Clients are the lifeblood of every business. It doesn’t matter whether you’re just getting started or if you’re a seasoned pro. In order to grow, you need consistent, predictable ways of generating leads who then turn into paid clients.
Now, if you’ve made it this far and have read part one and two of this blog, you’re already 99% ahead of your competition. I gotta tell you 99% percent of people won’t have read all 31 Ways To Get More Clients. And if you have, then you’ve got all the information you need to bring more clients into your business starting this week! But information isn’t enough - you’ve gotta take action. So promise me you’re going to review all of them at the end of this blog and then pick one and get started! Just remember - the secret isn’t in doing all of them at once - the secret is in choosing a strategy to attract, build relationships and convert your audience into paying clients and then to work it until it works. When that is working like a well oiled machine - then you can stack on more strategies as you scale. Missed the first part? Read it here. Missed the second part? Read it here.
Here are the final ten ways to get more clients into your business. Let’s jump right in with number 23:
23. BUILD A COMMUNITY
One of the best ways to attract clients is to create an awesome community for your ideal clients to hang out in and connect with like-minded people, learn tips and tools to achieve what they want and see you as a go to expert in your field. There are many platforms to build communities, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups, Clubhouse Clubs and other platforms are all great ways to bring a group of people together. One of the biggest miss-conceptions I see online is that you need a BIG group to be successful in getting clients. It’s not about the size of the group, it’s about how ENGAGED the group is. I booked out my coaching business in a FB group of less than 300 people. And I booked 3 clients on CH in one month hosting rooms of less than 50 people in each room. Focus on being visible, creating genuine connections, sharing incredible value and helping people to get wins before they pay you and your community and influence will grow quickly. And remember - it’s not about the vanity metrics - it’s ALWAYS about the level of CONNECTION and TRUST you’re building!
24. CLUBHOUSE.
Okay so CH is a social media platform. I know I haven't been going into depth on each platform in this blog (You can find that here URL) But CH does deserve some of the client attraction lime light and here's why:
It's new which means you can still work the algorithm instead of it working you. (Seriously, it took me a year to get 200+ people in my FB group and just 2 weeks to get the same number of followers on CH... which rose to 2000+ in 6 weeks...)
It's super fast to build TRUST. People get to listen to you, ask you questions, hear you coach other people. That level of relationship building is out of this world. And is unparalleled on any other platform.
Is CH here to stay? Will the algorithm always be so friendly? Will it be easy to get clients?
Well - I'm no fortune teller. What I do know is: I signed three clients on CH in my first month on the platform and it continued to grow from there. This was 100% a cold audience who had zero connection with me from my other social platforms where I was already established as a kick-ass coach. Aaand of course the algorithm will get harder just like every platform. But right now it's still fast growth, in comparison to other places.
So get on the bus if you love talking and coaching - even for the introverts (Shhhh - I'm one too!)
Oh and, you can connect with me on CH @ToniMcMurray and catch all my live sessions where I drop golden tips, hold free hot-seat coaching and answer your most burning questions. It's the closest you'll ever get to me without being my BFF or a private client...
25. CLUBS & ASSOCIATIONS...
Almost every profession has some form of network or industry association or gathering. Find those clubs and join them. You never know who you might meet. Wait scratch that, you know exactly who you’ll meet. Because most of the people will be your competition and they’ll all be there looking for clients. (Tell me you’ve been to one of those events lol). But here’s the thing, you never know when you might find a great strategic partner… aaand you may get lucky and bump into the ‘perfect’ ideal client.
