BE MORE YOU | BRAND STRATEGIST, DESIGNER & SEO EXPERT
Ask most business owners what they need help with in their business and they’ll tell you they need new ways to get clients.
Clients are the lifeblood of our business so it’s important to have a strategies in place to attract new clients to our business.
The reality is as business owners it’s easy to get so lost working ‘in’ your business that you lose sight of working ‘on’ your business. If you’re struggling to find new clients here are 30 proven strategies to get clients now.
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Get Clients Fast
The easiest clients to sell to are the ones you’ve done business with before. So if you want to get clients fast, now’s the time to look at your current and past client list:
1. Offer your existing customers additional services, add ons or upgrades
Your existing customers are usually the most likely to buy from you again. Think about additional services, add ons or upgrades you could offer them.
Do you have any complementary services, an ongoing care package or a monthly membership or subscription?
If you have people working with you in a group setting consider offering a VIP 1-1 service.
2. Follow up with past clients to see if they need any additional help.
Do you have new services or products that could help your past clients? Perhaps they had to stop working with you due to circumstances that have now changed, or maybe they’ve just missed you but if you don’t reach out to them to see if they need any additional help you’ll never know.
Pick up the phone, send your past clients a voice note, a DM or an email.
3. Follow up with potential clients that never purchased.
You probably have some emails from clients who initially inquired about your services and then never emailed you back. Follow up with them via email, phone, voice note or DM. Try something like:
Hey (name)!
I just wanted to check in with you to see if you were able to check out my packages or had any questions. I’d be happy to help. Would you like to set up a quick phone call some time this week? Thanks so much (name)! Have a great day.
A tip I got from a ninja sales coach if you really want to improve your business, is to always ask for feedback from those that don’t buy. Ask them why they decided not to purchase from you. You might feel vulnerable and uncomfortable, but this single move can be one of the most useful and effective things you do to improve your business. Try something like:
Hey (name),
Thank you so much for considering my services recently. Even though we weren’t able to work together, I’m glad we were able to connect! As a new business owner, I’m eager to find ways that I can improve my business and enhance the experience for my future clients. If you’re up for it, I’d love to hear why you decided not to book my services. I know this might be an odd question, but I really do appreciate any feedback you can share.
4. Send a one-time offer to past clients or people who never purchased
Just because people didn’t buy from you in the past doesn’t mean that they won’t buy from you now. Test the water with a one-time offer.
5. Hold a flash sale.
A flash sale is a limited time discount on all or selected services for a limited 24 or 48-hour period.
Tie it to a holiday, significant day, business milestone, your birthday etc and make it clear that it’s time-limited.
Be strategic about how often you use discounting in your business, you don’t want your customers to devalue your work or products.
6. Offer an incentive for new and existing clients
If you don’t want to discount your products/services then an incentive that offers added value can be a great way to attract new clients.
Promote your packaged service with a limited time bonus. It could be added time with you, access to exclusive training, an invite to an exclusive event or a free gift. Magazine subscriptions do this all the time – they offer a free gift with a high perceived value to encourage sign-ups.
7. Create a Recommend a friend offer
Over 20 years ago Majestic Wines ran a ‘Friends and family 25% discount email’ that went viral. The campaign was so successful they repeated it several times.
People thought they’d found a sneaky way to share a discount code but it was actually just a clever way to promote a sale to its customers
They emailed the discount to their staff and selected customers so it was easy for them to share it and pass it on.
Email your list with a recommend a friend offer. Or share your ‘recommend a friend’ offer with your customers in a shareable Facebook post, or get them to tag a friend on an Instagram post.
People are more likely to share something if they think they’re helping someone else get a good deal than if you offer them an incentive to recommend people. You could always offer an incentive for the sharer and the new customer.
Generate Sales Leads
Generating leads for your business doesn’t have to be hard work. There are some easy processes you can put in place to generate more sales leads to find new clients:
8. Add an automated booking system
Making it easier to do business with you is a great way to attract clients. Consider adding an automated booking system to your website. https://calendly.com/ and vcita.com are two automated booking systems that I have tried. Dubsado now offer a built-in scheduler too which also links to zoom to set up online meetings.
N.B. Sign up to Dubsado using my affiliate link and you’ll get 20% off https://www.dubsado.com/?c=bemoreyou
9. Offer free discovery calls
Free discovery calls are a great way to get potential clients to pick up the phone to you but when you offer free discovery calls with a specific promised outcome they become a powerful sales tool that has a high perceived value by potential clients.
Christian Mickelson advocates this approach in his book Get Clients Today
Discovery calls done well can be a great way to introduce potential clients to your services, show them how you work, build trust with quick wins and lead them onto your paid services and packages.
10. Write an eBook
Ebooks are a great way to attract clients by solving the problem you know they have. They help showcase your knowledge and expertise and are a great way to introduce yourself to a wider audience.
