Everything you need to know about how to find clients for your small business, engage in conversations, enrol your ideal clients to work with you and how to keep your clients.
How many times have you worried about where your next client is going to come from or thanked the stars when someone has been referred to you because you haven’t had any luck prospecting for clients yourself.
Running a business can be overwhelming and at times, pretty darn stressful too – especially if you’re doing it alone in the early years.
You’re constantly trying to figure out new ways to get more clients for your business and sell more products and services and that can take its toll on you!
In this guide I’m going to share with you the same strategies I use with my clients – how to get new clients for business, where to find new clients and how to build client loyalty.
Who and Where Do You Find Your Clients?
Get to know your clients and customers! The first step to building your client base is knowing who your clients are and where you can find them. Armed with this information, you can manage your client relationships more effectively to increase sales to existing clients and to acquire fresh clients
Knowing your clients key characteristics will help you decide where, when and how to communicate with them. You’re already likely to be clued-up about their age, location and gender, particularly if you sell into a niche market. But there’s plenty more information that could be helpful to you, such as:
➡️ The websites your clients visit and any publications they read
➡️ Other products and services they buy
➡️ Why they buy from you and when
➡️ What type of client spends most with you
Client profiling enables you to communicate with existing clients more effectively and target new clients more accurately. Getting this information could be a simple matter of picking up a telephone. Or it might require a more formal approach, such as sending out a survey.
Why not participate in Get to Know Your Customers Day this year? Every year on the third Thursday of January, April, July, and October, many businesses go the extra mile to get to know and delight their customers and clients.
Every Get to Know Your Customers Day brings new opportunities for businesses to better understand their customer base and increase their trust and loyalty.
Where and How to Find New Clients
1. Tell friends and family you’d like find clients for your business.
If you are blessed with many friends and family that are always in your corner and ready to help if they can, let them. Tell them about what you’re doing and that you’re looking for clients – and be sure to tell them exactly what those ideal clients would be like, too.
Even if your family and friends can’t use your services themselves, you’ll at least then have a reliable scouting team that will continue to spread the word about your business.
2. Go to places your ideal clients goes
Knowing where your clients like to go, the events they attend, the workshops they attend gives you an opportunity to engage with your clients in a non-threatening environment.
Here are a few examples: If you are a life coach, visit events which revolve around personal growth. Attendees tend to be focused on growth. They are already hungry for education, and are likely to be interested in what you may offer.
If you are a business coach, you want to attend masterminds for businesses where your potential clients might attend. They are in a mastermind, so they are open to listening to what others have to say.
📖 Tips to help you build business relationships
3. Get clients through your personal activities.
All the group things you and your family do are opportunities and ways to find new clients. Take the time to converse with the other parents when you’re doing the school drop off or taking them swimming. Be friendly when you’re at the gym. Try to get to know other people and learn what their interests and concerns are.
Remember, when you are in a service-oriented business, you are your business and whether you’re at a supermarket or a pub, your business is always on display.
4. Get clients through referrals.
When someone calls you and says, “I’m wondering if you could __________________ because _________________ told me you did such a great job,” it’s a magical, perfect moment. Hopefully it will happen to you many times over the course of your business; it is truly the best and easiest way to get clients.
Recommendations still remain the most credible form of advertising, with 83% of people saying they trust the recommendations of friends.
📖 Read How to get more client referrals to learn the best ways to ask for referrals
5. Get clients through social media
The best use of social media to find clients is through being seen to be knowledgeable and helpful. Historically, LinkedIn is the social network designed for professionals to connect with one another. It’s easy to find groups related to your industry and/or professional interests that you can participate in there.
Find out where your ideal audience likes to hang out and start engaging with them.
Just as with real-life groups, thoughtful participation is the key to getting people to want to do business with you; you want to engage with your audience.
👥 Join our FREE community to meet lots of entrepreneurs just like you
📖 How to get clients for LinkedIn
6. Use your website to attract new clients
If you’ve got a website then make sure it is optimised for SEO to give you the best chance of getting as much traffic from search engines as possible.
You might think that it would be difficult to get clients from search engines, but if you work hard on your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), then it’s definitely possible! Decide on a few keywords that describe your business (get specific), read this article on how to use keywords for SEO, and pump up that SEO. It has incredible potential to bring you a steady stream of clients who are ready to hire you.
7. Get new clients through networking groups
Going to business networking events or joining a business networking club can be a great place to meet other business owners. They often have a supportive community where you can ask questions, get support for your business and showcase your own skills.
Finding New Clients: Two Things to Remember
First, the most important thing in ‘how to find clients’ is your mindset. You need to realise that every place you go is a chance to look for new clients and act accordingly.
You don’t need to be pushy or obnoxious; you just need to be friendly, open, and aware when you’re presented with an opportunity.
