Every new business struggles to land the first client. I asked the TPE community the strategies they have used to land their first client. From using their church as a reference, to giving away some services for free, to a trick you can do with job-ads, here are strategies you can use to land your first client:
1. Aeiou
How To Land The First Client: AEIOU means Ask Educators In Our Universities. When looking for business we can go to our local colleges and universities and seek opportunities. Faculty are connected to influential leaders in the business community. There are also business incubation programs and small business development centers near college campuses. I received my first contract while in college becuase I asked my professor if she would do business with me.
How To Land The First Client: Don’t be afraid to do a full or partial barter for your first client.
If there is a prospect whose services you can use, don’t be afraid to approach them with a barter option to work together.
If you can’t barter directly, there are many barter exchange programs that you can use… just do a quick Google search for and you will see dozens of sponsored links offering the services.
How To Land The First Client: After we created our first product, we needed retailers to sell it.
We did what most entrepreneurs do – we went “door-to-door” pitching the game to store managers and the like.
It wasn’t pleasant.
Finally, at a popular Broadway retailer, we sensed strong interest. To close the deal, we offered our product on consignment. Bingo! With no risk, he store manager agreed.
It will work for you too. Offer your products on consignment.
How To Land The First Client: Productization is the positioning and differentiation of a service to simplify the purchase decision for clients. It involves the isolation and bundling of distinct units of work and packaging them in such a way as to highlight a value proposition. Steps include:
1. Identify a problem your services can resolve
2. Document your methodology
3. Identify required units of work
4. Assemble your product so that units of work are linked directly to delivered value
How To Land The First Client: My one best tip to land your first customer is, to not tell them they’re your first customer! People don’t like to be the first (= feel like guinea pigs). You’re an expert in your field (that’s why you’re in business) and that’s what matters.
I started my business right out of school. Never told any one I was just starting. I convinced myself I was an expert and acted like that. My very first client is still with me after 5 years of weekly appointments.
How To Land The First Client: When starting my company, I searched the job postings in our newspaper. Even though the ads were to fill employee positions, I would contact each potential client and tell them how much money I could save them by being an independent contractor instead of their employee. Not only did I land my first client this way, but several others as well!
How To Land The First Client: Tell everyone you know that you are starting a business because is a good chance someone will have a friend that is in need of your services.
How To Land The First Client: Give your product/service away to friends or neighbors, and make sure there is the potential for repeat business or a way to enhance the ’sale’. Pitch it so it sounds like a trade with your client: you’re building up your client list or working out the kinks in your distribution system etc. When I started my portrait photography business, I offered free “portfolio building” sessions to parents at my son’s preschool. 80% of those preschool parents bought something even after getting free
How To Land The First Client: The success of your business venture and a major boost to your confidence is nabbing that very first client! When you go to the initial meeting, you will be “hungry” for that business on so many levels. Channel that “hunger” into enthusiasm and a strong desire to show that you can do the job. If you can demonstrate enthusiasm, they will also get excited about working with you. Since they will be your first client, there is an assumption that your rates will be lower so accommodate that as well.
How To Land The First Client: For me, my first customer was a very good friend. We sent emails out to all our friends and family advising our online store, MyPacifier.com. was now up and running. Our product is fairly inexpensive, so we had no trouble with friends buying personalized pacifiers for the babies in their lives. Having the pacifiers in their cute little mouths was great advertising for us.
How To Land The First Client: No matter what you’re selling, relationships built via proactive and active networking and marketing as early as possible will accelerate your path to that first customer. As soon as you think you want to start a business, start marketing – even if it means just starting a blog, a newsletter, or getting more aggressive with LinkedIn. The sooner people know about you, what you do, and how it can help them, the sooner you’ll make that first sale.
How To Land The First Client: I’m a shy person, and I really hate making sales calls for my business, but I’ve started to overcome this by using a perception shift away from “I’m going to make a sale” to “I’m solving something in someone else’s life.” My drive comes from the passion of why I started my business in the first place: To provide customers with the absolute best.
How To Land The First Client: There is nothing harder than landing your first customer and what’s even harder is when that customer is somebody’s grandma or loved one.
I have been an entrepreneur for years and the best way to get your foot in the door is by taking out all the RISK. As a new company, customers see you as “risky” because your product or service hasn’t been vetted by other consumers in the marketplace. They don’t want to be the “first.”
How To Land The First Client: When I came back to consulting last August after 3 years of full time out of town work and then getting married, I had a new name/brand to build. In order to do that I took on some pro-bono projects so people could see that I still had it in the LA PR space despite being away awhile and having a new name. I was able to get great coverage for my free clients so soon I was getting reccos for new business and closed my first 2 real clients in November. Also take lots of people out to lunch!