Often it’s not just a case of having the answer to our problems, we are looking for someone to guide us, hold our hand, motivate us and keep us accountable.
Self-publish your ebook on kindle, share it on your website and social media channels, promote it through strategic partnerships, guest appearances, speaking events etc.
Self-development giant Brendon Burchard uses books and ebooks as a way to attract new clients to his business. It’s a tried and proven model. In fact, John Assaraf’s book Innercise is pretty much 296 pages of advertisement for his Neurogym programme.
If you want to maximise the impact – offer bonus material to your readers and have them opt in to your email list to receive it.
11. Write a guide
Create an in-depth guide for your customers to solve a problem you know they have. Make the content available on your website to drive traffic, but also turn your guide into a downloadable PDF.
Capture emails via your sign up and then send a 7-part email series to people who have signed up and make an offer to them.
This is a strategy I have used multiple times on the 2020 Financial website. Their Final Salary guide drives new client enquiries every day.
12. Create a Tool or resource
This tip is one that many of the internet greats advocate. Neil Patel created Ubersuggest. Gabby Bernstein has a free resource page. It’s something that works for every industry, you just have to know what your customers want.
Create a resource page that would be useful to your ideal clients like my Free marketing tools and resources that I created to help business owners like you.
Create a tool or resource to drive traffic and then capture that traffic with am opt-in pop up or on page offer.
13. Perfect your current client process to receive more referrals
The quickest way to get people to talk about your business and refer you to their friends is to provide an exceptional client experience.
Explore your current client process and identify ways you could improve it and don’t forget to ask your clients for feedback and a testimonial.
14. Generate leads through email
Start an email list and email them regularly. Email still has a pretty good conversion rate compared to other marketing channels. Use live challenges, a guide or an ebook as an opt in to build your email list and then provide regular value to your list.
Get clients now – even if you don’t have an audience
It’s easy to think that you need to build a massive audience before you can attract clients but that’s not true. Here are some ideas to attract new clients even if you don’t have an audience.
15. Find referral partners or affiliates
If you don’t have an audience of your own find someone who does and borrow theirs, it’s the quickest way to find a large audience to sell to.
We used this approach when we ran our Scroll Stopping Content Queens challenge. We did a group takeover in a popular business coach’s group. It was a win/win situation, she got record engagement in her group during a quiet period, offered added value to her audience through our free challenge and she also had an affiliate code so she made money for every sale we made through her group.
There’s nothing better than getting paid for doing nothing, so approach other businesses who’s audience or customers match your ideal customer and offer them an affiliate code or referral deal.
In the coaching industry the typical affiliate deal is 40% of the course or programme sign up fee, but remember, you’re being given access to a warm audience – especially since we’re more likely to buy on recommendation.
If you’re not selling a course, you could offer an discount, free sessions or exclusive bonuses instead.
Consider seeking out affiliate deals for your own business to add additional revenue streams. If you’re wondering how this gets you new clients, it’s common practice to offer an incentive to those buying courses programmes through your affiliate link. It could be access to an exclusive facebook group, mini-training series etc. It’s a great was to expand your audience and find potential new clients.
16. Get leads fast with Groupon or Wowcher.
Deal sites like Wowcher and Groupon can charge up to 50% take a for the privilege of using their platform. But it can be a good way to get leads fast and find new clients if you need a burst of income.
If you have a local business, it can be a good way to get known whilst you’re building your business up and attracting your ideal clients in other, longer-term ways. Just be sure that you take advantage of this opportunity and view it as advertising. It’s up to you to turn them into loyal clients when they come through the door.
Have an upsell offer ready, a loyalty card, or referral deal in place and be sure to keep in touch with these customers.
Don’t forget to ask these customers to follow you online or add them to an email list.
17. Add a listing for your services
Create a listing on Gumtree, Facebook marketplace, Etsy, Fivver or similar directories for your packaged services or offers.
Advertise weekly on Facebook selling groups or relevant Facebook groups that allow offer posts.
18. Borrow an Audience
If you don’t have an audience, Co-interview someone who has your ideal audience. Partner with non-competing business with the same target audience and interview them on social media.
It provides them an opportunity to showcase their expertise and gives you access to their audince to pitch yourself as an expert. Create a freebie that you can use to get them onto your email list and make them an offer.
19. Network online and offline
There are some great networking opportunities both online and offline. Networking groups can be a great place to find clients, referral partners and affiliates.
Try a few different networking events to find the right fit for you.
20. Actively participate in Facebook groups. Answer questions in Groups
Facebook groups are a great place to find potential clients. Make sure you’re clear on the group rules and focus on getting to know people and adding value first. This is more of a longer term strategy but Facebook groups can be a great way of getting your name and face out there to potential clients.
