Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to spend all your time as a business owner chasing after new clients.
In fact, I highly recommend not doing that!
Look, I get it. As a service provider, its mega tempting to obsess over how to find your next client – where they are, how you can sell to them, what will best serve them, etc…
But all that can get pretty overwhelming, and sometimes not very affective.
The struggle to find new customers or clients is a never-ending uphill battle, friend.
But that’s not to say it can’t or shouldn’t be done at all! And there’s definitely lots of strategies you can implement to make thing go a lot smoother for you.
BUT, in the midst of all this new-client-obsession, I see too often business owners make this one unfortunate mistake:
They forget to nurture their past clients.
Does this scenario sound familar? 👇
You pour all your time and efforts into your marketing strategies to get new clients – and you finally start getting them (yay!)
And you know how to take care of them, making sure your client experience is stellar from start to finish.
The project ends with a client who couldn’t be happier, and a service provider who’s anxious about where their next project will come from.
If this sounds like you, I have a question for you to mull over:
Why are you spending all your time and resources trying to attract new customers, when you could be nurturing the clients who already know and love you?
Take my business for example. While I definitely have marketing strategies in place to help bring in new inquiries, I also know the power of working with past clients!
This is why I’ve implemented specific design services to best serve the clients I’ve already worked with.
And because we’ve already worked together, I already know I love working with them and am familiar with their brand, and they know that they trust my services and love the outcomes! It’s a win-win!
And on average, the odds of a client coming back to you again is much higher than a new client coming to work with you for the first time.
So what exactly are some ways that you can take advantage of this?
- Create new offers: Once I knew that I wanted to start implementing services directly geared towards my past clients, I launched my À La Carte Design Services. This is where clients can come back, after we’ve already done their brand or website, and get those smaller design projects knocked off their to-do list. Not only does this keep a steady flow of work my way, but it’s also a service that is extremely helpful for and loved by my clients!
- Offer new resources: Similar to creating new offers, figure out what kinds of resources your past clients (or marketing audience!) would find helpful, and give it to them! Again, they already are familiar with you and your work, which means they’re more likely to trust that what you’re giving them is going to help them. Create things like e-guides, checklists, tutorials, video archives, and sell them! This way, you can keep helping out your audience and nurturing that relationship, but in a more passive way.
- Create recurring memberships or services: If you want something more consistent and guaranteed, start offering recurring services! This can look different depending on your business type. For example, lots of designers offer monthly website management services, or retainer services for general design related projects. This way, clients can sign up and pay monthly for a set number of hours you allot to work on their design projects. Similarly, you can also create a library of resources where users pay a monthly fee to have access. Lots of ideas can be explored here!
Now, am I saying to throw in the towel when it comes to marketing for new clients? No way!
It’s all about not putting all your eggs into one basket, and diversifying the way you serve your clients.
Want a pro tip to help boost those inquiry submissions? Start a referral program!
This is where you create an incentive for past clients to spread the word about your services.
People trust people – that’s why word-of-mouth marketing is so dang powerful. Use it to your advantage!
If you were a business owner thinking about hiring a website designer, and your business BBF came to you raving about her designer’s services? That goes a long way, doesn’t it?!
If you want more details on how to set up your own referral program, I have a blog post just for you!
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