Being a coach for bloggers, I know that sometimes getting clients for your business isn’t the easiest task. And that’s especially true when you’re just starting to venture into a service-based online business.
A lot of my clients come to me with questions on how they can land a steady stream of clients. After all, that’s crucial when your clients are the ones who are helping you to pay your bills!
But instead of getting stressed out or frustrated by the lack of clients in your business, it’s time to do something about it! So, I’ve put together this guide to teach you the essential steps of successfully building your own service-based business. With these tips, you won’t have to worry about where your next client is going to come from. And it’s all because you’ll have plenty of people who are just dying to work with you!
The Ultimate Guide to Getting Clients for Your Business
Alright, are you ready to start getting clients for your business? Of course you are! To start bringing in all those dreamy clients who are ready and willing to pay for your services, there are 10 things you need to do.
1. Offer Free or Discounted Services When You’re Brand New
Many people won’t agree with this advice, but I think it’s important. When you’re just starting out in a service-based business, you need to make a name for yourself. You need to get experience and you’ll need testimonials for your sales page. After all, people are going to be more likely to hire you if they know you’ve successfully helped others.
You can choose to offer up some of your time for free or provide your services for a discounted rate. To find people who might be interested in working with you, become active in Facebook groups where your target audience is hanging out. You can post there that you’re getting started in your business and that you’d love to offer free services in exchange for honest feedback.
If you’ve already been building an email list, send out a survey as a way to get to know your subscribers better. As an extra incentive to complete the survey, tell them that you’ll pick maybe three or five people to work with for free or at a discount. Then, use the survey responses to find your ideal clients and get in touch.
2. Focus on Building the Know, Like, & Trust Factor
When you’re working on getting clients for your business, it all starts with the Know, Like, and Trust Factor. You absolutely cannot do business without first building a trusting relationship with potential clients. Think about it! Are you going to hire someone who you don’t trust? I highly doubt it! So, you need to make sure your audience trusts you.
I’ve previously written a post with many suggestions on how you can build trust with your audience. If you haven’t checked that out, I urge you to do so and start implementing the tips in that post. Trust is arguably the most important step of the KLT Factor and you really cannot skimp here!
My favorite trust-building tactics? Providing content my audience is searching for both on my blog and my YouTube channel. Using Instagram Stories to give people a behind-the-scenes look into my life and business. And going live on Facebook to share valuable tips and tricks.
3. Consistently Provide Valuable Content for Your Audience
I feel like this tip is pretty self-explanatory. But here’s the thing, if you want to land clients… You need to prove that you know your stuff. By consistently giving them high-quality, valuable content for them to consume, they start to see you as an authority. They’ll view you as an expert in your field, which ultimately helps to build trust.
Now, how you put content out into the world is totally up to you. You can create blog posts, YouTube videos, or even a podcast. You can also incorporate a variety of those content formats into your strategy. Do what works for you and what appeals to your audience. That’s how you create a winning formula.
4. Try Incorporating Video Into Your Strategy
When I suggest getting into the video game, that could mean YouTube, Facebook Live, or even Instagram Stories. They’re all great options for adding video to your online presence. And the reason I feel video is so important is because it helps you build a relationship with your target audience. It’s much more personable!
For instance, people get to see and hear you when they consume your video content. It helps them get to know you better and forms a deeper connection. And building that connection with people is essential in getting clients for your business. You’re going to be more inclined to hire someone who you’ve gotten to know and video just helps to foster that relationship.
5. Start Networking in Person
Just because we’re online entrepreneurs, it doesn’t mean we can’t ever network in person. Far too many people keep themselves cooped up in their home offices, never to meet other business owners in their area. And I think they’re really missing out! By getting out there and meeting people who are local to you, you never know what kind of opportunities you could gain. You might find new clients or you might meet someone who can refer clients your way. Open yourself up to meeting new people in your area and your business is sure to flourish.
6. Quit Sitting Back and Waiting for People to Find You
If you’re not actively putting yourself out there to gain exposure, you are seriously missing out on getting clients for your business. You absolutely cannot just sit there with your fingers crossed, waiting for someone to discover your business. A growth strategy is key in helping you to spread the word about your brand. And after all, people need to be able to find you in order to book your services!
