The Easiest Way I Know To Get A Client

40 replies
I've been there...

I've cold called (hated it).

Did mailings (pricey).

Hired salespeople (didn't work out)

Left flyers (time consuming)

But when it is all said and done, the easiest way I've found to get clients is to just talk to people. I am not talking about going to friends, or getting referrals, or going to network meetings.

I am talking about going about your regular day and chatting with folks.

Here's what I mean: I went to my local Apple dealer to take care of some business and looked across the parking lot to find a new frozen yogurt place.

I walked in. It was beautiful. It looked like a retro 1960's place with several machines coming out of the wall where you could "self-serve" your own yogurt.

The place was so remarkable, I asked the clerk to talk with the owner. She said he was her brother and that he was at the other store... one town over. I thanked her and went out the door.

Found the other yogurt shop. Asked for the owner, "His sister, Ann, sent me," I mentioned.

The owner came out, we talked for 20 minutes, and the owner said, "We've got to get-together on this!" (He was excited.)

The point here was that I didn't go out that day looking to "Cold call" anyone. I didn't go out to rustle up some business.

I kept my eyes open. I kept my ears tuned in. I kept my mind in gear.

The rest is easy... look for an opening... and take the fruit.

Cheers,

Millard
#client #easiest
  • Profile picture of the author Wendy Jacobson
    Perfect! You never know where your next sale will come from!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jagged
    Originally Posted by MWGrubb58 View Post

    I kept my eyes open. I kept my ears tuned in. I kept my mind in gear.

    The rest is easy... look for an opening... and take the fruit.
    Classic...........I started exactly the same way....just starting conversations with local businesses I deal with on a regular basic....My girlfriends hair stylist for example, my chiropractor or the local sports bar...it's easier to start a conversation if you have some kind of relationship...no matter how small it is....just start talking. Don't just blurt out "do you want a website"...sounds like your selling something, work it into your converation.
    "You have a busienss card?".... From there it opens a lead into..."I see you have a website? Hows that working for you?" or...."I see you don't have a website, we should talk about that someday soon"...

    Great info Millard for the beginner....TY
    ~Ken
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    • Profile picture of the author Ben_R
      Originally Posted by Jagged View Post

      Classic...........I started exactly the same way....just starting conversations with local businesses I deal with on a regular basic....My girlfriends hair stylist for example, my chiropractor or the local sports bar...it's easier to start a conversation if you have some kind of relationship...no matter how small it is....just start talking. Don't just blurt out "do you want a website"...sounds like your selling something, work it into your converation.
      "You have a busienss card?".... From there it opens a lead into..."I see you have a website? Hows that working for you?" or...."I see you don't have a website, we should talk about that someday soon"...

      Great info Millard for the beginner....TY
      ~Ken
      bingo this is exactly the best way and how i landed my first offline web design client - through a long conversation late at night
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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    Just going out and about, I find people almost on a daily basis who need my help.

    Cheers,

    Millard
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  • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
    Excellent post, and totally agree. The quicker you can get a relationship going the better. And don't be afraid to just give stuff away and get out of sales mode. If something takes you a few minutes to do, (like making a video "commercial", I use software called Serious Magic and it literally takes a few minutes to do a professional 1 minute video), then by all means just give it away until you have referrals coming out the wazoo. Nothing beats having a business owner feel that you actually care about helping him be successful.
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  • Profile picture of the author cplace28
    So do you make a video commercial for each client and then what do you do with it? Is it telling them what you can do for them or promoting their business?
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  • Profile picture of the author Not So New
    I agree Millard ... You would be surprised how many people need our services once you get the word out (casually)

    Shawn
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  • Profile picture of the author Qamar
    Can we translate this casual conversation method to cold calling? I mean we call up a targeted prospect and instead of the normal pitching we start the conversation casually trying to see what their problems are and eventually help them with our expertise?


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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    Just calling to shoot the breeze with an owner wouldn't work.... but coming in to talk shop about something the owner would like works for me.

    Millard
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  • Profile picture of the author MaxReferrals
    Spot on. Taking general interest in others during your daily
    life: The gift that keeps on giving.
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  • Profile picture of the author Voasi
    Yup, I agree Millard. Here's a recent example from the last 48 hours...

