Need More Clients? Take Ten!
The art of getting new business is no mystery, in fact it’s so simple we miss the forest for the trees.
Here are 10 tips to remind you how to build your client base:
1. Get New Business From Old. Ask existing clients for more business before you try warming up a cold lead. Ask the happy clients for referrals to people they know that you don’t – and be sure to keep track of who referred whom.
2. Entice a Stranger with FREE. Getting new leads works well when you offer free information, tips or how to videos. This is so simple with online lead capture pages and allows for fast and easy follow up emails
3. Give It To Me Straight. No one has time for the “warm-up”. Prepare your ‘elevator’ speech and make it about benefits for the person. People like it when you can get to the point rapidly and intelligently.
4. Talk About Your Failures. Seriously! It builds credibility. Everyone can’t be perfect all the time, and when you can tell a prospect why you lost a client and what you’ve learned it’s a welcome change. They appreciate your honesty
5. Offer a “Path to Purchase”. People do a lot of research before they buy. This is your oportunity to offer something for free followed by a very low investment item slowly taking them to higher end purchases
6. Get Sold Yourself. Pick the most successful competitors in your area and let them sell you. Play customer and be aware of how you feel during each step, and see why their approach works so well.
7. Pitch an Objector. Find the most disagreeable person you can find and pitch him or her. Let them be as nasty as they please, then analyze later if anything they said had any merit. Be totally unemotional, and don’t defend anything. You’ll learn where you’re lacking after doing this.
8. Start an Exiting E-mail Newsletter. Before you can give useful information you have to get people to ‘opt in’, so you need a strong benefit of why they should sign up. If they only hear from you when you want something, they’ll unsubscribe fast.
9. Offer Testimonials. Satisfied customers can say things about you that you can never believable say about yourself. Use the person’s full name if possible. “KM from Melbourne” isn’t nearly as strong as “Kenneth Moore from Melbourne”.
10. Ask Questions. I can’t emphasize enough how important and how underused this tip is in business. Allowing people to verbalize their needs makes them happy and tells them you listen. It also allows you to know exactly what your customers want
It’s sad, but we become so busy doing business that we overlook what’s in front of us.
Do you agree? I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
