Do you have a handful of clients and feel like you’re working well, however, there is room for more?
The work is ticking over for you nicely and you know that you have capacity to do more for others.
That is where you get a little stuck…
What you currently have is great, however, you know that by unlocking the key it will provide you with much more.
You may be asking yourself the question ‘why you are not landing more clients’ and there is one simple reason.
You are not capitalising on what you have at your fingertips.
Your clients.
The handful of clients who you have positive relationships with and you enjoying working with are your main source for growth.
People buy from people they trust.
They are your clients because they like you, you do a good job for them and more importantly, they trust you.
By not utilising your existing clients to the maximum potential, you are wasting a massive opportunity for growth.
There are many ways that your CTA (Call To Action) to your existing clients can take shape.
1. Testimonials
A couple of paragraphs, and probably three maximum, can provide a positive insight into you and your business.
It is not only who you approach that is important.
Asking your ideal existing clients questions allows you to use their answers as a toolkit for your marketing strategy.
When requesting a testimonial from someone, that person needs to be clear in what you are asking of them.
By posing certain questions, it can sharpen a person’s mind so that they write purposefully, allowing for a story to be set.
What led you to bringing on someone to support you and your business?
Why did you choose me over someone else?
What three words would you use to describe how you felt before we began working together?
Again, using three words describe your experience of working with me.
How did you feel now that you do have support?
Who do you think I could best help (who would you recommend me to and why?)
Testimonials can be in both written and video form and it is recommended to have a mixture of both thy can be shared freely on your website, socials, Google and so on.
This way, positive comments are being shared to a wide variety of people in differing ways and therefore reaching a more varied audience.
Using your clients’ words is powerful. People listen to what others think of a person, service or whole round experience.
By being able to quote someone that you work with brings credibility to what you are providing.
2. Recommendations
Word of mouth has always been a powerful means of gaining anything, whether it is credibility, reputation or, as in this case, clients.
The “Know, Like and Trust’ factor is real.
For someone to recommend you, they will have experienced knowing, liking and trusting you.
If they are credible themselves, the people they recommend you to are likely to be receptive to their suggestions that will help them.
Apart from working directly with people (the best way to showcase your knowledge, skills and character), there are other ways to fill a person with confidence in you and your abilities.
Networking is a great way for people to meet you, either in person or online.
The exposure to many people in one place for a given period allows you to project your values and what you can offer in a less formal but business-like environment.
Once again, knowing exactly what you want from any networking event is essential in coming away with something beneficial.
It may not be an immediate result that you get, however, relationship building in a sincere and authentic way allows you to attract your ideal client in a more organic way that is likely to have more longevity in the long run.
Negative commentary about a service, product or experience spreads like wildfire.
I remember being told in my ‘Hospitality Days’ that a dissatisfied customer is likely to badmouth a restaurant to one person, that person tells a further two, those two then tell a further four each, you get the idea, and on it goes…
Whilst it has often been the way that good news travels less quickly, however, this has begun to change and businesses are seeing patrons that have had a positive experience are making their recommendations more widely known, either in person or, quite often, social media which is a huge platform to unlock growth in this way.
3. Direct feedback
Listening is one thing, hearing is another - so we have all heard.
By paying particular attention to feedback, both positive and negative, allows you to really understand all the things that go right for people when they engage with you and your business, and what can be improved upon.
Any learning opportunity like this should never be ignored and can bring a great insight into your strengths and weaknesses and how business growth can be achieved. A previous article on 5 Ways to Grow Your Business covers a range of aspects on this in slightly more depth.
By really hearing the feedback that is received from your existing clients it allows you to truly understand the tried and tested elements of your business.
Provided the feedback is candid (that is, it is truthful and fair), it provides a great opportunity to unlock growth from it.
It is worthwhile noting that if feedback feels critical, whilst it seems negative, provided it is not taken personally, a logical and common sense approach to improve what is needed and worked upon can lead to exceeding the expectations of the person who provided the feedback in the first place.
After all, they took the time to express their opinion and so that is a good thing. It means they see potential in you and your business and they want you to do well. They could have more easily walked away and adopted the ‘tell one person, who will tell two, who will then tell four’ that was covered before.
A negative experience can be quickly turned into a positive one and that largely depends on the reaction and attitude that presents itself when negative feedback is given.
Of course the positive feedback received is encouraging to receive and should be used to maintaining what has been positively commented on, as well as striving for improvement.
Resting on your laurels as a business owner is a dangerous approach to take.
Quite often, as a business owner you seek solutions by new means.
You can often find that you are really busy and fast paced and, although true, you might be spending more time than you need when it comes to unlocking growth.
Thinkers and creators by nature, it is easy for business owners to get wrapped up in forging ahead and trying new ways of doing things and inadvertently missing what is actually there and what you already have.
By delving in to your business as it is now which is working effectively, you will see that your current clients are the key to unlocking the growth you are targeting.
By really tapping into your current clients and finding out how their businesses ran before they engaged with you, what you have been able to help them with and the positive changes that have come from that leads you to being able to confidently demonstrate to your potential clients that you are, indeed, the right person for the job.
If you are ready to unlock growth in your business and require assistance to achieve that, please get in touch.
Anna
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