    Here in Newport Beach, there is a big yacht show that go to every year. We were talking to one of the owners at the show, just shooting the breeze and turns out he has 3 other businesses he runs, along with brokering yachts. We start talking and he's spending $30k/mo. in driving leads (through traditional advertising) to his call center and it's been performing horrible for him.

    He wants to spend that money with our company and drive leads via the internet. Meeting set for Monday.

    Face-to-Face marketing is great and can be VERY effective because the owners can SEE you and HEAR you. Your services are real to them, not just a telemarketer trying to "take" their money with no ROI.

    We're actually trying to scale this with our business right now. Hiring appt. setters and letting our sales rep go and meet business owners face to face. Also trying out making flyers and having reps go and pass them out face to face with the business owner.
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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    Voasi,

    Yep... there is nothing that works better than going out and meeting folks....

    Just look at the numbers at internet marketing vs. face-to-face.... 1000 emails to get 1 sale? How about 5 face-to-face with 4 sales?

    Happens all the time.
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  • Profile picture of the author rushindo
    95% or more of my offline business has come from meeting business owners offline with no intention of selling anything, but taking advantage of an opportunity.

    It's the easiest way I know as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Brands
    Hi Millard, your story light my mind for new opportunity. I met many people in a day but i never think before that they can help me to earn more. really impressive and helpful post. Thanks a lot for sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author danielkanuck
    Along with being a casual talker... you can always let your business card do the talking for you -- in terms of getting sales, getting referrals, and gaining new backend customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    danielkanuck,

    A business card can be effective when used in a few powerful ways. However, if I am going to leave something, I'd rather leave a special report or audio business card. These items have much more impact and position you as a real player.

    Cheers,

    Millard
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    • Profile picture of the author Dr Dan
      Originally Posted by MWGrubb58 View Post

      danielkanuck,

      A business card can be effective when used in a few powerful ways. However, if I am going to leave something, I'd rather leave a special report or audio business card. These items have much more impact and position you as a real player.

      Cheers,

      Millard
      Agreed.

      You can also create a pdf report on marketing their business. You can create your own or buy a PLR, put your name on it and now you are the instant expert.

      Use Lulu to print it out as a book or manual and hand it out for free to the big clients you want to land.

      Offer it at a low cost that just covers your printing and shipping costs.

      Or just offer them the download pdf in exchange for their email to your auto-responder.

      Alot of the times I just sent them an email after talking to them with a link to download the report.


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    • Profile picture of the author danielkanuck
      Originally Posted by MWGrubb58 View Post

      danielkanuck,

      A business card can be effective when used in a few powerful ways. However, if I am going to leave something, I'd rather leave a special report or audio business card. These items have much more impact and position you as a real player.

      Cheers,

      Millard
      Good point. I just assumed that after a 2-3 minute casual conversation, you may want to give the other person your phone number to talk more about the opportunity. But an audio business card sounds good too.
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  • Profile picture of the author neoo28
    It is easy to start if you have some friends who are local business owners. You can start do work for them and they will refer you to their friend.
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  • Profile picture of the author KingOfMusic
    Seeing opportunities with the mind and not the eyes, eh Millard? That's great advice, we just have to be very alert and seeing if we can take advantage of any situation and see how it can affect us, hopefully positively.

    Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Dr Dan
    I forgot to mention that I got that PLR from the War Room from Chris Ramsey for free :-)

    I have been using that for over 1 year now.

    Membership does have its privileges.

    If you are a War Room member you can grab a copy here: http://www.warriorforum.com/war-room...s-looking.html
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  • Profile picture of the author localvseo
    Totally agree. I have found new possible leads this way as well. Another thing that can work is to ask for referrals from the places you regularly go to where you have a good relationship. It's a bit of a hybrid from what you mentioned, but it's not selling them anything, and they most likely come into a lo of other businesses that may need your services that they may know as well as they know you.
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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    I am finding more and more that having a book ( a real, hard-copy) positions you in a place that causes people to chase you... and that is how you get your BEST clients.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Bucker
      Sounds to me like, it's not that this was not a cold call. It may very well me cold calling at its finest. It looked to me as if you cleverly mixed a cold call in with a referral and got your meeting. I call this the everyday mans cold call or the relaxed cold call.

      Be it by accident or on purpose it is affective. If you can do it by accident than it can be much more affective being done on purpose as long as it is done in the a casual non salesmen pitchy nature.

