10 Tips for Getting New Clients

Are you a client magnet for finding new business? Or is attracting more people to your business a struggle for you? Some people are naturally great at sales, others are more comfortable in the creative space and being of service.

Here are 10 tips to help you boost your business mojo to attract people and close that sale.

1. Celebrate your old clients

We all know it is easier to work with previous or current clients instead of finding new people to serve. We need to remember how to spread the business karma with your previous clients and not forget how much you appreciated them when you were getting paid.

Business is about creating and keeping relationships open, so the next time your clients need a problem solved, you are the person they think of straight away.

Why not offer clients a free coffee at a local cafe, referral fees for new clients, enter them in your client competition for movie tickets or vouchers, testimonials for their products, shout-outs on your own social media channels, a profile on your website?

2. Send a snail mail message to both old & prospective clients, with a personal offer (no slimy sales or hidden agendas)

Send a thank you to your clients via the post. We are deep within an online haze at the moment and who doesn’t love the surprise finding a personal note in our mailbox?

You can make it personal by printing off a photo you have taken or ask a graphic designer to help you create something just for your clientele. Spend time creating a personal message of thanks and tell your customers how much you appreciate working with them.

3. Think like a customer NOT a business owner

Work backwards. What are your most common client queries, complaints or problems? Brainstorm new ways to solve these problems in a package, service or offering that is beneficial to the customer.

Once you have developed your new package, offer it for a limited time to entice the public to try new your product.

As business owners we think we know who our ideal markets are as well as their problems but often who ends up purchasing our service or product is a surprise.

4. Involve yourself in a fundraiser

Does your business have a charity fundraiser that is close to your heart? You can ask your staff & clients to bring their families and friends to a nominated fundraiser as a social event, to raise donations for your cause and create relationships with your customers.

Crowd funding or online fundraising websites are often a fun way for people to interact with your business without over committing themselves by their time or resources.

5. Invite clients to a business sundowner

One small business I know has regular sundowner picnics in their local park or pub throughout the year, inviting client families and partners to mingle and get to know each other.

This works especially well during the festive season as people wind down and are open to socialising without being “busy”.

Each client places their business card into a hat for a raffle prize or you can place everyone’s own business card out on a table for others to take for their own resource (as long as they are not direct competitors with each other).

6. Business forums/social media groups/networking groups

If your business can create a creative meeting place for your staff, customers and other similar business to connect then a thriving community can only enhance your business.

Social media is an easy (and often free) way to connect with each other online to create relationships with your customers and an easy way for friends of friends to find your business.

Many successful networking groups work because they focus on helping fellow business owners. They also work because although everyone wants to own and run their own business but it is lonely at the top.

Communication and bouncing off each other for ideas works well in the flexibility of social media and networking situations.

7. Co-working spaces are the new black

Co-working spaces are huge these days. If you are a freelancer, go visit one and place your advert on their jobs boards or websites, mix with the people!

A hive of activity in small business communities, co-working spaces are the perfect venue to make connections, value relationships and find interesting people for new projects to complement your business.

8. Is your business website ready?

Need new clients? You need a website. How many times have your heard that one? Well, you do need a website in this day and age but is your website doing its job properly?

Does your website copy attract new clients with the appropriate keywords and SEO phrases? Do those key phrases cause your potential clients to take action?

Are your clients signing up to your email website list? What information are you regularly updating on Google via a business blog?

Establishing a digital footprint is a must for gaining new clients by creating trust, credibility and authority in the online world.

9. Reach out to a similar business and offer to work together in some way

Reaching out to competitors is not usually the done thing. We are supposed to keep our competitors at arm’s length, but you may be surprised with the outcome if you do connect. We all have strengths that we like to specialise in but if you choose to find a competitor to complement your business you may be able to work on a win-win situation.

For example, if your counselling business specialises in relationships and divorce issues, you could work with a business coach when your client would like to start fresh with a new career. If you have a graphic designer company which specialises in websites, you could recommend your competition for copywriting work or paper promotional materials. Any overflow work can be referred to your competition then they would then return the favour.

