5 Surprising Places To Get New Clients

Does marketing really have to be such a struggle? Not according to my friend & colleague Samantha Hartley. She says that the most important thing is to share your marketing message – a clear communication of your benefits, across all your brand touchpoints. Doing that will get you clients in the most surprising places…

“Word-of-mouth brings in the most people.” That’s what my client Katie, who owns a dog training and daycare business, told me during our first meeting. She continued: “We’ve hardly done any marketing at all. You’d be amazed at how many see the sign on my car and come by!”

Actually, I wasn’t amazed.

Katie does a lot of marketing without realizing it.

Most people don’t realize that your marketing message – a clear communication of your benefits – can and should be working for you to get you clients across all your brand touchpoints.

What are brand touchpoints?

Let me give you a hint. Here are two of them we just saw:

• A carefully worded sign on the car, and
• The words people use when they gush about your service to their friends 🙂

Brand touchpoints are all the places your potential clients see your message. Many business owners, entrepreneurs & coaches miss out on opportunities to let their message get them clients because:

1.       They are unclear about what to say or write, and
2.       They don’t put it in all the places potential clients could see it.

Three things make your marketing message irresistible to your Perfect Clients

Your marketing message – sometimes called an elevator pitch or self-introduction – should contain

• a description of your ideal client,
• the problems they’re dealing with and
• the results you get for them.

When crafted with specificity and compelling language, it can get attention in seconds.

You already know your self-intro or “elevator pitch” can be used during networking (read this post about 6 Key Factors for Successful Networking). But is it getting clients for you in these places, too?

5 Surprising Places to Get New Clients

1. Referrals.
   While a sign on your car might not be the best way to attract clients to your coaching business, my client Katie’s other source of clients, word-of-mouth or referrals, is a big one for coaches & entrepreneurs as well. Read this post with 7 tips to get more referrals.To get referrals, you not only have to ask for them. You also must share your message – a version of the same one I described above, that “self-intro.” Tell those who could send you referrals exactly who would be a good fit for you by naming the benefits those referred by them will receive.

2. Your voicemail.
   Instead of the boring “leave me a message” voicemail, record your self-intro. I’ve had a number of callers remark, “Oh, I was calling to tell you your order is ready, but I think I need to talk to you about getting your help with my business!”

3. Email signature.
   How many emails do you send and reply to every day? Instead of an inspiring quote or links to your every online location, share your concise, clear message about whom you help, their challenges and the results you get them. Link to your freebie sign-up, strategy session application or other desired next step for them.

5. Social Media.
   The interesting trap in social media is that people share so much content that they forget the simplest thing: to answer your followers’ main question, what do you do – and for whom?
   I once tried to get this information from someone I wanted to hire because her Facebook posts intrigued me; but alas, I could not find out what exactly she did and if she could help me.Contrast that with my client Shayla. She made one small change to her LinkedIn profile after working on her message with me, and voila! The very next day she was contacted by someone who became her client.
6. Your proposals, agreements and contracts.
   When bidding on a project or making an agreement with a potential client, it’s critical to remind them of the value they’re investing in. If you think of proposals as dull legal documents, you may not see many of them approved. Decision time is the best time to remind a client that their big challenge is the center of your skill set.

Samantha Hartley of Enlightened Marketing works with socially-responsible experts and entrepreneurs who are fed up with lack of clients, too many rotten apples or peaks and valleys in their revenues.

She helps them create Jaw-dropping, Client-getting Messages™, and offers effective marketing techniques that align with their values. As a result, Samantha’s clients routinely fill their practices with perfect clients, including some 6- and 7-figure contracts. They also raise prices 30-800% and, of course, start to enjoy their businesses more.

Before starting her business, Samantha worked in international marketing for The Coca-Cola Company in Russia and Atlanta headquarters. She lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her husband and three furry children.