      Now it was not planned that I understand but just maybe this is cold calling at its finest for certain personalities. Face to face has a higher ratio of closes. However, each method has its strengths, thus the reason they exist still.

      Good post!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Alipatinho
    Originally Posted by MWGrubb58 View Post

    I've been there...

    I've cold called (hated it).

    Did mailings (pricey).

    Hired salespeople (didn't work out)

    Left flyers (time consuming)

    But when it is all said and done, the easiest way I've found to get clients is to just talk to people. I am not talking about going to friends, or getting referrals, or going to network meetings.

    I am talking about going about your regular day and chatting with folks.

    Here's what I mean: I went to my local Apple dealer to take care of some business and looked across the parking lot to find a new frozen yogurt place.

    I walked in. It was beautiful. It looked like a retro 1960's place with several machines coming out of the wall where you could "self-serve" your own yogurt.

    The place was so remarkable, I asked the clerk to talk with the owner. She said he was her brother and that he was at the other store... one town over. I thanked her and went out the door.

    Found the other yogurt shop. Asked for the owner, "His sister, Ann, sent me," I mentioned.

    The owner came out, we talked for 20 minutes, and the owner said, "We've got to get-together on this!" (He was excited.)

    The point here was that I didn't go out that day looking to "Cold call" anyone. I didn't go out to rustle up some business.

    I kept my eyes open. I kept my ears tuned in. I kept my mind in gear.

    The rest is easy... look for an opening... and take the fruit.

    Cheers,

    Millard
    Awesome Shtuff!
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  • Profile picture of the author timpears
    Network marketers usually teach this. You talk to everyone you get a chance to talk to. When you are checking out at the store, talk to the next person in line. You never know when the question, 'what do you do' will come up.

    An event I went to in LA some years ago taught us to do similar. Their idea is that you never know who the person you speak to knows. What ever you are looking for in your business, someone you talk to will know someone that can fulfill your needs. So in this case, you will usually meed someone in your daily travels that knows someone that will be very receptive to your offer to build web sites or SEO services. Many multi million dollar deals were consummated at that event. And only because we all made known what we wanted to accomplish, and someone there was always in the know about someone that fit on the other end of that deal, whether as a buyer or seller. My wife had multiple offers of free help.
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    Tim Pears

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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    timpears,

    You hit the nail on the head!

    It is a matter of being friendly and talking to everyone you meet... wherever you go.

    I just prefer to go places that I like to go to or had an interest in... not just go out walking and go into every place I see... To me doing that is cold calling... hoping you will hit it you talk to enough people about your offer.

    You have to be aware of what you want to accomplish, yet, it is not the FIRST thing you present... You present YOU!

    Once you have a conversation, you can ask questions in a friendly way to determine if you have a prospect.... THEN you can run out to the car for an audio business card or report...

    Later you can close the sale, unless you have a VERY STRONG green light to make an appointment to meet in a day or so.

    I made sales in the past coming in cold, but I hated it with a passion. This is much easier.
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    • Profile picture of the author beeswarn
      Originally Posted by MWGrubb58 View Post

      You have to be aware of what you want to accomplish, yet, it is not the FIRST thing you present... You present YOU!
      I want to make a living and build my business year over year. I don't believe that I can do that by moseying around and creeping up on people now and then when they catch my eye.

      I don't believe you can either so show some proof that you do, please.

      Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then, but you can't plan or build on dumb luck, false premises and conflating an exaggerated anecdote with a business plan.
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  • Profile picture of the author RentItNow
    This is my primary source of clients. I would add to it, always be willing to give a bit of free advice but hold back just a bit or make it seem like you are the natural source to carry out a large part of the advice.

    Store owner asks, "whats working RIGHT now?" Tell them finding a headline and offer that works (always works!). How do I do that? Glad you asked, google is offering $75 in free credits and we can test it in about a day or two. I will charge you just a bit for my time and then when we have some solid tests, we can use it for your signs, flyers, etc.....Store owners EAT this up! It is as though you are a marketing god to them. Then they will call you on the phone for the next and next project. Just give a good quote for your work.

    If I approached a business owner and said I do SEO work...forget it! He has 25 people calling him a month telling him/her how they can somehow create more customers for him.
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    I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hugh
    Millard,

    It seems only a very small part of the coming generation will
    know what eye contact and a handshake adds to the business
    relationship. Glad I didn't miss it.

