Well let's see. The easiest, cheapest, most cost effective way would be cold calling.

You can send emails as well.

You have direct mail campaigns.

You can warm call after you send your mailings. Remember to always follow up with your prospects.

You can walk in their place of business and give away a flyer/business card, or even a quick presentation or set up an appointment.

Postcards.

Host a free seminar where you'll give out tons of content on why business owners need social media integration in their business and how it'll benefit them. Show them the "what" and a little bit of the "how". Then close with your offer.

Work with a business owner that has business owners as clients (accountant, lawyer, financial planner, priniting shop, restaurant owner). For free if positsible, or for a low investment. Only with the condition that if they're satisfied with your services, they'll send an endorsement letter to their list, promoting your services.

Networking, meetups.
That's all I have on the top of my head. Good luck!

The best place to start is with 'warm leads'. These are the people you know, and referrals from them to people they know.

If you haven't sold before just know that it may take you 'multiple touches' to close sales. In other words, you are going to have to use multiple tactics to get clients -- cold calling(phone), cold calling(walk-ins), mailings, emails. The cheapest way to get started cold is by telephone. Just do a search here on the Warrior Forum for telephone scripts you can tweak to fit your personality. Put together a letter and info to mail to your prospects. I used to mail first and then follow-up with a phone call. You may want to take a day and call businesses you want to target by just getting the name of the person who makes decisions regarding purchasing your services, tell the gatekeeper you just want to mail them information.

Confession -- sometimes I wouldn't send the mail, but I would call ask for john smith (decision maker) and when they got on the phone I would tell them I was following up on information I had mailed to them. When they said they didn't get it, I would say "are you sure you didn't round file it?" Most would feel guilty because they would think to themselves that's probably what they did and would give me time to talk with(sell them). Some would request it be re-sent, which I would do. Mailing can be quite expensive, so no, I didn't always send mail.

Since the economy is so bad, many businesses have turned to telemarketing, so it can sometimes be difficult to get through to decision makers, just because of the sheer number of calls they are getting these days. So be prepared to go out an sell face to face, cold call.

You can make lots of money in your new venture, if you haven't sold before it could be slow going at first, but the more you do it the better you get, the more sales you make, the more $$$.

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR THE MONEY. This is the one thing many in this forum seem to be afraid to do, they want to give away too much. I wonder how much the businesses they are trying to sell to are giving away to their customers?

Don't be afraid to walk away from a sale if you think it's not a good match, some clients are more trouble than they are worth. As a general rule, the more they spend the less problem they are. Most of your problem clients will be the ones who spend the least. This is not always true, but it is in many cases.

These are just a few tips. You can do this. Now go and Prosper.

Hello:

I would echo digichick.

Perhaps if you are gun shy about cold calling, see if you can join a local networking group like BNI.

Also, you will want to see what your Chamber of Commerce has to offer.

I might also add that an old book by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley called Networking With Millionaires is relevant.

The fastest way to build an Alliance with someone who is already in touch with Business Owners.

Thanks,
CT

You can hire some cold callers from odesk or fiverr and give them a list after searching yellow pages or free telephone directories.
Another option is using email marketing and mobile/sms marketing.

Thes WSOs are excellent for scripts and other offline sales info.:

Super Power Scripts -- this will save you untold hours of trying to figure out what to say

Power Mailers -- this will save you from the inevitable writers block you will get trying to write sale letters and mailers.

Remember time is money and both of these WSOs will save you time so that you can earn more money.

I am not an affiliate, but I know quality sales help when I see it, this is it. If you can afford to get this do so.

This type of training, anywhere but the WF, would cost you thousands of dollars. Don't believe me just Google sales training and you'll see the real courses are very expensive.

Business networking meetings are a good place to start. I do a lot of these myself and have met a few social media consultants/ business advisors who do very well!

Why would you use any other method besides social media to find customers because that's what you are purporting to be at expert yes?

People like to buy from people they trust so a key is to leverage the trust others have with their networks of friends, family, church, social service organizations, etc and use it to generate referrals and new business.

