufi tradition), there was a lot of gentleness, permission, and exploration with the teachings.

But, once I had "taken hand" and made the agreement to be his spiritual student (called a "murid"), things changed. As his murid, I made a promise to do certain things. And, every time I see him, he gives more prescriptions on how to walk on the spiritual path.

It's a given that I am free to do whatever I want to do. If I choose to ignore him, I can. But, I've made a commitment to be his student, so I listen. And (for the most part) I do what he tells me. Because he's my teacher, I trust him, and he's never steered me wrong yet.

Of course, you may not be a grand poobah, or a high muckety-muck- you're just you. And yet, your clients are still your students, after a fashion. Steer them. Guide them.

If you don't, they probably won't feel free, they'll feel abandoned.

And yet, it can seem like a fine line between steering and bullying them. Walking that line isn't as hard as you might think, if your heart is in the right place.

Keys to Steering Your Clients • What is truly in their best interest?

If they truly are complete, you can let them go. Yet, if you can see more for them, don't shy away from that.

Take a moment in your heart, pick one of your clients, and ask to be shown what's still possible if they continue receiving your support past the intro package. Let yourself be willing to be surprised.

• Be creative about the format.

After the intro package, there might, or might not, be a change in order. Again, ask your heart- for them to reach what's possible, what would be the optimum format- length, number, and frequency of sessions. Other types of support?

Write it all down and say "yes" to it.

• Present it as a package.

Don't string clients along session by session if you can help it. You don't want each new session to be a new purchasing decision, because it keeps the client from resting into the larger flow of the work you are doing together.

Show them what your heart showed you: "When I took some time to think it through, here's what I got: you could use another eight sessions, two a month instead of the intensive weekly sessions we've been doing up until now, over the next four months. How does that sound?"

If it came from your heart, chances are it will resonate with their heart, too. And, even if it doesn't exactly, you can negotiate together what really works.

If you don't give your clients so much freedom that they feel abandoned, you'll see them doing really well and sticking around longer. Which helps them, and also helps smooth out your cash flow so you can focus on getting the word out to more people.

Information about the Author: Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in business without lousing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: www.heartofbusiness.com Business Articles: http://www.article-buzz.com

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