Do you pursue clients, or doyou attract them?

While both methods of finding new business work to some degree,finding the right prospectsthrough attraction is a lot more fun and — forprofessionals and entrepreneurs who provide individualized serviceto their clients — it's usually more effective thanfinding them by pursuit.

Drawing prospective clients to you

Attraction methods involve drawing prospective clients to you:People who relate to you, people who have an interest in what youhave to offer, people who share your values and beliefs, and peoplewho believe…in you. If you do it right, the people you attract areyour ideal prospects. It's a natural, comfortable, professional,and self-perpetuating process.

Related: Attract the right clients by repelling the wrongones

Pursuing clients, on the other hand, means spending a great dealof time and money on efforts such as social media advertising,e-blasts, or casting a huge, expensive fishing net of directmailings to catch the next great client. One of the problemsassociated with this method is that people are so inundated withmarketing messages that repeated mailings and advertising arenecessary before someone will actually respond. This means more andmore expense.

When the growth of your business relies on pursuing prospects,rather than on attracting them, the effort to find new prospectsthrough these same methods is continual. If you stop the pursuit,the flow of prospects stops, too.

Attraction, on the other hand, has just two self-sustainingcomponents:

Being “attractive,” and giving your target clients anopportunity to connect with you.

Being attractive

By being attractive, I don't mean having an attractiveappearance, although you do need to havea professional appearance. An easy way to understand thisis to ask what kind of people you are attracted to — in thebusiness sense. Who do you enjoy being around and working with?What character/personality traits do they have? What is it aboutthem that attracts you?

Some traits are universally attractive: personalintegrity, having a life purpose, and passion, for instance. Peoplewant to be around a person who is clear about who he or she is andwhat matters to him or her. Such a person is often viewed as a leader.

If you want to be attractive in business, become clear aboutwhat matters to you, and then work to develop a clean and conciseway to let others know what that is.

Interacting with target clients

Giving your target clients an opportunity to connect withyou. There are a number of ways to give others anopportunity to be with you. Most of these involve getting out ofyour office and interacting with them. That means going where yourprospective clients can be found, talking to them, and letting themknow what you are all about — not just as a professional orbusiness owner, but as a person.

Related: How much credibility do you have?

Attraction methods include serving your clients on a level thatmakes them want to tell others about you, and learning to askthem to connect you with more people like them. It alsoincludes speaking and writing about what you do.

By sharing about yourself, you allow others to understand whoyou are. Once people see who you are, you will attract theones who relate best to you.

In the meantime, keep REACHING…