Three Tips on How to Create Raving Fans

Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting Pat Flynn, host of Smart Passive Income, who was the keynote speaker at a small conference I attended. After his keynote, we got to take pictures and get his book autographed.

One of the most profound lessons Pat taught me was just how important connecting with your audience is. When you share little tidbits about your life that really show them you’re a real person, they are able to connect with you on a much deeper level.

There are tens of thousands of business coaches and consultants in the world. Some have PhD’s and prefer working in-person. Others just have an MBA and have built an empire using the internet, like myself. So what really sets these experts apart?

Let me paint you a picture for a moment. I regularly have women come up to me at events who mention how they were so inspired by my 123 LB weight loss transformation, or who thank me for my courage to share about my struggle with PTSD and a previous abusive marriage. Although I am a success and business coach, it wasn’t my profound business advice that made these people reach out to me in public - it was something on a much deeper level.

If you were to pit me against the PhD, but I was able to tell a story that resonated with the audience and the PhD couldn’t, who do you think the reader would choose to work with? In most cases, the reader would choose the person they felt like they could know, like, and trust. Yours, truly.

1. Master the art of storytelling: allow your audience to join you on your journey from where you were to where you are now. This will allow them to connect with you on a deeper level. Attend a writing workshop, read more books, and do some journaling to help work on this.
2. Be a connector: go out of your way to help other people, without the expectation of anything else in return. For example, I once posted an SOS in a Facebook group for help with my web host. I was in the middle of a huge launch, directing thousands of people to a site that was getting a 404 error. This was an error on the web host, but they wouldn’t take ownership of the issue. Within minutes of my posting the SOS in that group, I had a guy reach out to me and fix it in literally minutes. He did this for free, on his own time. I later learned that he has his own hosting company! I switched all of my business accounts over to him, and refer easily 3-5 people per week to him. All because he took the time to help me out without the expectation of anything in return. Similarly, I regularly send referrals to friends and colleagues when I see they’d be a good fit for someone. If they come across someone who needs help launching their coaching business, who do you think they’re going to think of? Me. Every time.
3. Answer questions from your audience: nothing is more disheartening when scrolling through social media profiles of big gurus and see them ignoring heartfelt messages or comments from their audiences. Although they can’t respond to every question or comment if they’ve got a large following, taking the time to acknowledge some of the biggest supporters will create raving fans for life.

Do you see how creating raving fans is all about connection? If you can tell a story to someone in a way that ties into what you do or who you serve, you’ll create that connection you’re both craving. If you’re struggling with figuring out who you want to serve, I’ll show you the quickest way to figure out your ideal client with my Ideal Client Workbook.

Kathy Haan, MBA is an International Success & Business Mentor. She helps women create their online coaching businesses so that they may start living lives by design instead of by default. She is an author, humanitarian, globetrotter, blogger and seminary graduate student. She resides in Iowa with her husband, three children, Yorkie, and Great Pyrenees.