In this post I want to talk to you about how easy you are making it for your right-fit people to find and to buy from you and share some simple steps you can take to really improve your reachability. 

I’ve been listening to an amazing recording lately of a Marketing workshop run by the wonderful Tad Hargrave in which he shares, among other things, the idea that our right-fit people are looking for us, yet so many of us are doing a terrible job at allowing ourselves to be found. He stresses the importance of having clear paths that lead people right to our door and uses this analogy:

“So many people set up their businesses in the middle of a forest with no paths leading to it. They are hoping that somehow, lost in the woods, the right people will stumble upon them and want to buy what they’re offering.” 

The more paths you have established that lead to your door, the more easily you can be found and ultimately the more revenue you will generate. One caveat to this is that some people have the paths piece down only to drop the ball when people show up at their door. More on that below.

I’d love you to take a moment now to consider the paths you have set up. Below are some examples of paths you might have in place or that you might consider setting up: 

• Blog post writing 
• Being active on social media (then there are several paths within this such as Insta stories, being active in groups etc) 
• Hosting a podcast
• Advertising 
• Public Speaking 
• Running Workshops
• Networking
• Leading webinars
• Giving out flyers

And so on, there are many more paths out there than this but hopefully this gives you an idea.

What’s important to note here is that having the path in place is not enough.

To continue the analogy, what you absolutely must do is make sure that your home is set up to receive guests once they land on your doorstep. Imagine if you did all this work carving out the perfect path but then your doorbell was broken so you didn’t even answer the door to people because you had no idea that they had even arrived.

This is more common that you might believe. Let me give you an example of how this can go.

A business owner has heard that a great way to connect with her right-fit people is to show up and be active and supportive in specific groups on Facebook. So she spends countless hours doing just that and it works, it’s getting people’s attention, they love what she has to say and how she is showing up in the group.

The problem is that when people read her wise and informative comments and then click on her name to find out more, her personal profile gives no clue as to what she does or how to connect with her business.

I see this all the time and what it means is that the path created is pointless because it’s not actually getting people through your front door (and having them become subscribers or customers).

I don’t actively promote my business on my personal profile but I do make sure that anyone who is checking me out on Facebook can find my business through it. To see my profile head here (and feel free to add me as friend!) or look at the Intro section of my profile in the image below and you’ll see that it’s fully optimised with links to my website, my business page on Facebook and a clear one-liner about who I work with.

This is just one example of where and how you might be losing people who have followed your path. Another common one I see is no clear way for people to take the next step to work with you once they land on your website. Not having clear calls to actions that allow people to easily take the next step is another way you might be missing out on new business. Be as clear as you can be about what needs to happen next, is it an email or a call? Do they need to complete a set of questions? Do you have your prices and packages clearly laid out? Be certain you’re not making them jump through any hoops to get all the information they need in order to hire you.

If you haven’t given adequate time to creating the paths in the first place, then my best guess is that you’re really struggling to get clients.  So here’s what I want you to do. Take some time to map out the paths to the front door of your business and contemplate creating more paths if you realise that your business is lacking in this area.Once you’ve done this, then check out what happens when someone follows each path. Are there any obstacles that might cause them to give up and turn back? Are there any glaring holes that could prevent people from accessing your services once they reach you? When we are busy in the day-to-day detail of our business, it’s super easy to lose sight of the big picture.

Taking some time out, a morning or an afternoon to map out your paths and then making sure that your business is optimised to receive the people who show up, makes far more sense than spending wasted hours working on activities that are sending people to a dead-end. Or spending all of your time creating incredible products and services, but having no paths in place for people to find them.

If you enjoyed this piece, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Feel free to share any insights you gained about your own business and the paths people can take to find you.