Networking events can be hard for introvert entrepreneurs (I know, I am one!) but sometimes they bring incredible opportunities. I’ve met some pretty awesome introverted entrepreneurs hanging out at the coffee stand (too shy too mingle), and they’ve ended up being the most incredible people! You’re only one person and one opportunity away from changing your whole life. So go in open minded, and you may come out with more than just a client or two…
One of my clients had been struggling to find clients. She had been going live on social media and doing all the ‘cookie cutter formula’ things. Once we got clear on how she liked to build relationships, she ventured off to an entrepreneur meet-up where she met an awesome wellness coach, who needed help with her copy. Before my client knew it, she wasn’t just writing copy for that coach, she was being referred to that coaches’ clients… and within 4 weeks of that, she had her first $5k month, had repeat clients, and more referrals coming (yessss to work in the pipeline!) And all because she let go of how you’re “supposed” to do it as an online business… and did what she did best - connect with people in person. Now in full transparency, she also landed two additional clients through her other marketing efforts, and those clients also became repeats... and it this combination of things coming together, that resulted in things “finally” working. At the core of everything, was her letting go how it was ‘supposed to happen’ and just doing it in a way that felt good to her... And that’s where the magic really lies…
26. AFFILIATES.
Affiliate marketing is a powerful tool because it’s a way for you to have a sales team working for you, without having to hire permanent employees. Now, there’s definitely a huge benefit to having a sales team. But whether you can’t afford one just yet, or you don’t want one, affiliate marketing can be super powerful when your fans who love your products recommend them to other people. And they keep doing it because they get a commission for every sale they send your way. This can increase your reach exponentially because each of these people have their own circle of influence. They have an audience that trusts them and their opinions and are more likely to buy based on that recommendation than simply searching on the internet. If you’re brand new, think about how you can ask family, friends and clients to sell your products for a commission. All you need is a simple affiliate system to track who sent you the sales and you’re in business. A win for you, a win for your affiliate and a win for your client! Win-win-win!
One key thing to remember: your best affiliates will always be past clients who’ve gotten results working with you or your program and are raving fans! This is because they are so much more connected to the product than someone who is just trying to make a quick buck. Good affiliates are like brand ambassadors. So be sure you’re selecting your affiliates to align with you and your brand!
27. SELLING IN THE DMs
There are many ways to get potential clients to have a conversation with you in the DMs. Some of them feel natural and authentic and make it easy to sell. Some of them feel spammy and just plain bleh… You get to do what feels good to you. Here are three ways to open conversations in the DMs.
1. COLD OUTREACH:
You can identify people you feel are ideal clients and reach out to them. This is similar to cold calling. This often gets a bad rap as being “spammy” and truthfully it can be. Many coaches teach that it’s better to start a conversation by talking about the other person first such as “hey I see you’re a coach, how’d you get into that?” Because they believe that makes it more authentic because you’re making the conversation all about the other person. Problem with this (in my opinion) is that I can tell immediately that you aren’t genuinely interested and you’re pretty much waiting for the first opportunity to sell me. You can immediately tell the difference between someone who’s connecting purely to connect and get to know you better, and someone who's hunting for a sale.
Which is why I prefer you to cut to the chase. If you did your research well, and you truly think I have the problem that you solve, and that you’re the best person to solve it for me. Then pitch me in the DMs. If your pitch is good and that problem is a pain in the ass for me right now, I may bite and want to learn more. If it’s not on point, I’ll probably ignore the message and move on quickly.
I can’t tell you how many times a day I get pitched on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, and 99% I ignore completely. But every now and then someone sides in with a brilliant pitch that speaks exactly to my current problem and their messaging is so on point I’ll go hmm okay, I’ll bite… tell me more.
Thing is, I don’t know them yet, and I’m completely cold, so they have to do a lot of trust building before I’ll consider working with them. So going straight to: wanna book a call… just doesn’t work. You have to know where you’re leading them to next.
You get to decide how you want to do cold outreach. Just remember no matter what strategy you use here - only 3% of your audience is ready to buy at any given point, and people are tired of being spammed daily - so you don’t have long to hook your ideal client.
And if this is your chosen strategy - rejection is part of the game. Be ready for a LOT of it!)
(Personally I prefer to have clients reaching out to me - rather than chasing them.. Kinda the same as dating really! And that’s what powerful content and funnels can do for you! So it’s not my go-to strategy. But it does work really well for some businesses so if it appeals to you, then you do YOU!)
