If you’re a woman of color or ally that runs your own business, then you have likely worried about having a consistent flow of clients coming into your business. You know it’s not as easy as handing someone a business card and getting a phone call the next day.
As business owners, we all dream of having an endless waitlist of clients jumping to work with us so that we don’t have to fret about endless launches and constantly marketing ourselves on social media to find our next paying client.
Here I’m sharing my top 3 strategies for getting consistent clients in your business.
Track your numbers
Numbers aren’t everything. They don’t define us, but they do tell you where you are currently and what you can do to change the future.
In order for money to consistently come to you, you first have to look at where you stand now. Avoiding your current numbers means you’re in the dark on what to focus on. As I like to say, what you measure manifests.
Create a ritual around checking in with your numbers on a regular basis. For me, I actual have “Generational Wealth Dates” with my money by playing Mr. Bear’s Budget Bangers (a spotify playlist with 1990s and 200s Hip Hop), lighting a candle, having a picture of me and my grandmothers next to me, and creating an enjoyable space where I can set time aside every Monday to look at my business data. (I talk more about this on this episode of the Color Your Dreams Podcast!)
What numbers should you track? Not to be overwhelming but…everything! Where are your clients coming from? What is your current income vs expenses? How many clients do you need to sign to reach your next income goal? If you’re utilizing email marketing, what are your typical email open rates and what links are they clicking on? How often is your sales funnel converting? What topics are getting the most clicks?
Asking yourself these questions will help you find an awareness and a strategy for what works, and understand your client acquisition. If there’s a clear trend in your numbers that you like, you know to keep focusing on that. If there are numbers that scare you, now you know what to make a plan to solve. And when it comes to scaling your business, it’s about focusing on what works to offer your services.
Embrace tracking your numbers in your business and don’t let them scare you.
Understand your client journey
If you want consistent clients, you have to understand your current client journey.
In case you don’t know, your client journey is the process of moving someone from a lead to a paying client (and hopefully a renewal in the future).
If you expect to find and convert new clients, you should have a thorough understanding of the following:
1. Where are your clients first finding you? Maybe it’s via Facebook Ads, Youtube, search engines, doing a guest post or word of mouth. Not sure? Return to #1 and get started tracking your numbers!
2. What are the touch points before they convert to a paying client? How often and in what ways do leads engage with you or your content in order to sign on to working with you? This could be a sales call, listening to your podcast, or reading your weekly newsletters. Are these touch points easily accessible to your leads? Are they free or does a lead need to invest something to build trust with you?
3. What is your signature offer and who is your ideal client? If the people that are finding your work and consuming your content aren’t your ideal clients or don’t fit into your signature program, then you likely need to do some target market research to better understand how to connect to your target audience and market your business.
Having an awareness of your client journey allows you to focus on what’s working, add more efficient touch points, and convert leads more effectively so you can find clients that are ready to work with you.
Be great at what you do!
At the end of the day, there’s no way around needing to have a stellar service and client results to back it up. Social proof from paying clients is still the best way to demonstrate your work and build trust with potential clients. If you have client case studies to share or examples of top-notch client work, don’t be shy! Leads want to see the work that you do, how you do it, and the results you help your clients achieve.
Don’t have any current social proof? Ask a couple of your best past or current clients for a testimonial! If they love working with you, they’ll want to support you and providing a brief testimonial is an easy way to do so.
If you would like further support in your career, business, or leadership, my team and I would love to support you in creating a sustainable life! You can schedule a 30-minute legacy business or career review call with me to see if it’s a good fit to work together, and you’ll receive 3 action-items from me.