    Hugh
    Signature

    "Never make someone a priority in your life who makes you an option in theirs." Anon.
    "Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon." -- Winston Churchill

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  • Profile picture of the author paul_1
    This works perfectly and there's no pressure...
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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    It's good to see that so many other people are having success with this.

    All you have to do is go out and try it.

    Hugh, I like the way you put it... eye contact and a handshake.

    I'll give you an example of how it works.

    I walked into the local chamber of commerce. I had been there a number of times before and tried to set up deals with NO success. THIS time I went in, asked questions and said that i would be happy to help the chamber promote anything they needed promoting as a way of me giving back to the community.

    It was easy for me to set up a simple Wordpress blog where I promoted a couple of local businesses and promoted the local showcase. Here's is the link for that: Showcase

    Now, when the showcase is held on March 31, I'll be introducing myself as the guy who made a video to help each participant have a great show.

    As a result of my help, the local chamber GAVE me a membership and I am a "Go To" guy for help. Leaves me in a very good position, I'd say.
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    • Profile picture of the author gvsridhar171
      I have seen success in such casual talks almost everyday. When I go out for buying medicines, food parcels at different hotels, pizza restaurants, apparel showrooms and so on, I discuss with the owner. Being their customer, meeting owners is not a difficult job. Then I put forth my business ideas with them. I get atleast 30% conversions if not more.
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    • Profile picture of the author RentItNow
      Man thats going to be a good "in" with a lot of businesses. The only thing I would suggest to fix on that page is a link to your business from the copyright at the bottom or a simple call to action "For more information about local marketing visit...." The chamber would likely get mad at the second option tho. Not sure.

      Originally Posted by MWGrubb58 View Post

      It's good to see that so many other people are having success with this.

      All you have to do is go out and try it.

      Hugh, I like the way you put it... eye contact and a handshake.

      I'll give you an example of how it works.

      I walked into the local chamber of commerce. I had been there a number of times before and tried to set up deals with NO success. THIS time I went in, asked questions and said that i would be happy to help the chamber promote anything they needed promoting as a way of me giving back to the community.

      It was easy for me to set up a simple Wordpress blog where I promoted a couple of local businesses and promoted the local showcase. Here's is the link for that: Showcase

      Now, when the showcase is held on March 31, I'll be introducing myself as the guy who made a video to help each participant have a great show.

      As a result of my help, the local chamber GAVE me a membership and I am a "Go To" guy for help. Leaves me in a very good position, I'd say.
      Signature
      I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.
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    • Profile picture of the author beeswarn
      Originally Posted by MWGrubb58 View Post

      It's good to see that so many other people are having success with this.

      All you have to do is go out and try it.

      Hugh, I like the way you put it... eye contact and a handshake.

      I'll give you an example of how it works.

      I walked into the local chamber of commerce. I had been there a number of times before and tried to set up deals with NO success. THIS time I went in, asked questions and said that i would be happy to help the chamber promote anything they needed promoting as a way of me giving back to the community.

      It was easy for me to set up a simple Wordpress blog where I promoted a couple of local businesses and promoted the local showcase. Here's is the link for that: Showcase

      Now, when the showcase is held on March 31, I'll be introducing myself as the guy who made a video to help each participant have a great show.

      As a result of my help, the local chamber GAVE me a membership and I am a "Go To" guy for help. Leaves me in a very good position, I'd say.
      No proof. Just another story about not earning any money by not doing any prospecting.
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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    beeswarn,

    Thanks for your comments!

    You'll see proof soon enough, however, my job is not to show YOU proof, but make money for my clients...

    I could give you a list, but no matter what I say, you'll probably not believe it.

    Am I trying to sell you something... no.

    You might want to look up my book for magicians called "Outrageous Marketing For Magicians." Written about 10 years ago concerning my career doing shows all over the country, television, and clubs. Let's just say that I have probably been working for myself and making a living longer than you've been alive (Unless you are my age).

    'Nuff said.
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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    Walked into a vitamin store looking for a special herb. Started to talk to the owner... she was a salesperson before owning the vitamin store... we chatted... I suggested a few things....

    Came back a day later and picked up a check.

    Nothing was easier... nothing as simple as this.

    Give it a shot... it'll work for you.
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