A friend of mine once called me to let me know he was starting his own business. I congratulated him and said that if he ever needed any support from me to give me a shout. I hadn’t heard from him in several weeks so I emailed him to find out how everything was going. He wrote back, “I’ve recently completed my website (of course, it’s a work in progress) and I just don’t know
where to go from here. I feel like I’m preparing to no end; but have not had one client to date. How can I really get the ball rolling? E-mail blasts, mailings, registering on the various search engines; I’m just not sure which road to take.”
I wrote back a lengthy email with plenty of ideas. In the days that followed, we talked at length about his strategy. Here are a few bullet points from that dialog:
1) Get out there.
You really have to put yourself out there and get ‘face-time with people so they get to know, like and trust you. Building relationships is the main thing. You want people to be able to know you well enough, trust you deeply enough and think of your professionalism high enough to not only do business with you, but also refer you to their friends, colleagues and loved ones.
2) Follow Up.
It is often said that it takes prospects an average of 7 - 9 contacts with you before you even get on their radar screen, let alone be the chosen solution for the problem they are seeking to solve. So implement a follow up system that will allow your prospects to have your contact information handy and keep on you on top of mind when they need your services and/or come across a referral.
3) Start in your own backyard.
Did you ever read that classic book, Acres of Diamonds? The character in that book sells his field and wonders the world in search of treasures. When he returns to his town an abject failure, he finds out that his field had a diamond mine. He was sitting on a fortune all along! So with us, usually, we think we need to have a global strategy before we master a local strategy. I am a huge proponent
of thinking big, but you need to start somewhere. Make a list of everyone you know and contact them to let them know you are available and what services and products you offer. If they’re not in the market for your services, ask them for three referrals each. And repeat the process until you’ve reached your sales objective.
4) Specialize.
It’s tempting to offer a ton of services and cast as wide a net as possible. But that actually hurts your business in the long run. People who try to be everything to all people usually tend to be perceived as a novice. Or worse, your prospects may think you are very likely to be low-balled in your prices because there’s nothing you do extraordinarily well, so you’ve become a commodity in their eyes where the only thing to separate you from the competition is how low you’re willing to go. Also, people tend to think that if you do one thing, you do it well and command the credibility and prices you deserve.
5) If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
Your competition could very well be a hidden treasure trove of client referrals. Make a list of 5-10 businesses that have a similar offer as you do, and approach them to become a referral partner. They may be overloaded with work and can give you the overflow, or perhaps they have the same offering, but for a different target market than yours. Take advantage of those subtle differences by serving each other’s customers. Both you and your competition will look like winners in your prospects’ eyes.
If you are struggling to drum up business right now, then you need to be spending 80-90% of your time marketing your business. I like to call it “rain making.” You can take very specific action to plant seeds in the beginning of your business (I go over them in detail in the Mastermind Coaching Gym). That way, when it’s time to make it rain, you’ve already done the preliminary work and just watch your work bloom.
