THERE are no short cuts for building a healthy client roster, but from time to time a programme of commonsense and enterprising steps can help bring in fresh blood without breaking the bank with a huge marketing spend.
Entrepreneur and business coach Sue Clement built an employment agency from scratch into a multi-million dollar enterprise, and is an expert in marketing, sales and customer and client service.
Clement advocates the following seven-step plan to attract new clients. It is based on leveraging the your existing network of contacts.
1. Stagger your pricing to clients
Create a number of packages that fall outside your normal offerings and throw in a tempting bonus. Offer it at an attractive price, and send the offer to your current clients or customers, particularly targeting any and all of your prospects.
2. Check in with your ex-clients
Whether they left you or whether you just drifted apart, catch up with former clients and ask them how things have been going. They may be ready to come back. Even if they’re not, they may know of others whom they could refer to you.
3. Examine past client successes and replicate them
Take a trip down memory lane and jot down how you actually landed your past clients. You may come across people you could contact and resources you could use again.
4. Offer special client incentives for referrals
Offer a reward to anyone who brings you a new customer. Run a contest with a really good prize (a weekend at a spa, dinner for two at a nice restaurant, or an iPhone or an iPod). Make sure there's a minimum number of referrals the winner must have brought in, especially if the price is costly.
5. Go to where your clients are
Where are your ideal clients hanging out? What do they do? Go and join them. And if they have special events or networking, make sure you're there. If you're not sure - ask your current customers.
6. Get the word out to clients
Use social media and press releases to get the word out quickly. Create a tempting "Act now" offer and write articles and press releases to promote it. Use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn or use www.ping.fm to manage them all. Consider placing notices in strategic places, or even placing ads (keep in mind the readers must be narrowly focused to your target prospect) depending on what is appropriate for your business.
7. Make sure you have a client magnet blog
A WordPress blog can be the ultimate tool for client attraction. Be sure to post your offers there, along with highly useful information for your target audience. If you have optimized your blog for your keywords and use articles, social media, and maybe other tools to drive traffic to it, you could get results fast.
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How to market services to clients
Modern client marketing strategies
7-step guide to boosting a client roster
11 Nov 2009
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