15 EFFECTIVE WAYS TO GET MORE
CLIENTS AND KEEP THEM
COMING…
Every business has a stressful life, but getting clients to float your business? Yeah, that may be one of the biggest battles and stressors for any business owner. Today, I’m sharing 15 in-depth strategies that will — hands down — get you more clients for your service-based business. Want to be booked months in advance? Here’s my favorite way of doing it:
1.Participate actively in Facebook groups.
A lot of folks have tossed the idea that “Facebook for business is dead.” If organic reach on Facebook pages is basically nonexistent (3% — yikes!) it’s not crazy to assume the whole platform is useless. Facebook pages may be going through that angsty teenager phase, but as a whole? Facebook can be a killer way to find clients and build your business.
Here’s how you do it: find Facebook groups where your ideal client might be hangin’ out. So, if you’re a graphic designer, for example, you want to join groups that are geared toward bloggers or small business ownersbecause those are people who need your services. And instead of being spammy or self-promotion-y, be outrageously helpful when people ask questions in the group. Boom. That’s it-literally! Other members of the group will remember your niche expertise and take a peek at your profile-which, hopefully, is linked to your business’s Facebook page and website. Don’t believe me when I say this works? Check out these quotes from a couple of ladies who have benefited from this strategy:
2. Produce blog post content with your ideal client in mind.
Among the best-not-spammy ways to acquire new clients is through writing blog posts that your ideal client would love to read. Do you consult as a personal stylist? Share tips with the most flattering styles for each body type. Do you write copy? Write a post on how to create an “About” page that rocks. Do you design websites? Share tips on how to use WordPress. This brings them to your site, and then you can put up as much information as you have about your topic.
You sell without selling. You let people know about your skills, and you never make your readers buy from you. At the least, you should have a link or graphic placed somewhere in your blog leading people over to your services page.
3. Leverage your current client process to bring more referrals.
Take just a few minutes and literally sketch out on paper what your client process will be. Try to be super, super detailed and make sure everything flows well. In other words, the more refined the process is and the smoother everything goes for your clients, the greater your chances are of getting them to refer friends or peers to you. When people love working with you, they will be quick to share your expertise with people they know.
This is how the client process works, as follows:
Initial e-mails > Phone consult sometimes > Contract > Deposit Invoice > Questionnaire > Proofs R1, R2, R3 > Final Invoice > Installation > Follow up phone call instructions when required > Thank you E-mail
But that helps you to communicate this process with your clients so they know where you are. The less confused and frustrated your clients are likely to be, the more they’ll want to talk about you. Another tip – this process can even be automated with web apps .
4. Answer questions on Twitter.
Many users go to Twitter seeking recommendations and suggestions from fellow users. So in this tip, you are going to find these people and assist them.
#Try these searches
# (keyword)help
Buy a (keyword)
(keyword) recommendations
So ridiculously simple yet totally effective to identify people who may currently need what you’re offering. If they’re asking a question? Answer it! If they’re looking for someone to hire? Be yourself, let them know that you can help and link them to your portfolio. Easy peasy, friends!
5. Work with clients who have a large, engaged audience.
Easier said than done, but some time ago, a blogger with a huge and dedicated following e-mailed me requesting that I develop her blog. I have no idea how she happened upon me since my business was still pretty small at the time. Since then I have gotten over 50 leads and probably well over 20 clients from having my link at the bottom of her site. It also brought me to work with other large clients who found me through her site, which kept growing my business-this was the single biggest turning point for me.
Instead of waiting around for someone important to come knocking on your door, why not go out there and knock on theirs? In order to seal the deal, you could offer your services at a steep discount or even for free. Many of them have a huge following, and you might find a willing recipient of free or discounted services if you agree to give them some social media promotion or put your link on their blog. It hurts not to try this, and it can make a huge difference to your business if you approach the right person. Just be sure that if you do take this direction, you’re getting enough out of this collaboration.
6. Create an active social media presence.
Social Media: This builds trust with your audience, as well as extends the reach. I have gotten many clients by sharing my design work through Pinterest and Instagram. Again, there’s the golden rule in this arena: be a normal human being-not a salesperson. Throw your business in amongst your usual posts, sharing behind the scenes snippets whenever you can. Your clients want to work with real people and giving your life along with your business will grow a special kind of trust that will encourage them to work with you.
Well, social media also creates buzz and excitement, especially when you include other people. For instance, if you are posting the photo of a recent wedding you shot, then tag the couple and narrate the experience of shooting their wedding.