10. Work on your own special interest outside of work. Eg. Bike riding, travel, golf, volunteering

We often are more relaxed and open with people who share a similar passion or experience with ourselves. My husband often pulls on the lycra (don’t judge) and joins in with the early morning bike riding masses. Mostly he rides alone or in small groups, but often competes in charity rides and is always getting kudos via a fellow colleagues Strava app. (Sort of like Facebook for athletes). Most people in his bike riding group know what he does for a living and he has received many referrals and leads simply by following his passion or interest outside work.

Being creative and thinking outside the square for getting new clients is important for the success of your business. Being original in making connections make you memorable to clients and your customers will feed energised to work with you.

lisa bersonLisa Berson

Lisa is a freelance writer, copywriter and blogger based in WA, whose writing interests are careers, women’s lifestyle, parenting and travel. Find out more at www.lisaberson.com

Photo credit: pixabay.com

Advice from a small business owner: Why it’s okay being small

After 22 years of running a successful small business I’ve accepted, and in fact embraced, the joy of being small.

I have a video production business and I have a part time editor (although he’s kept pretty busy) and I work with freelance cameramen, producers and directors. I see a lot of small businesses feeling pressured to grow, get bigger, take on more staff.

I’ve had opportunities to do that over the decades but each time I’ve looked at it and considered this question:

Will this be of benefit or will it cause more stress, more costs, less time and less profit to my business?

And you should ask yourself the same.

I guess for an entrepreneur I’m conservative. When I started my business I wanted to enjoy it. And I have.

For some people they want to be the next Steve Jobs and I wish them all the best. For me, however, I simply want to enjoy what I do and be rewarded appropriately for my creativity and expertise. It has always been about the journey. About enjoying the ride.

I’ve seen people who work relentlessly until they retire and then die. What’s the point? It’s as if they are working so that they can achieve a lifestyle but forget to have a lifestyle along the way. Now is the only time we have to enjoy ourselves.

So I keep it simple. I book in crew for the jobs as they come up. I have tried having full time staff in the past but I found myself spending days thinking about what I can do to keep them busy during the quiet times. It would have been easier for me to pay them to go the beach so I could focus on the next sale I needed to generate.

Today more than ever it is easier to run a global small business with virtual and freelance staff.

People are available throughout the world on sites like Upwork, fiverr.com, freelancer, and 99 designs. For a small price you can compete globally.

Having a small operation allows me the freedom to prioritise how I want to spend my time. I’m free to schedule the school pickups, the ski holidays, the long weekends.

Of course there is also the responsibility to step up and work the extra hours when it’s required. At the end of the day the bank balance will always reflect how well your business is working.

For many years the mantra of business experts is that growth equals success. But how do we define growth? Is it a higher turnover? More profit? A bigger office? More staff? Or is it personal growth and development? Or is the mantra misguided?

My turnover has remained fairly steady for the last fifteen years. I haven’t grown in the traditional sense. Personally I’ve grown and I have enjoyed myself. For me success is about being happy.

For me success is about being happy.

Having health, happiness and love around you and the time to enjoy it.

And there is always growth of sorts happening in my business. I need to embrace new technologies, set new goals, develop new markets. Being steady and stable is not the same as being still.

There still needs to be activity focused on current goals. I guess my point is how big, hairy and audacious do you need your goals to be? That comes down to the individual and where they are at in their lives.

If you have a young family then you will never have another time to watch your children grow and change every day. So is now the time to prioritise your business so you can be present for those moments? That’s a personal choice.

For me being a parent is a priority and by having a business that I run, rather than a business that runs me, I am able to make time to be present for my children.

Let me clarify a point however:

Being small doesn’t mean doing it alone.

On the contrary having a robust team around allows you the freedom to enjoy your business. The key is to develop a team of freelance workers who work alongside when you need and alongside others when you don’t need them.

It’s about being smarter in how you distribute your workload so that quality results are being achieved with or without you. So before you take that next leap, ask yourself why are you doing it? Is it because someone told you that’s what a business does, or is it because that’s what you really want?

For me I want to enjoy myself and this is how I do it.

What is your why? Tell us in the comments below!

Check out Get Your Life Back ebook by Kasia Gospos, founder of Leaders in Heels, on how you can streamline and automate your business and life so that you have more time for what you really love.