The Client Acquisition Thread

[Andy Black]

Thought I'd create somewhere we can chatter about getting clients.

What's working well for you?

What advice would you give?

What are you struggling with?

 

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[Andy Black]

Someone showed me ChatSilo today.

It's like a CRM for Facebook messenger.

Might be worth checking out if you've had people reach out to you in the past and then go quiet.

 

[DoWhatWorks]

I run a social media agency and offering free audits has worked well to get people on calls. Has helped build credibility, especially in the earlier days.

Sharing Loom video audits in advance also worked well but I stopped doing them from scratch when I realised people would still book a call if I shared an older one I did and said "I'll do similar for you" on a call.

 

[Caminsky]

Word of mouth drives almost all of my client acquisition for now. Online inquiries have all been worthless.

I have a plan to try to increase this through other means. I am working on offering in person an online seminars over my area of expertise. I did one a few months ago that was well received. I am not planning to charge for these, at least not yet. I may expand this to actual training sessions that go into deeper depth.

For those, I would charge because it's no longer about client acquisition.

 

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[Andy Black]

I run a social media agency and offering free audits has worked well to get people on calls. Has helped build credibility, especially in the earlier days.

I do this, although I don't call it a "free audit".

When someone reaches out to me via DM I'll ask if they're running Google Ads already. If they are and it could be a good fit then I offer to do a Zoom call where I look over their shoulder at their account .

Here's an example from this week:


Note that I don't do outbound. This is all inbound, which means they're already interested in hiring us.

Sharing Loom video audits in advance also worked well but I stopped doing them from scratch when I realised people would still book a call if I shared an older one I did and said "I'll do similar for you" on a call.

Can you share those Loom video audits on YouTube and other platforms (maybe edited for those platforms)? Could that bring inbound leads to you?

 

[Andy Black]

Word of mouth drives almost all of my client acquisition for now.

Me too. Focus on doing good work and happy clients will tell other people. I think it's the best way to start (and continue?).

@BizyDad has a great thread about this:

GOLD! - MARKETING - 21 Ways To Get More Referrals ~ For Free

A quick search of the forum and I found little advice about how to get more referrals. The closest is some excellent advice from Andy Black in a couple of threads. When I find them again, I'll post them below. Sure, maybe asking for referrals isn’t as awesome as having a killer affiliate...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Online inquiries have all been worthless.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. A word-of-mouth referral could come via an online DM (see the screenshot in my post above).

Do you mean inbound inquiries from people who've not been referred to you? What makes them worthless compared to inbound inquiries from people who *have* been referred to you? What can you do to bridge the gap?

I am working on offering in person an online seminars over my area of expertise. I did one a few months ago that was well received. I am not planning to charge for these, at least not yet.

I've done a few and they've helped bring leads. I did a 90 minute presentation to a group of business owners and put it on YouTube. I think it helps people I've already chatted to turn into clients or buy my course, but I think it's too long for busy business owners to watch if they haven't already chatted to me.

I published a 5 minute how-to video to LinkedIn last month and it brought a client last month. I wrote that up HERE.

My theory is that busy business owners value their time and appreciate short content that gets to the point.

I also think if we can sell an "aha moment" in our content then people remember us and/or reach out.

I may expand this to actual training sessions that go into deeper depth. For those, I would charge because it's no longer about client acquisition.

Yes, I've got videos in a membership that I charge for. By definition the DIY market is not the same as the DFY (Done-For-You) market, and I charge for access to the course because it's a different product and market.

I've not quite figured out what content I give away for free and what I charge for. I've even toyed with the idea of giving it all away for free and selling the road-map through the content.

 

[DoWhatWorks]

Can you share those Loom video audits on YouTube and other platforms (maybe edited for those platforms)? Could that bring inbound leads to you?

This is so simple (and I suspect effective) that I'm embarrassed I didn't think of it myself!

Thank you.

Very timely advice as I'm building a personal brand to try and earn more inbound leads vs relying on outbound.

 

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[Absar]

I run a social media agency and offering free audits has worked well to get people on calls. Has helped build credibility, especially in the earlier days.

Sharing Loom video audits in advance also worked well but I stopped doing them from scratch when I realised people would still book a call if I shared an older one I did and said "I'll do similar for you" on a call.

May sound stupid but,

How do you find people to whom you're going to offer free audits? For example, If I build websites, I find people who could benefit from you (they may have a bad site) and email them, do you have some ways you find leads?

 

[Andy Black]

“Spend your money on diesel and coffee”.
(Blaise Brosnan)

Get out from behind your keyboard and meet people (it could be over Zoom), and have a chat.

Do. Not. Pitch.

Building long-term relationships beats making short-term sales.

Get in the trenches. Engage your market in hand-to-hand combat.

Don’t do all that automation stuff till you’ve done it by hand.

And for heavens sake stop thinking of people as "traffic" or "clicks".

HOT! - Spend your money on diesel and coffee

"Spend your money on diesel and coffee" (Blaise Brosnan of The Management Resource Institute Wexford) Just getting started? Wondering what to spend your time and money on? Hustle. Build relationships. Make stuff happen. You'll be amazed what happens when you get out of the building...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[DoWhatWorks]

May sound stupid but,

How do you find people to whom you're going to offer free audits? For example, If I build websites, I find people who could benefit from you (they may have a bad site) and email them, do you have some ways you find leads?

Not a stupid question at all. I have a slightly different approach to Andy, I'll avoid details to not increase competition for myself but I get leads from popular platforms where a buyer would go if they were seeking services so they're somewhat warm already.

Ironically enough though, I'm finding direct acquisition intense and a race to the bottom so although it helped me make my first 4 figures online, I think a personal brand known for helping people will help me get to 5 figures much more quickly.

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

Thought I'd create somewhere we can chatter about getting clients.

What's working well for you?

What advice would you give?

What are you struggling with?

Great idea for a thread.

The main one for me is content + outreach.

Content generates trust and credibility and whets people’s appetite.

Outreach gets the sale.

You really need both if you want to acquire clients quickly, which is sort of my main area of expertise. I doubt there is anyone else on this forum who has signed up 24 new B2B clients as an agency in a single month lol…

Nothing you can say in your outreach can shape people’s perception as well as what they see online about you — through your content and testimonials.

Outreach is just going to push people sitting on the fence to take action and maybe even look a bit more deeply into you.

I like your approach Andy, but how do you apply that to someone who is a recent connection of yours, that just heard of you, and not a referral?

 

[Andy Black]

You really need both if you want to acquire clients quickly

I wouldn't say we *need* both to acquire clients quickly. I know people booking loads of calls just off ads.

I like your approach Andy, but how do you apply that to someone who is a recent connection of yours, that just heard of you, and not a referral?

If someone sends a connection request on LinkedIn then I quickly check out their profile for red flags and then accept the request and send a DM along the lines of "Hi BD. Thanks for the connection request. How's {something I spotted from their profile} going?"

A wee conversation often ensues.

 

[Canadoz]

The main one for me is content + outreach.

Content generates trust and credibility and whets people’s appetite.

Outreach gets the sale.

It's amazing the thousands of "marketeers" on the internet who still talk about content as a standalone activity without ever mentioning that you actually have to pick up the phone as well.

 

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