7. To those clients who never bought, follow up.
I’m pretty sure you have received a few e-mail inquiries from clients who express their interest in your services and then never e-mail you again. Contact them and email them. Send something like this:
That’s if you dare to email these people who never followed up and asked them why they didn’t want to buy from you. It’s pretty vulnerable and revealing, but also one of the most valuable things you can do for your business.
8. Always check with previous clients to see if they need help in specific areas.
Do you touch base with your past clients periodically to see if they need a little extra help? Do it! Just shoot them an email asking how things are going and if they need extra help. Often they will, but they’ll need that nudge to move you to the top of their to-do list.
Likewise, you’ve probably just read something that you know for sure is going to really help your clients. Maybe it’s a new favorite plugin or even just an e-book you just wrote that you know they’ll love. E-mail your past client with that. It won’t sound like sales talk if it’s genuine and they can tell that you’re only trying to look out for them.
9. Advertise your services on Facebook.
When compared to other forms of advertising, Facebook ads generally tend to be pretty cost-effective ways to reach your target market and clients. Facebook also allows you to create complex audiences you’d like your ad to run in front of. This means you get to pick everything from their location and gender to which pages they “like” on Facebook and what their interests are. It can be extremely effective at creating new potential customers. In fact, Facebook ads have been an absolute game changer for my business.
READ ALSO: 15 Best places in Europe for a perfect family trip
READ ALSO: Top 15 best things to do in Seattle (2024)
10. Grow your email list and stay in touch with your subscribers .
Growing your email list is one of the smartest things you can do for your business. Spare me the speech since I wrote all about why they’re great right here, but for business owners: if you haven’t started building an email list, stop whatever you’re doing right now and get started. Growing a list lets you keep in touch with your subscribers in ways that nothing else can. Of course, nobody will visit your social media site or your website every day, but everybody checks the email regularly, so you can “speak” with your potential clients and subscribers almost any time you would like. This is good for some limited-time-only offers, as well as for the promotion of your business.
Yet another channel is your email list and newsletter, where you keep your business in people’s minds. They see you pop up in their inbox every week, providing great tips and advice, so they’re more likely to think of you the next time they need to hire someone who does what you do.
11. Guest blog on other sites.
This is once again a way of exposing your knowledge and subject matter to another’s audience, expecting that this exercise draws visitors to your site who are interested in your services. Find a blogger whose audience you believe would be interested in your services. Email them and ask if they would permit you to guest blog on their blog.
So, anyway, you shouldn’t pitch a guest post like a commercial. Just be yourself, overtly helpful, and write for your dream client. Your blog will refer to your site, hopefully will have an author bio listing your services. I think if someone likes what you have to say they’ll hire you. You don’t need to beat people over the head with it. A little nudge is enough.
12. Sell on Etsy.
So, actually, I established a listing of my services when I was really practicing design years ago and I still actually invoice some of my clients through Etsy today. Of course now, I do use invoicing software; I’m a Freshbooks fanatic, but if you’re just getting started with service-based business, you can find new clients by selling on Etsy. Etsy is a ginormous online marketplace full of potential clients who might be searching for your services. Talk about free marketing!
In my case, I do had several clients find and hire me through Etsy, so I know it has potential!
13. Pump up your SEO.
I still get amazed to this day that many of my past clients found me through Google. I mean, there are thousands of designers in the world-how did Google drive them to me?! You might think it would be hard to attract lots of clients from search engines for a reason I’ve had, but if you really work hard on your Search Engine Optimization then it is totally possible! Choose a few words that carry your business message (be specific), read this article, and pump up that SEO. It has incredible potential to bring you a steady stream of clients who are ready to hire you.
14. Frame your business around a niche group of people.
It’s very difficult to get anything to grow when you market yourself to everybody. You’ll grow your business quicker, and you can charge more for your services when you specialize in some way or some specific area, or niche. So if you are a graphic designer, perhaps you are THEE graphic designer for handmade businesses. Or if you’re an attorney, you could market yourself as THEE attorney for creative entrepreneurs.
Finally, concentrate on one audience when you look for people to trust you. That way, they are more likely to trust you as they will come to understand that you are specialized in them and, therefore, understand their needs.
15. Run a webinar.
And finally, webinars are simply an amazing way to attract new clients. A webinar is a live, streaming video “workshop” where you either teach or share advice about something related to your business or product and can do a Q&A with the attendees. This has a pretty good conversion rate because, through webinars, you get a chance to connect with the target audience, answer their questions, and enlighten people on a particular subject in which you are vastly knowledgeable.
Check out LeadPages to help you create amazing and integrated webinars.
I am so, so confident that if you pick any three of these strategies, you’re going to get more clients in days or weeks. Instead of trying to do everything on this list at once, choose 3-5 that really speak to you and your business and give it a shot. You can always come back to the others later.
