In the 30+ years I’ve been in the business of providing professional services, I’ve learned a considerable amount about what works to get clients and make sales. One of my most significant discoveries — which I luckily made early in my self-employment adventure — was that it’s easier to convince people to buy something that seems to be tangible than it is to sell only your intangible services.
Imagine this conversation, between me and a client who’s looking to bring in more business.
Me: What about giving your potential client a quick call?
Client: That’s not really in my lane.
Me: How about grabbing lunch with a colleague you haven’t seen in a while?
Client: They already know me. Not sure what difference that would make.
Me: Could you reach out to some current clients and deepen those relationships?
Client: They hear from me monthly already via my newsletter.
Me: That’s the generic newsletter your assistant sends out, right?
Client: …Yes.
The classic approach to following up with prospective clients brings some challenges with it. You may picture yourself picking up the phone to ask them some version of, “Are you ready to hire me?” Or sending an email or text with the same question. If it’s a potential referral source you’re following up with, the question may become, “Got any referrals for me?” For many self-employed professionals, following up in this way isn’t much fun. In fact, it may feel disagreeable enough that you avoid it entirely.
I often speak to groups of self-employed professionals and creatives about what works and what doesn’t to get clients. We talk about the effectiveness of active, relationship-oriented strategies like networking online and in person, building referral partnerships, speaking to groups of potential clients, and following up persistently with interested prospects.
Let’s call my client Sandy. She was first referred to me by an instructor in the professional training program she was taking. (Hint #1: Develop referral partnerships with other businesses and professionals who serve your audience.) Sandy called me to inquire about becoming a client. (Hint #2: Clients who are referred to you typically result in sales conversations right away.)
When you think about following up, does it seem fun to you, or does it seem more like something you wish you wanted to do? It’s probably not so surprising to learn that following up is something that quite a few of us don’t love doing.
Marie Kondo (author of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up is famous for encouraging you to ask if the things you surround yourself with spark joy. What if you applied this concept to your business marketing?
Have you ever found yourself knowing exactly what you need to do about marketing your business… and then not doing it? You are not alone. Many self-employed professionals and creatives find that the hardest part of marketing isn’t figuring out what to do. What’s hard is actually doing it.
When you look at your marketing to-do list, do many of the items on it look all too familiar? Have entries like “call Dolores Sanchez” and “follow up with Wallingford Corp.” been copied from a previous week? Putting off unappealing tasks may be human nature, but for a self-employed professional, procrastination can be deadly.
Delays in contacting a prospect can lose the business to the competition. Failing to get the word out about an upcoming event may forfeit dozens of opportunities. When prospects don’t hear from you for a while, they forget you exist. Wasted marketing time can never be recovered. By the time you realize you might not make your sales goals for the month, quarter, or year, it may already be too late.
Never underestimate the power of a thank you. I thanked someone a while back for helping me solve a technical problem. She replied to my note of thanks by inviting me as a guest speaker for a group she chairs. I didn’t even know she chaired this group and I had never considered speaking there.