Second, none of the above is instant. Getting new clients is a process and how long you have to work at the process varies. But knowing where to look and how to find client/s will at least make the process easier.
How to Grow Your Client Base
A successful business should have a solid customer or client base. This is a group of people who frequently and repeatedly buy your products or services. What is the importance of the customer base? It is through these people that you gain revenue.
To increase your customer base, it is important to stay in constant contact with potential and existing customers and the more value your business can offer, the more likely you get more sales and revenue.
1. Host a webinar or a masterclass
A webinar or masterclass is pretty much the same thing, except that a webinar usually has much more preparation time going into it.
The idea here is to warm up your audience and generate more subscribers to your email list and social channels so you can sell to them at a later date.
2. Repurpose content to grow your client base
If you’re creating content then repurposing it can be the solution to lighten the content creation workload. It’s also a good way to get your content in front of more people in formats they might prefer better.
By repurposing your content you can get more out of the original content you created. For example, a blog post can have a lot of information, but it’s only one channel. By repurposing that content into other formats and for distribution on other channels, you use the same information (or a portion of it) and reach a wider audience.
Read 6 ways to repurpose content to attract new clients to discover how you can increase your client base by using old content.
3. Listen to your clients
A clients opinion should never be left unheard.
Create an easy platform where your clients can give their honest opinion of what you are offering.
But how can this raise the number of your customer base?
Feedback from clients can help you gain insight to improve your product or service.
4. Become the authority and loyal customers will radiate towards you
To attract more loyal customers into your business you have to begin by being seen by more people. It’s a numbers game – the more people who see you, the more people will enter your pipeline and the more people you’ll convert.
Done right, these how to get loyal customers strategies can establish you as an authority in your industry, drive traffic to your website, increase sales and open you up to much bigger opportunities, such as speaking on stage.
5. Concentrate on your most profitable clients
The general rule of thumb for most businesses is that 80% of sales come from just 20% of customers. It’s also widely said that it costs around five times as much to acquire new clients as it does to
sell to existing ones.
So it makes sense to identify your most profitable clients and provide excellent customer service to ensure they remain loyal and to maximise your profits. But these clients will also provide the foundation for growth: they are more likely to recommend you to others, for example. And knowing their characteristics makes it much easier to identify and target prospective clients who
share the same characteristics.
The secret to growth is to have more clients of the type you want to have, to increase your average sale value and to get them to buy more often.
Achieve a Constant Flow of Clients & Sales in 30 days
Online course aimed at getting you your perfect, paying clients, consistently
Create Customer Loyalty: How to Generate Repeat Business
One-off sales are fine, but the chances are you’ll want every client to buy from you again and again. The obvious way to achieve this is to provide a good product or service at a good price and wrap it up in excellent customer service and building a customer relationship.
But generating client loyalty goes well beyond service at the point of sale: If you really want to stand out from your competition, build a community around your client that adds value in a unique way.
Find out what they really value about your business – and give it to them. Involve them in your business, even down to developing new products and services.
1. Get it right first time ✅
If you don’t get it right the first time you sell to a particular client, they won’t buy from you again, so a great first impression is crucial.
With a first-time client, make sure every little detail is dealt with as professionally as possible. Handle all correspondence in formal language, with a personal greeting on each email, and assign a specific member of your team (if you have one!) to deal with the client, so they build up a rapport and provide a clear point of contact.
Welcoming new clients is really important as well as keeping them informed of the next steps of their journey with you, and, if the product or service you’re selling is particularly complex, offer proactive advice to help the client understand it.
2. Add little touches 🎁
Think about little ways you can recognise existing clients, and show them their business matters to you.
You might wish to send a hand-written letter, thanking them for their custom; alternatively, consider sending a small gift, such as flowers or chocolates.
3. Stay active in social media 📣
Keeping an active presence in social media will help to keep your brand in your clients thoughts.
4. Pass on information 📖
If you read an article, see a new book or hear about something that a client might be interested in, drop a note or make a quick call to let them know.
5. Remember special occasions
Send regular client birthday cards, anniversary cards, holiday cards … you name it. Gifts are excellent follow-up tool, too. You don’t have to spend a fortune; use your creativity to come up with interesting gift ideas that tie into your business, the client’s business or their recent purchase.
How to Find Clients for Your Small Business
I am so, so confident that with this guide you will get more clients in a matter of days or weeks! Instead of trying to tackle everything on this list at once, try picking 3-5 that especially resonate with you and your business and try them out. You can always come back to the others in the future. I hope this helped!
As long as you put the effort into providing the best possible service and ensure your clients are receiving value, they will do much of your marketing for you.
For more tips and tricks on how to find new client/s why not join my online business Community and meet like minded entrepreneurs just like you.
Jade *
PS If you’re looking for other great ways to get new clients then check out my Sales and Marketing Course aimed at getting you your perfect, paying clients, consistently!