2. ENGAGEMENT BASED:
Here’s a DM strategy I LOVE! It’s all about getting ideal clients to start the conversation. This is a strategy I learnt from the incredible Amy Porterfield and it works like a bomb! Imagine you’re a weight loss coach. You have two freebies. One’s about exercise. One’s about diet. So you post a story asking your audience - what do you need more help with right now? Or what do you want to know more about? This or that… Now when they click on an option, that will show up in your DMs. Which makes it easy to respond with your awesome freebie that will help them with that very challenge! And it makes it easy to follow up and ask more questions about how they found the freebie (was it helpful? do they have any questions, what specifically has them getting stuck…) making it ALL about them and what they’re experiencing… and giving them some quick wins. (Without the schmarmy pretending from the first outreach strategy! Feels so much better doesn’t it?!) And there are plenty of ways to get genuine conversations going in the DMs just like this... Now doesn’t that feel totally genuine and caring? So much better than spamming. And it makes a potential client feel like you actually give a sh*t and CAN help them… which makes it muuuuch easier to offer them a call, or tell them about an upcoming (or current) program that would be a great fit for them!
3. NATURAL CONNECTION:
This is a follow on from what I mentioned earlier. If you’re showing up helping clients in any way - answering questions in the comments in Facebook groups, hanging out in forums, or even giving advice or free coaching on Clubhouse or somewhere similar, and someone has a question you think you can help them with… it makes sense to open up a private conversation in the DMs and to take it further. Get to know more about where they’re at and how you can help.
If someone keeps engaging with your content, reach out to them and thank them, say hi and get to know more about them. Share a resource you have that might be helpful to them. Follow up and check in with them.
Selling is all about relationship building. Authenticity is everything here.
28. LINKEDIN.
LinkedIn is an extremely powerful platform if your ideal client is a corporate client or has a specific occupation. LinkedIn has a premium feature called sales navigator which helps you to laser target your ideal clients by industry, size of company, job title, years of experience etc. It’s a fantastic way to reach out and connect with your ideal client.
That said, many people have jumped onto using this to spam everyone who fits their ideal client profile and that means inboxes are full of junk mail. Which is pretty much the same as cold direct outreach.
So again you have two choices. You can send a bunch of direct outreach in-mails to a bunch of potential clients and see who bites - again 1-3 out of 100 may bite depending on how good your pitch is.
But even better, making the connection, sharing great value in your content, engaging with theirs, sharing resources, positioning yourself as the go-to expert and naturally moving conversations into sales in the DMs… because that creates brand power and makes you the obvious choice. No spamming required. The key is all in the connections. If you’re connected with the right people, they will see your content in their feed. So use the tool to find your ideal clients and them focus on building a relationship and creating multiple touch points with them.
29. LAUNCH A PODCAST
Many people think having a podcast will get them clients. This is true - if you already have followers that you can turn into listeners. Podcasts are fabulous for building trust quickly and can turn those raving fans into clients. Buuut, if you don’t have any listeners and you don’t have a strategy to bring listeners in, then you’ll struggle to get clients from it. Here’s the thing: Blogs and YouTube videos have SEO - which mean if you get your SEO working for you, you can have new people finding your content all the time. Buuuut podcasts don’t have SEO. So you need to pair this with another strategy to bring the initial audience in to listen. E.g. You could include a transcribed blog below the podcast on your website so that SEO will bring people to that page where they discover the podcast. E.g. You build up your email list and direct them to your podcast weekly. E.g. You create pins that push people to your podcast episodes. If you’re just getting started (aka zero people on your email list, zero people in your FB group, zero people engaged on social media) then this isn’t the strategy for you (yet!) Start by focusing on growing an audience (my personal fav - start with growing your email list!) Then, when you that going for you, you can add in a podcast. (You don’t need a big audience, but you do need an audience!) If you’ve already built a small but engaged following on social and email - then a podcast could be the perfect platform to deepen that relationship with them and build a connection through your podcast that positions you as their go-to-expert. They’ll share it with friends, and as your podcast grows, you can get sponsorships and partnerships to keep growing. This is a powerful strategy when you’re ready to scale!
