Whether you are in the beginning stages or years well into your business, you will reach periods where it seems so difficult to get a new client through your door. And while, there could be several factors contributing to this over the long term, the initial reasons why you aren’t attracting a steady flow of customers comes down to one or all of these 3 reasons:

1) Your product/service/offer is not as great as you think or say it is.

2) You aren’t reaching enough people.

3) You aren’t reaching the RIGHT people.

But we’re solution based thinkers, right? So those might be the reasons, but here’s what to do about each.

YOUR PRODUCT:

1) Get, and truly value, feedback from current & past clients.

Asking your clients for honest feedback is the best way to ensure they are experiencing your brand the way you envisioned. It’s the best way to keep a pulse on what needs to be changed, kept, or expanded on.

2) Constantly find new ways to add value, refine it, test it, and improve experience.

You might have a good product, but you can make it great. And if you have a great product, you can make it better. Perfection is impossible, but improvement is eternal. This is where you take the information from your client feedback and utilize it for the good of those who will be using it. What can add to provide more value, but that doesn’t cost you you any extra time or money to do it? If you are committed to providing the best service and product possible, you will end up finding creative ways to make this happen. Test, test, and test again.

3) Focus on results for the client more than the sale itself.

Never lose sight of why you were hired to begin with – for results. Even the family and friends who have hired you in the past want the best results possible. If you pursue results for your clients above else, and achieve them, you will never be short of referrals, and retaining clients.

4) If the product is honestly just bad, abandon it, and start offering the world real value.

This is self-explanatory, but just in case: stop trying to sell people something that doesn’t work, only benefits the seller, or something that you yourself don’t believe in. Don’t underestimate your prospects being able to smell the lack of certainty in a product. If you cannot honestly stand by it, don’t sell it. You will continue to struggle to sell something useless because today’s customers are well informed, savvy, and honestly deserve the best that a business can provide them.

REACHING MORE PEOPLE:

1) Re-visit & remind your low hanging fruit (family, friends, neighbors, people who know you).

These people know you, and may have helped you get started by supporting you through a purchase, word of mouth, etc. But, that doesn’t mean that you stay top of mind when it comes to whatever you do. Don’t be afraid to reach out to all of these people again, reminding them of what you do and asking who they know that could really benefit from a conversation with you.

2) Reach out to at least 20 people a day via text, email, social, networking, etc – all means you have available to you.

You always have at least one of three things: Money, Time or Relationships (connections or a network). If you don’t have the money to invest in assets that can bring you in more clients, and if you are just starting out with no name for yourself or connections, then you will have to leverage your time.

Taking the time through all the free available channels you have will pay off greatly in the long term. Send a message on LinkedIn complimenting someone’s post and saying hello. Start the convo. Reach out to the person you met at a networking event 2 months ago via email or text. Cold call the paint shop down the street from you, introducing yourself and what your company offers.

If you reach out to just 20 people a day, for the next 30 days, you will have made contact with 600 people. Isn’t it reasonable to think that out of those 600 people, a handful would actually welcome a business conversation? Is this the most efficient way? Of course not, because time is your most valuable and non-renewable resource. BUT, time is all you have right now if you have no money or connections, so leverage it until you start helping more clients, thereby increasing your cashflow.

3) Put out intentional content, posts that actually help the clients you’re trying to serve.

You aren’t giving the farm away, but you are helping your potential prospects, your audience, solve little problems along the way. For example, if you sell homes, a great idea instead of just constantly sending your email list mls listings, is to post or email about the “10 Things That Create a Cozier Home for Winter Time”. There is no sale or ask in that post. But if it is November or December, and you send this to your audience, it will actually help the person that has this on their mind already.

Here’s the thing to keep in mind: your prospects, your clients, your audience – they all can find the answers they need through Google, YouTube, or several other resources about ANYTHING. So, even if you don’t provide ideas, thoughts, or answers like this, they will find them anyways. Why not be the source that give it to them? Why not become their go to source about all things insurance, coaching, painting or whatever industry you are currently serving?

4) Paid ads to reach your ideal market at scale (in tandem with your organic content).

If you have the money to invest in running ads to your market, make sure 2 things are as on point as possible: you have your target market dialed in, and you have organic (non-paid) content that speaks directly to that audience you are running ads to.

The last thing you want to do is waste money on ads by trying to cast a wide net thinking you all those eyeballs are actually your ideal clients. If you are paying for it, every dollar counts to reach the right set of eyes.

When someone sees your ad, and is curious but they aren’t ready to buy, they will naturally check our your website or social platforms – here is why having an organic content strategy ahead of time is so important. It serves as reassurance to the person who isn’t sure if you really have what they need.

REACHING THE RIGHT PEOPLE:

1) Research and understand the desires, pains, and questions of your ideal market.

The people who will always be inclined to do business with you the fastest and most confidently, are those who feel like you are speaking directly to them. Knowing all the major concerns and pains that your product or service alleviate for this audience, and speaking about it constantly, builds up trust with this core demographic.

2)  Put content out that joins the conversation already going on in their head.

Think back to a time where you searched for something on Facebook, Google, or YouTube. You typed in a phrase, and the result that caught your eye immediately was the one that matched your phrase/thought, and then spoke about the very things (not thing, but things) that have been running through your head for the past week or month.

Your reaction was something along the lines of, “This is EXACTLY what I was looking for,” or “They are speaking directly to me.”

3) Look at patterns & similarities that exist between recent or past clients where both of you had a phenomenal experience.

If you have already had a few clients, think of the ones who truly had a great experience with you and your business. You had a great experience with them as well – they were easy to get along with, they appreciated you, they paid your rates with no question, they fully trusted you, they referred others to you, etc. In most cases, this is what would be considered a typical businesses’ ideal client.

That client – what age was he, what did they do for work, what interests do they have, what specific things does she consider important in life, and on and on.

If there are more than one, look at similarities they share. They might be in their upper 50s, married, living in Nashville, Tn, with a heavy interest in bass fishing, and are fans of baseball. Start there. This is how you start making it easier to narrow in on an actual target audience, as opposed to speaking to people who don’t actually want to hear from you.

4) Use an organized & efficient digital strategy to really hone in on your qualified market, where they are, and the best way to deliver your message.

Once you have honed in who your ideal audience is – the people that would love to work with you, can afford your rates, etc. – now you need to make sure they see, hear and read about you in all the places they live online. Do these people live on Facebook or Instagram? Do they prefer to read or consume videos?

This is where a valid and efficient strategy comes in – gets you clear on what your brand and business represents, which matches up your values to your ideal client, which points to where your brand message should be delivered, and how it should be delivered (video, photos, text, etc).

Hopefully, this has been helpful and has pointed you in the direction of action. Just a reminder: 

NOTHING beats the work, so be patient, spend the time it takes to learn all of this, or invest in a brand & marketing strategy.

Once you have your strategy, IMPLEMENT THE STRATEGY.