Back in 2019, I started a digital agency. It was small at first, still is, to be honest, but having multiple international clients has to be some sort of achievement right? Hence, I know a thing or two about everything digital. I decided since I have joined Medium, I might as well share everything that I have learned with the Medium family.
Disclaimer: This post is definitely NOT inspired by Tai Lopez or his SMMA courses. (For further reference, Read: The Fake Guru Industry)
How to effectively communicate with clients
One of the things that a lot of us are guilty of, including me, is that we let anxiety take over when we get in touch with a potential client. If you avoid speaking over the phone and prefer communicating via text, back me up a little here. I mean I did that myself as well. As soon as I would generate a lead, I would drop a message and try to keep the conversation over text only. I dreaded speaking over the phone.
However, pretty soon I realized my pitches weren’t working. Something wasn’t right. I was unable to close clients. I could only muster a mere 10% conversion rate. It was then I revaluated my method and decided to try a different approach. I overcame my anxiety, and to my surprise the first call that I had with a client made me forget about how much I hated having conversations over the phone. Once the conversation started flowing, I found myself enjoying every bit of it. And guess what? I closed the client. My conversion rate rose to 60%, and I was the happiest.
Now you must be wondering how the drastic change right? Well, it’s simple. When you speak to a client over the phone you are able to judge a myriad of things. Their tone, mood, personality, attitude, and then you decide on how to carry the conversation. You can even get them to reveal their likes and dislikes so that you can play along. You can be more convincing and exert more authority via call as compared to text. Trust me, people like seeing exuberance, eagerness, and skill proof. No matter how cliched and backward it may sound, people do judge that by the way you talk.
How to effectively build leads
Within the first month of my agency, I had managed to get 3 full clients on board. All of them international. I am in no way a master at building leads, nor am I selling myself here. However, I do have a little experience and would want to share what I have learned.
So well, back to the point, how to effectively build leads. Before I answer that we need to understand what exactly building a lead means. Self-proclaimed digital marketers like to throw around the term ‘Lead Generation’ and make it look condescending and all fancy. I won’t be doing that. Building a lead simply means arousing a consumer’s interest in your product or service. That interest is an opportunity that you ultimately want to secure in order to generate revenue.
When I started out, I did not really know much about building leads. Watching YouTube videos and enrolling in courses did not really help either. To effectively build leads you need to practice the art of it. It is really a trial and error process to see what works for you. And I wish someone had really taught me that. I spent a lot of time doing research and whatnot. 3 common ways of building leads are;
- Email Marketing
- Creating Landing Pages
- Building various Sales Funnels
Also 2 tips. Firstly, join and engage in relevant communities. Facebook and LinkedIn communities are a goldmine you are just sitting on. I discovered this several months after I started, and my leads just shot up ever since. Secondly, always have a customer-first approach. Do not wait for them to show interest in your product or service. Instead, show interest in them and then subtly bring in what you are selling. Consumers love being the center of attention, and I am saying that from experience.
Avoiding Client Scams
When you’ll embark on this beautiful digital journey, there will be a lot of people looking to exploit you, rip you off, or worst scam you. Since you will be fresh into the business, you will be desperate for clients and you won’t be aware of the required due diligence before proceeding with any work.
The first client that I landed, cheated me out of $300. Now that might not sound like a lot of money to you, but from where I come from it is a lot. How did it happen? Well, it had not been very long since I had entered this field, and I was fishing for clients. So when this client approached me I was ecstatic. He told me he would be paying me after I completed my services, to which I agreed. However, to my dismay, once I delivered, the client just blocked me from everywhere and I was left in tears. I learned a few things from this experience;
- Always create contracts with any client that you land
- Take a bit of payment in advance
- If the project is big, divide it into milestones and take payment accordingly. If you are not paid, then do not move ahead to the next deliverable.
- Research your client thoroughly for his background.
Remember, you do not lose a client this way, the client loses you. Build your value and worth, and make sure you sustain it.
You are not an employee of your Client
I see a lot of people falling for this trap, well I did too initially. You need to understand that your clients are your clients, not your employer. They can not order you around, or bend you to their will in any way they see fit. I lost myself and my team to quite an extent to a client once. I would take in orders, work on the hours they wanted me to, and adjust accordingly. This becomes extremely frustrating and you start to resent your work. Not only that, but the work of other clients is also affected as well. Eventually, I realized I had to be more firm and authoritative with my clients. From that point onwards I laid some ground rules that the entire team followed. To this day I have never let another client boss me around.
Your Agency Team
When you build a team or hire people for your agency, remember to bring in Specialists rather than individuals who are Jack of all trades. I initially had a team of 3 people. I made the mistake of not fishing for a diverse skill set. What eventually happened was that when a project required a specific specialist, there was no one to undertake it. Everyone knew everything, but no one was a master in a certain area. That does not like a big deal right now, however, when clients with big projects come in that is when you realize the magnitude of this issue.
Sarim is the founder of PACE Business, which is a startups and business educational website. He is a certified Digital Marketer and works as a Digital Consultant, Content Strategist, and Search Engine Optimization specialist. He is passionate about educating on business and startups, as well as helping small businesses achieve their digital goals. You can find him on Instagram @sarim112 or LinkedIn, or reach out to him at [email protected].