30. WRITE A BOOK
Sooo many entrepreneurs think selling a book makes tons of money. Truthfully, most authors sell less than 5,000 copies of their book in their lifetime. (No, I’m not talking about the JK Rowling’s of the world... I’m talking about your typical ‘expert’ non-fiction book that’s self-published). And if you make $1 per book, you’re not going to be making tons of money… So, why on earth would you spend blood, sweat and tears writing a book? Simple. Having a published book = major credibility. If you have a book, you must have something to say, you must be somebody… Which means your book becomes a powerful marketing tool. Imagine having an Amazon bestseller… that carries serious credibility.
Many coaches and consultants give their books away (yip! That’s the strategy!). Think about it - how many gurus have you seen advertising their book for FREE - just pay for shipping - to get all their insider secrets on a topic. And then when you “buy” the book, you get an upgrade offer - to a course, a program or tool that they have. This is a super POWERFUL funnel for many coaches and consultants in attracting leads and getting new high-ticket clients. It was never just about “writing and selling a book”. It’s about building a sales funnel that attracts, builds trust and converts. And the book is just the front offer in that funnel.
31. PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Relations is all about being featured in the media. This can be in magazines, on popular blogs, on radio, or even on TV. Getting publicity can be a huge game changer. It adds massive credibility to your business and helps you to grow a recognizable brand. It also puts you in front of a larger audience and can help you to scale your business quickly. Features in online magazines also help with SEO for your website as these articles become back links to your website.
To get started with PR, create a list of podcasts, magazines, radio shows etc that share the same ideal client. Research the articles or shows they produce and see where there’s a trending story you could add your voice to or a unique spin on, or see where you could provide value to their audience. Then pitch to be a guest on their show or to do a guest article. Remember - when pitching, it’s never about you - it’s always about them and their audience and how you can serve them. They’re always looking for great content. If you can add value to their audience, it’s much easier for them to say YES.
32. Adds.
Paid ads are the fastest way to reach a big audience. The danger with ads is that if you don’t know who you’re targeting, and you don’t have an irresistible offer, aaand you don’t have your messaging dialed in to clearly communicate that value in a couple seconds, you’ll be burning cash faster than you can say ‘well hey there’
That said, if you’ve already validated your offer, had a few clients and KNOW that your messaging converts well, then paid ads can skyrocket your reach, and bring you a ton of new leads and ultimately more clients. Paid ads are also super powerful in re-targeting the same people making it feel like you’re everywhere because that ideal client keeps seeing your content and ads popping up multiple times.
And we all know it takes multiple touch points with someone before they become a paying client. These days, research is showing that it can take 21+ touch points before someone is willing to become a client. How many touch points are you getting with your potential clients?
33. Follow Up.
In the entrepreneurial world, there’s one thing that all the pros do, that scares the living daylights out of the newbies. (or the been-in-this-a-while, but it’s a continuous sh*t show of searching for clients and praying next month will be a good one!) If you want more predictability and sustainability in your business (And of course clients). Following Up. is. Critical! Especially if you don’t want all your hard work from all the other client attraction strategies to go to waste! I get it, if you’re not following up - it’s either because: You didn’t know you should be doing it. (You should!) Or you’re scared of being too pushy. Too salesy. (Ugh!)
Here’s the thing, only 3% of the market are ready to buy when they first come in contact with you. That means 97% of people are going to turn your offer down the first time.
Which means if you want to have them buy from you, you have to spend time nurturing them and staying visible and top of mind. But going deeper than that, you have to create a personal connection and then KEEP FOLLOWING UP. Notice how I didn’t say, keep hounding them for a sale.
Nope! Not the same thing.