Figure out what kind of growth tactics you’d like to implement in your business. How will you use social media to get the word out? Are you effectively optimizing your blog posts and YouTube videos in the best way possible? Are you utilizing guest posting as part of your strategy? The ideas here are endless, but you have to make sure you’re taking action. In fact, developing a growth strategy is one of the things I teach in my course, Blogging Bombshell.
Be proactive about putting your business out there, otherwise you’ll risk watching everyone else pass you by.
7. Don’t Be Afraid to Promote Your Offerings
Far too many people have told me that they’re afraid of self-promotion. And I totally get it! I’ve been there myself. Sometimes it’s scary to put yourself out there and to share what you’ve been working on. When you do, you open yourself up to a world of criticism. And you also risk launching your new offering to crickets, which can be pretty soul-crushing. But guess what? Promoting yourself doesn’t have to be scary, icky, or salesy.
You should feel proud of the work you’ve done. You deserve to be able to confidently spread the word about your awesome services so you can focus on getting clients for your business. After all, if you aren’t vocal about the services you provide, how in the world do you ever expect to be getting clients for your business? Shout it from the rooftops! People need to know what you have to offer them, otherwise they’ll never have the opportunity to buy from you.
And if you’re feeling a little scared of self-promotion, I have a blog post that will ease your fears.
8. Try Implementing Manifesting Techniques
For some of you, this tip may be a little “woo woo.” But here’s the thing, I run my business by effectively combining two key things. I focus not just on the practical business strategies, but also on the mindset side of things. Both are equally important to me and I feel I cannot have success without both of them.
Think about this for a minute… If you’re always complaining about how you don’t have clients, what do you think you’re going to manifest? Well, you’ll continue to experience a lack of clients. By shifting your mindset, you can begin attracting happy, paying clients into your business. I actually have a full blog post coming up all about the manifesting techniques that will help you bring those clients to you, so stay tuned for that one! But to tide you over until then, here are a few things you can do:
- Place a clear order with the Universe that states how many clients you’d like to manifest. Do this by determining how much money you’d like to make and how many clients you’d need in order to reach that income level.
- Try implementing The Chalkboard Method that Being Boss has talked about.
- Visualize yourself working with the dreamiest of dreamy clients. See this person getting in touch with you, paying for your service, and getting everything scheduled. Imagine the Zoom call you’ll have together and how exciting it’ll be to chat with this person for the first time. Before you know it, you’ll be watching it all play out in real life.
9. Eliminate Any Obstacles That May Stop Them From Booking You
Another crucial aspect of getting clients for your business is to make it incredibly easy for them to say yes. You don’t want them to stumble upon your sales page and feel “meh” about it all. You want your ideal client to see your offerings and say, “YES! I need this person in my life!” There shouldn’t be any reservation about her taking that next step and hiring you for what you do best.
So, how do you eliminate those obstacles that hold people back? First, make sure your copy is clearly directed to your ideal client. You want her to feel like you’re reading her mind with the words you’ve put on your page. Get inside her head and address the worries and concerns you know are keeping her up at night. Then, tell her how you can make those problems go away.
You also want to add testimonials because people love to see reviews from happy customers. It validates that you’re legit and you’ll do a great job for them too. And finally, you should make it incredibly easy for them to book your service. For my coaching packages, I have a very simple form that people need to fill out and that’s all they have to do to get the ball rolling. It doesn’t get any easier!
10. Always Over-Deliver With Your Work
When you’re running a service-based business, your top priority should be keeping your clients happy. A disappointed client could potentially destroy your reputation online. Or at the very least, it could leave you with a major blow to your self-esteem. Whenever you work with a client, make sure you deliver tremendous results every single time. After all, these clients paid you and they deserve the best.
And guess what? Happy clients are going to be more likely to sing your praises and spread the word about the work you’ve done. I am always thrilled to mention my designer, Kory Woodard, because I’ve worked with her twice now. Both experiences have been great, so I want to send potential clients her way. Keep your customers happy and your business will grow exponentially.