Here's a quick overview of the process:

• Start by writing a list of 100 people you know. Do not try to filter the list at all, just start writing.
• Select the top 20 names who may need your services or know of a person or organization that may need your service.
• Send out a letter to all 100 people on your list announcing your new business. Don't try to sell but list benefits you offer. Add a PS in the letter that you'd appreciate their passing your name along to anybody who may be looking for the benefits.
• Go back to the list of top 20 and call them and ask if they'd do you a favor
• The favor is to help you with your new business. You say you respect their opinion and would appreciate it if they'd be willing to take 30 minutes or so to listen as you rehearse your sales presentation and be willing to give you honest feedback. By the way, it's best if you do rehearse your presentation, it will dramatically improve your confidence and success rate.
• Set the appointments.
• Make the presentations and get the feedback. If the person is interested in your services, then it should be somewhat obvious and you can see how you may help them solve their problems/issues and get the sale.
• Describe your ideal client client to them - Type of business, size, niche, etc. and ask who they know that may fit that description. If you've done some homework on them you may even ask if they could introduce you to specific people
• Thank them graciously for their time.
• Follow up with a thank you card that you mail the same day you meet with them.

This strategy is extremely effective and will open more doors than you thought possible. I used it to start my business and have coached several clients through the same process and it always works.

Good luck!!

Word of mouth seems to get the word out, social proof, referrals etc. Adwords/fb ads help a bit.

Economy is so bad right now I can only advice to pitch your best services to folks looking for them. All the rest (well, not all, but...) is like hitting a wall.

If you have the budget do some Adwords campaigns directed to "buy" keywords.

Let's start at the beginning. I see posts like this a lot. I just started a business, now what?

Clearly having a skill, be it web design, seo, or slicing bread, is not a business. By the same token, having a fax, phone, logo, website, desk and a coffee mug with your name on it is also not a business. What you have is "stuff" and "stuff" is not a business.

Of course you have no clients, how could you?

You say you decided to start a social media firm. Now what?

You don't have a business because you don't have a plan. I can only base a response to your request based on what you provided as information and all I know is you have some "stuff" and that's about it.

So before this thread becomes a battleground of cold calling vs. email vs. direct mail vs knocking on doors....and before people start recommending outsourcing for appointment setters, how about you clarify what it is your business is.

1. Just what is social media? I know it's Facebook and Twitter and whatever else but so what? What's your version of social media? Fan pages? Are you going to set up a Twitter account for me?

Right now, social media means nothing to me. What would you say to me if you walked in my office? Would you say hi, I have a social media business? What would you expect me to say to that? All that comes to mind for me to say would be, "what's your point"?

2. Hopefully you spent a minute to define what your business is. Now, what's it going to do for me? Is it something that can work for everybody? Are you the Burger King of Social Media and any one can have it their way?

In other words, just who is your market and why are they your market?

There's still more you'll need to define before you can say you've started a business. But until you do, starting a thread the way you have, by providing the information you've given is not going to do anyone any good.

I don't mean to sound nasty about this, but you're calling on people to share their knowledge, experience, and time, in order to help you and I don't see how anyone can provide you with information that would be relevant at this point.

I suggest starting with businesses/places that you regularly go to. Your dentist, hair salon, fav restaurant, etc. I find its much easier to sell to businesses that you actually like and genuinely want to help.

Well I knew he meant social media marketing and management.

Savvymanager should have graced us with a little more of his/her time for their very first post and actually had the decency to provide a little more info to go on, instead of simply expecting some fantastic answers to a very brief, "Hi, I'm here, I've started a social media business, now help me get clients".

How about, "who are ya?", what are you trying to achieve, are you doing this full time or limited (like so many of us) by a job as well? What is it like in your local area? Large, small, people use FB, don't know what it is? Oh, you're setting up internationally?

The OP got a lot more value from some of the responders than their first post warranted.

Apologies if you found me to sound harsh, I'm definitely not that way inclined. What I meant though, is that a post asking for help finding clients warranted a bit more explanation from you. That's what I'd do anyway. Fair enough?

