Find clients for your business
This article includes information on how to find clients for
your business. Finding clients is probably one of the toughest
challenges you face when starting up in business. Here we look at
some of the ways you could achieve this, based on our conversations
with our clients.
Tapping in to the internet
Many solo professionals dismiss the internet because they either
can’t afford a website or don’t feel confident approaching a web
designer, as they’re not sure what they want. Therefore they write
off any chance of finding clients through the internet.
However, before you do consider a website, you should ask
yourself whether you actually need one, or whether you might
actually be able to attract clients online without a website.
Many professional associations have a feature on their site
whereby prospective clients can look for members in their area.
There might also be a directory for professionals in your field.
One such example is ‘Counselling Directory’ for counsellors which shows up
very well in the search engines.
Either of these types of site might also offer you the option of
a short profile page with a photo. If you do go ahead and have a
website of your own, you can then link to it from your profile
page.
Another great free way of getting your business noticed online
is to add a listing to
Google Maps. This means that your business will show
prominently on Google search results when someone searches for your
type of business in your area. You can register with Google and a
postcard will be sent to you with a code on. You then just need to
log in, enter your code, and your listing will be live.
Charge what you’re worth
Many people choose to offer a free consultation just to get some
clients on the books. However, the consensus from most people we
speak to is that it doesn’t really work and you could end up very
busy, but earning nothing and paying out on travel and other
expenses.
Instead of a free consultation, you could consider charging for
an initial consultation, but offering to rebate that cost against
any subsequent work you do for them. Charging nothing for your
time, might show a bit of desperation and a sense that you don’t
believe your time is worth paying for.
If you do still go ahead with a free consultation, it’s
important not to ‘shout it from the rooftops’! If you issue lots of
promotional materials with the free consultation as the main focus,
you will attract a lot of freeloaders. If however you talk about
how a client can benefit from what you offer, explain how this will
be achieved, you will get their interest. Then, you can mention the
free consultation subtly, near the end of your brochure or leaflet,
to spur them in to action. You’ll still attract some freeloaders
for sure, but not so many of them.
Networking
If you’re a consultant and adviser and you target business or
corporate clients, networking is a great way to make contacts and
to get feedback on what you’re offering.
Many people dread the thought of networking, but the secrets of
networking well are actually very simple. First you need to figure
out where your target market congregates and what they do. Many
professions nowadays have professional bodies or special interest
groups, which meet regularly. You will probably find that you can
find suitable events online and you can usually attend these events
as a guest very cheaply.
That just leaves the difficult bit - turning up and networking!
Many people fear networking because they feel that there is a great
expectation on them to constantly fascinate and entertain everyone
they speak to. This isn’t the case, and good networkers generally
keep things very simple.
If you’re not confident talking about yourself at great length,
that’s not a bad thing. You’ll get far more out of networking if
you talk to other people and listen thoroughly to what they have to
say. Try making a mental list beforehand of the kind of things you
want to know more about, or understand better about your target
market, and you should have plenty to talk about.
Ask open questions (ones beginning with how, why, what etc) more
often than closed questions (those which encourage a yes/no answer)
and you will generally find out much more about people.
When other people ask what you do, just be as concise and
jargon-free as you can. A good way of doing this is to say what
types of people you work with and what benefit you offer them, all
in one sentence. For example: “I work with small businesses to help
them grow their revenues through marketing” or “I help HR managers
to be more effective by using IT better”.
Above all, just be honest, and be yourself and networking can
work well for you and your business. Even if it doesn’t deliver any
new clients by itself, it gives you new contacts and some in-depth
knowledge of your target market all at relatively little cost, and
if nothing else, that can really help with the rest of your
marketing activity.
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