It’s easy to forget the social aspect of social media. If you’re sparking up conversations with people and helping them out, make sure you follow up with them. Keep a simple excel spreadsheet of who you spoke to, the problem you helped them with and make a note to contact them in a few days to see how they’re getting on or just touch base with them.
Get more Clients
There’s a simple wisdom in the entrepreneurial world that says – if you want to get more clients you need to make more offers. Here are some ways to do just that.
21. Package your services
Packaging your services is a powerful way to create recurring revenue and get new clients. If you normally offer a single session bundle your services into a “package” that the client can purchase for either a one-off or monthly fee.
Offer incentives for a monthly membership: exclusive member-only bonuses, early access to book popular classes or workshops, a member’s only discount etc.
You can add value to your packages by bundling workbooks, offering access to a training library, ebooks, audio recordings, guest training sessions, support calls, templates, calendars, Voxer or email access and other resources to add value to the package.
For one-off packages think a 6-week beginners course, or a 3-month 1-1 consultancy package, or a 2-hour session with a follow-up call etc
22. Offer an ‘intensive training’ session
Clients are focused on specific outcomes or goals. Consider offering a virtual workshop or power-hour intensive that helps them with one specific outcome.
Often these intensive training sessions are a great way to introduce your services and get new clients through the door.
Not sure what a power-hour should look like? There’s a great podcast by Janet Murray.
23. Create a course or group programme
A course or group programme can be a great way to help more people at a more affordable rate than your 1-1 offerings.
Business Coach Lisa Johnson who made £1.7million from a single group programme launch recommends that you never create a course before you’ve sold it.
Create a basic intro, decide on the topics for the modules and create a sales page based on that. Record the course live and finalise the content once you’ve sold it.
If it doesn’t sell, seek feedback, refine your message or your offer and try again.
24. Revamp your services guide
Are you putting your best foot forward when it comes to attracting new clients? Upgrading your services /prices guide/ media kit can be a great way to convert more leads to clients.
You might not even need a graphic designer to elevate the look and feel of your services guide.
- Buy an ebook template for Canva on creative market, etsy or similar
- Have a copywriter take a look at your messaging if copy isn’t your strong suit.
- Add up-to-date testimonials and case studies and then promote it on social media
You can find a brilliant article by the Brand Stylist on creating a media kit here.
25. Interview past clients on your social channels
Live and recorded interviews are a great way of capturing compelling case studies and testimonials from your clients. Most people are delighted to share their story and experience and if you work with other businesses they’re usually happy to have the exposure.
These client interviews serve as a great advert to your audience to work with you. Just make sure that you maximise the opportunity by offering an opt in freebie or by letting those watching know how they can work with you.
26. Perform an online audit
Sometimes the reason you don’t have enough clients is because you haven’t made it easy enough to do business with you. Perform an online audit of your website and social media channels and ask yourself the following questions:
- How easy is it to do business with you?
- Is it obvious within 3 seconds what you do and who you help?
- Do you have clear calls to action on your website pages and social media channels?
- Have you revamped your social media images lately?
- Does your website need some love?
- Do you have an easy way to book a discovery call or get in touch with you?
27. Optimise your Social Media accounts for success
Make sure your social media accounts are optimised for success.
- Promote your services on your Instagram highlights. I suggest repurposing your sales pages and turning them into bite size stories so people can see at a glance how to work with you.
- Update your Bio. Is it obvious what you do and who you help? Use calls to action to tell people how to get in touch and buy.
- Add a link to your sales page or to book a call with you
- Pin a post to your facebook page with details of how to work with you
- Add links to your website on your facebook and linkedin posts.
28. Host a live training or do a free challenge
Live content is prioritised by the algorithm on Facebook. Instagram and LinkedIn. Take advantage of this by going live daily, solving problems and making offers to your audience.
Free 3-5 day live challenges are a great way to introduce your audience to your services and sell them into a live programme. My clients Mind-body Medical use this approach for their Ayurvedic Mentor membership programme.
Repurpose the content by recording the sessions and offering lifetime access for a low-cost price or repurpose as content for your social media channels and blog, as an ebook or eve expand it into a course.
29. Host a webinar
Webinars are a great way to attract new clients. Whether you offer it for free or as a paid offering make sure that you have more ways to work with you or buy from you.
I’ve seen Doterra agents do this really well – offering a free webinar to teach how to create non-toxic cleaners for the home and then selling the required essential oils as a package at the end of the session.
The great thing about webinars is that you can make them evergreen i.e. record them once and run them over and over again to attract new clients.
30 Offer a live Q&A
A live quickfire Q&A surgery on your social channel/s is a great way to build trust and credibility and attract new clients.
Offer a weekly Q&A session and invite your audience to ask you a single question. Be sure to remind your audience of your 1-1 services for anyone who wants an in-depth session with you.
You can also repurpose the content into helpful posts for your blog and social media channels. You can also create resources, guides and eBooks to cover frequently asked questions.