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How to find clients as a creative agency
Finding clients can feel like a daunting task.
If you’re constantly sending out emails, reaching out to prospects, and putting yourself out there, it can be discouraging when you’re not landing clients.
It’s also frustrating what you book with clients who aren’t your target market, aren’t willing to pay what you charge, or micro-manage your project.
So, how do you find clients that pay what you charge, respect your time, and have work that you actually want to do?
Two ways.
The first, find your niche.
The second, is never assume.
Find your niche.
Knowing what your niche is will help you know who to target with your marketing, who to reach out to, and what type of work you actually want to do.
Just because you work for yourself doesn’t mean you need to say yes to every opportunity that arises.
When you know what your niche is, you can better determine what project is going to help you grow, and where your passions line.
Define niche.
A niche is your specialization.
Your niche is going to give you clarity and direction on what types of projects you do, what types of people you work with, and who you’re trying to reach.
Your niche should be specific and should fill a need. It’s the area that your business focuses on that are specific to your target market. Learn more about niching in this article.
Once you have your niche, how do you land clients?
One of the most important things is to be curious and ask questions.
Put on your listening ears and ask you potential client questions. Try to determine if and how you can help them. Listen to their needs, ask follow-up questions, and be engaged.
You can do this on a call or via a chat like email or their dms. It’s important that they’re doing more talking than you are.
If you’re talking more, then it’s an indication that you’re not listening to what their needs are.
Your questions will help you avoid assumptions and ensure that you’re addressing their needs.
You should never assume that a client can’t afford you, that they don’t need your services, or that they do or don’t want to work with you. Rather than making assumptions, I encourage you to ask questions to gauge their seriousness, to understand their hesitations, and to learn more about how you can best support them.
Put yourself in their shoes.
Are you going to want to work with someone who is constantly jumping to conclusions and isn’t listening? Or are you going to want to work with someone who is putting in the effort to truly understand your needs?
Of course you’re going to choose the person who is listening and shows that they want to actually know your business.
How does niching and listening help you land clients?
When you niche your business, you’ll attract potential people who are looking for exactly what you offer. This will help you ensure that you’re not wasting your time on clients you can’t support or don’t want to work with.
Once you know that you’re talking to someone in your niche, you can spend time listening to them to understand their needs. This is going to help you know if you’ll be a benefit to this client, and it will help them trust you.
These two things could transform your ability to land clients who you’re actually excited to work with.
Learn more.
I’m a UK business coach who is passionate about helping creatives like you find your niche and land those high-ticket clients. I want your business to thrive, and I want you to find purpose in what you do.
If you’re interested in working with me, visit my website.
Are you being ghosted by your potential clients?
Picture this: you’ve connected with your dream client. You had a wonderful initial meeting with them, and now you’re waiting to hear back if they want to move forward with you and your services.
You send them a follow-up message asking when you can expect to hear from them.
Nothing.
You send them an email touching base.
Crickets.
Now, you’re left with this sinking feeling that you scared them away.
You maybe thinking, “Have I been ghosted?”
But what if I told you that you weren’t ghosted?
What if I told you that you can shift your mindset to better understand why your potential client isn’t responding, and that can help you know how to move forward?
Before we get into that, let’s define what ghosting is.
Ghosting is when someone disappears on you – it’s normally in the context of two people chatting, and then one person *poof* vanishes.
This term is often used in things like online dating, but it’s also relevant in business.
There’s something so disheartening about feeling like you’re going to secure a contract for your creative agency online to realize that you haven’t heard back from the client in longer than you expected.
Though I understand the concept of ghosting, and I know that it happens, I don’t like the term.
I think that when we focus on being “ghosted” we’re quick to feel like we can’t do anything to get a response, and that we’ve done something wrong to deserve the silent treatment.
But here’s the thing, there are many reasons why a potential client may go quiet.
They maybe too courteous to answer.
They maybe too embarrassed to answer.
They may not want to say no, but feel like they have to.
They may have something going on in their personal life.
The list goes on.
It’s also important to recognize that you may have impacted why the client went quiet.
You may not have created a safe space for the client to answer.
You may have not set proper expectations.
You may have made it unclear what the next steps are.
The list goes on.
Rather than focusing on “woe is me, I’ve been ghosted.” I think it’s important to shift the narrative to “I’m waiting for a response.”
As a business coach in the UK, I often hear about how people are disappointed because they’ve been ghosted by a dream client. But, I think that negative mindset closes you off to potential opportunity.
Instead, I encourage you to be in a posture of patience where you are waiting for a response.
Don’t judge or exclude a potential client for not responding as fast as you would like.
Be gracious with your follow-ups, recognizing that there may be more to their side of things than you understand.
Interested in learning more?
I recognize that it can be challenging to shift your mindset and approach sales with a sense of positivity, but it can be incredibly impacting on your business.
As a business coach, I help people reframe their mindsets and find confidence in sales.
You don’t need to feel awkward and embarrassed about following up, facing rejection, handling objections, and other things related to sales.
You can thrive on a sales call, and thrive in the follow-up.