David,

Despite the OP remarks towards you, I have noticed that you seem to be a little disillusioned with the forum lately.

What's going on bro.

@David: Seriously?? I would NEVER insult anyone and I'm not being defensive. I only asked a question. If I needed to elaborate, no problem. I'm sorry if you felt insulted but you were being rude and mean. It's not necessary to be that way. I joined the forum for help not anguish. I thought we were all professionals

Ma'am, that takes one hell of a lot of nerve for someone with 7 posts to their credit.

Don't repeat that mistake.


Paul

@Paul & Rus: only one mistake was made on my part and this is it! Businesses fail everyday big and small so don't be too confident about yours. The fact that I'm new here is irrelevant. My blessings come from a higher power and HE is the only one that can judge!

Always gotta be the hardass, doncha?

There are a lot of great recommendations here - I think you should try as many as possible, as some things that work for one may not work for another ... also, remember to live and breathe reaching out to your potential customers all the time and they will definitely come.

If you come to the understanding that there is hard work involved, and it is not just like where people are going to lining up somewhere to get your services, you will surely do well as you steadily build your clientele.

Good luck!

If you want to grow your business quickly, you're going to have to talk with people.

I have some Free training videos about this.

Direct mail is expensive and slow.

Email campaigns are also expensive and slow.

Learning how to call effectively is the quickest and easiest method of finding great clients.

I would think that if you were to join and perhaps attend various functions that your local Chamber of Commerce puts on, you would be face to face with many prospects.

I would further narrow your prospects to "Older" business people as they would likely not be very internet savvy, much less active in arenas such as Facebook.

An old established business owner has most likely heard about things like FB, and maybe even stays awake a night wondering what he or she is missing by not tapping into that market.

So, start with the businesses that have been around for a while, who knows, maybe you will receive a much more warmer welcome than you would anticipate.

Hope that gets your creative juices flowing.

Aside from the OPs behavior there are some good posts on using your extended network to get in front of prospects. Thanks! (Not hatin' savvy, and neither was anyone else. I suggest you reread any posts you object to with the understanding that they were trying to help you. Our business model is hurt by people who offer their services based on faith and not much more. BTW, it would not surprise anyone here if Max and you were one and the same. Stay tuned... I'll assume for the moment that you are not and wish Good luck to you and God bless

Thanks also to David and others in here that remind us to have a clear business plan and be prepared.

Are you going to use your systems to help your clients to get new customers?

If so why are you not using your systems to get clients for yourself.

We tell our clients that our systems will get them new customers and then use those very same systems to get our clients.

Just saying

Quentin

Hi Quentin, you bring up a good point indeed and that's exactly what I've been doing! Landing my first client has proven to be more difficult than I thought. I've been using every social platform available, from social media marketing to email marketing (I just sent an email campaign out last week to ALL my friends and family), to chatting with local businesses, cold calling is now on the list, I just hired 2 on Odesk, to help me out with appointment setting and cold calling (thanks to the members here for the suggestion). I'm hopeful that change is coming soon. I have a high school reunion coming up and I'm very excited about the potential networking possibilities that will be there.

How did you land your first paying client? I ask this because I'm finding that people expect you to work pro bono when you are a new firm. Was that ever an issue for you?

Thanks for the feedback! Happy Sunday!! God bless!

Why are you planning on waiting 2 weeks??

All the inertia will have fallen off by then!

Get on it after 2 days! Tops!

I'd be asking "Do you know anyone who could use these services?" Referrals will be easier to get than sales.

Thanks! I'm on it!!

As stated before people buy from those they know like and trust.
Warming up your prospects is the most important first step either viA mailings, which can get expensive, or having someone else introduce you socially, much greater chance of success since social proof is involved.

Remember, small to medium sized businesses are bombarded daily with someone saying they are a social media, or internet expert. You need to stand out from the crowd to get their business.

When you focus on warming up your prospects and then getting them to like you, then you can go for the sale. Don't be the cheapest, it is easier to give a discount now then raise your prices later.