Most people HATE following up because they think it means BUG THEM TIL THEY BUY. NOPE! That’s NOT what it means. You’re not supposed to annoy them, bug them, push them… you don't have to turn into an icky sleazy salesman. You don’t have to stalk them harder than their ex.
Following up IS about:
1. Coaching them through a tough decision (if they have more questions, you’re there to answer them...) 2. Sharing more personal or success stories to help them navigate the fear of investing. (Because let’s be honest. Everyone has a fear of investing - what if it doesn’t work out? What if I can’t get those results because I’m different? What if I make a mistake and lose all my money?) Giving people confidence to invest is key! 3. Asking them if they want your help to get results faster & simpler, with a proven roadmap... and then holding space for them while they work through that… 4. And if someone is a no right now (because hello life! Investments are big deals!) then following up is about: staying top of mind and deepening the connection.
There are SO many ways to do this that show you’re pretty darn awesome, genuine and caring. (No pushy, annoying icky-ness here!) Keep seeing how things are going, share tips, remind them of new opportunities to work with you. Share an inspirational piece of content you created that deals with their exact current issue. Show how you can help them to solve it. Check back in with them in a month. Just say hi. Comment or compliment them in their posts. Be genuine. Show them you truly care. (For reals, not just for the sale) Following up doesn’t only mean emailing them to see if they’ve made a decision yet. (Although you should absolutely do that! It shows you’re excited to work with them!) And if they were hot as hell and then ghosted you, offer to have a call to talk through questions, coach them through their fears. Have a human to human connection, personalize it to them. DO NOT SEND AUTOMATED FOLLOWING-UP MESSAGES that feel like you’re chasing them and are so generic, it feels like you don’t even know what you last spoke about with them. In a world full of people hiding behind the internet, personalization is everything.
And I’ll let you in on a little secret. Most people only follow up once or twice. The good sales people that know they should be following up, they follow up 5-6 times. But most people buy after the 12th interaction (or more!)… which means 90% of your competition is NOT following up.
And when you don’t follow up, but you did all the priming to help someone understand what their real problem is, what they really need, where they should be investing… and they couldn’t invest with you immediately, so you ghosted them (yeah, you were too afraid of seeming pushy that you disappeared off the face of the earth, hoping they’d find you when they were ready!) well, they just found Suzie - and she seems to have the answer too. And they’re ready to invest now. And well Suzie seems to be pretty on fire right now! And you’re nowhere to be seen. So Suzie gets the sale (after you did all the work to get them ready to invest in themselves!) Don’t ghost your potential clients just because they said no to you… or didn’t say anything at all. Stay present. Stay connected.
Want to have clients lined up all year round to work with you? Make following-up your #1 priority.
So there you have it: 31 ways to get more clients for your coaching or creative online business.
Here’s a quick summary:
PART 1 - Newbie… (Foundations)
Niche Down.
Tap Your Network.
Get Visible On Social Media.
Create a Powerful Content Marketing Strategy.
Be The Guru - Answer Questions.
Ask For The Sale.
Host A Challenge.
Free Coaching / Services.
Discovery Calls.
Market Research.
Freebies & Email Marketing.
PART 2 - Intermediate…
Create Long Form Content - Content Loops.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Pin It.
Build A Profit Ladder.
Funnel It.
Optimize For Conversion.
Create A Signature Masterclass.
Guest Appearances On Podcasts, Lives, Blogs… Everywhere!
Host a Live Workshop.
Joint Ventures. (Strategic Partnerships/ Referral Network)Collab Queens.
Waitlist It.
PART 3 - Other...
Build a community (fb)
Clubhouse (Host Rooms On Clubhouse).
Clubs / Associations
Affiliates.
Selling In The DMs - Cold Outreach; Engagement, Connection.
LinkedIn
Write a book.
Podcast.
PR.
Adds.
Follow Up
Tell me: Which ones were your favorite? Which one are you going to implement in your business? Need help getting more clients? Want to create a simple and effective client attraction strategy that fits you and your business? DM me the words MORE CLIENTS.
