Why do so many people make themselves and their businesses so hard to reach? Maybe it’s because we dream of running a virtual business where we can set up automated systems and then go drink umbrella beverages on a secluded beach and magically everything will run smoothly. Well, keep dreaming! People want to be able to talk to people. You do not have to answer the phone but somebody does.

One of my brand attributes is accessibility. I talk to my clients. I talk to my potential clients. I talk to pretty much everyone who wants to talk to me. I say it like it is a novel idea because too many people do whatever they can to not to talk to people under the illusion that they can have a 100% online only business.

While this can work for a few product only folks, for service-based businesses it has your potential clients move on to someone else.

Three Super Huge Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make Around Connectability

1. Not putting your phone number on your website.

Whatever Internet gurus people are listening to that say do not put your phone number on your website are wrong— especially today when people are more cautious about their spending. They want to know there is a real person behind that slick site. They will call someone else if you make it too hard to connect with you.

2. Making someone write in ten information fields before they can send you an email.
When I see all those boxes to fill out on a contact page I go to Facebook and look someone up and send them an email there rather then fill in all those boxes. Most people move on to another site that does not make them work so hard. The more boxes there are to fill out the less likely potential clients will do it. Be easy to connect with everyone at every opportunity.

3. Not putting your email address on your website.
This I think is the most stupid thing you can do. I know your webmaster told you not to put your email address on your site because the spam spiders will grab it. Recognize that your webmaster is not your marketing master, nor your VP of business development. While he or she is worried about spam, what you want to think about is being easy to connect with. Besides, there are ways around that. By writing at instead of @ or using a graphic representation of your email.

The truth is spam is a fact of life and can be managed—that is what your spam filter is for. When someone who is your potential client cannot send you quick email you are making it too hard to connect with you, and that is not smart.

Be the businessperson that people can easily connect with in a world where everyone is trying to hide behind their website and you will watch your business grow. Make it easy for people to connect with you and more people will reach out to hire you and invite you to participate in cool opportunities that otherwise would have passed you by.

Guess what. You do not know who has been knocking on your clients’ doors, who they are friending on Facebook or who they are running into at a networking or social event.

The more we do business with our clients the way they like to do business, the better they will like-or even love-us and the more loyal they will be to us and send us more referrals.

To find out what your clients prefer with communications, service, billing and delivery, all you have to do is ask.

If you are in a personal service business, life coach, image consultant, or professional organizer, it is a lot less likely to be an effective strategy.  The whole idea of value-based marketing, which is one of the principles I teach in my Business Breakthrough Program, is that you give people value of some kind first before you ask them to be a client. I think you will find that far more effective than cold calling for personal services.Consider whoever you would cold call and instead invite them to a live workshop, special event or a free teleseminar; that way they will have a personal experience of you and be ready to sign up by the end of the event.

Let me make an important distinction here. Cold calling is selling not marketing, and you want to have provided some value to your prospects before you try to sell them. Remember that potential clients sometimes need up to as many as 11 contacts with you and your firm before they are ready to buy.

If you feel you have no choice but to cold call, you are failing at your value-based marketing. Begin by building up your value-based marketing strategies and then go to your warm leads, focus on creating more warm leads and you will never have to pick up that icy phone.

The most ever. The 700 billion dollar bailout has failed and it is a bright sunny day here is San Francisco.

The point is, no matter how bright your personal business outlook, the economic outlook in the U. S. is a gloomy as it has ever been in most of our lifetimes. Realize that even if businesses or individuals are well in the black, they will now be more fiscally conservative and ponder each spending decision more because of the less than booming future on the horizon.

What are you going to do about it for you and your business?

I have some ideas – starting with NOT hunkering down and putting your nose to the grindstone. That’s right! Instead of putting your attention on you and what your business needs, start by putting your attention on your customers and clients.

Let them know you feel their pain. Let them know you are aware things are challenging and you are here for them.

Ask yourself what you can do to make their lives easier? Here are some ideas to consider:

First and foremost get connected to them. Reach out – ask people how they are doing and what you can do to help. I mean contact them via phone or in person. Start with an authentic connection.

Then reach out via email sending them a special coupon or discount. Let them know you feel their pain.

Hold a special event in person or over a conference line. In challenging times people like to get connected. Facilitate that happening.

Strengthen your strategic alliance partnerships. Find more people who have the same ideal client as you yet provide a different product or service, and do more cross-promotional marketing.

There are more ideas in the articles and teleseminar recordings on my website – start there and get connected. You have an opportunity to show that you genuinely care about your clients and prospects. Action now will support you in having a profitable and sustainable business for years to come.