How To Land The First Client: There is a special bond with a first client that loves your product enough to send you a personal letter in the mail. A simple newsletter email to a website visitor prompted customer response for the information and entertainment within the book desired for a passion we shared. I share that same passion with every client; albeit printed or text ad, website or radio listener. Share the passion and you will make friends for life.
How To Land The First Client: The best way to land a new client is to develop a great relationship with him/her! The secret is that you may not know that the person is your first client. When starting out, promote yourself with passion and enthusiasm and consider that your first client could come from anywhere! Be willing to create value without accepting pay to gain experience and confidence.
How To Land The First Client: I am at a career fair/health fair where there are many people milling around. rnrnThe client appears and I focus on them, smiling like Farrah. “I’ve a special treasure for you”.rnrnI place my index finger lightly on their forearm while placing my business card, REVERSED, onto the palm of their hand. The DIAMOND STUD glistens as they read the words on the card.rnrn”I hope you don’t mind my giving you this DIAMOND of an opportunity to work with someone who wants to work with you”.
How To Land The First Client: It’s your potential first client. Make sure you demonstrate the multiple ways that you can help affect their business, even if you only start with one service or work with one business unit. In that way they will see you as a long-term, multi-faceted partner with whom they can expand their business relationship in the future. While in these meetings, be a great listener. You never really close the deal; what you want is to cultivate a trustworthy, long-term, mutually valuable engagement.
How To Land The First Client: I have landed all my clients through networking – my professional association, local face-to-face networks, other professional associations. It’s the fastest and surest way to land your first client.
How To Land The First Client: My one best tip to bring in your first client is to get out there and let people know who you are and what service or product you offer. Social networking through technology may be a way to reach a lot of people, but to get your very first client — I think in-person real meetings are the way to go. Set up a lunch meeting with a potential client, drop by their store, or attend events where you know your target clients will be. Introduce yourself, have fun, and make a lasting personal connection.
How To Land The First Client: rnOne of the best ways to land your first client is to take a project from your current (or a former) employer with you. My freelance career grew from a small contract from my past employer. The amount was enough to get me through the first couple of months of my new business and the credibility of having an established business contract with me helped me land other clients. Obviously, this tip won’t work for everyone, but I know many self-employed individuals who have used it successfully.
How To Land The First Client: To land your first client quickly, start by deciding exactly who you’re after. Compile a list of the top 20 to 25 ideal clients you would most love to have and target them first. Send an introductory letter or gift and follow up with a phone call to create awareness. Find out what they want to accomplish and let them know how you can help them accomplish it. Sell to the interested and disqualify the uninterested as quickly as possible. This allows you to build your IDEAL client base proactively
How To Land The First Client: Need a new client fast? Try Barter. You need a client that can give testimonials for your website, marketing materials, etc, and usually, they need the services or products you provide, but don’t have the money to pay for them.
A barter arrangement can work for both of you!
Tip: Lay out the expectations of what you expect with the barter arrangement from the beginning so everyone knows what they must deliver!
Barter can and will make a difference for your business immed
How To Land The First Client: Send a free report. This is a free study of your product/service with an irresistible offer sent by mail, email or both. In it you turn anything negative in your industry into a positive with the spot light on you! Offer something free that will grab your customer’s attention. Make it compelling by adding testimonials and adding a list of reasons why YOU should be chosen and not your competition. Your customer will then know you are serious because you know your industry, product and service.
How To Land The First Client: 1) Listen with great (and I mean great) interest. People buy from those they like & trust. Build the bond w/listening.
2) Customers buy to relieve their pain or to meet/fill growth challenge. Find it and sell to it.
3) Offer a money back guarantee on something specific. Client asked me “What if I think your work didn’t meet our needs?” I replied, “As we communicate along the way, I will know it and fix it. Just communicate with me. If I don’t fix it, you don’t pay. Period.”
How To Land The First Client: Does anything give you more reassurance than a guarantee? Well the same is true for your potential clients. And this applies whether it’s your first client or your 101st client. The best guarantee is one that promises results; what they can expect from your services. In this day and age potential customers are almost expecting a guarantee so give them a solid, bold guarantee that takes the fear out of signing up with you. Do this and you will be seen as a credible business person.
How To Land The First Client: Landing your first paying client! It’s better than chocolate cake.
At first, I worked pro bono, but only for a month. Inside, I knew I was worth the fee I’d be asking.
After posting a flier about my coaching services, a colleague called. She was a top exec in a big company. I gave her a free (but high value) session, then quoted my rates. She immediately said yes.
The insider secret? Act as if, even when you aren’t initially charging for your services.
How To Land The First Client: My first client came on board because of the energy and enthusiasm I brought to our first meeting. I knew I had to be excited about what I had to offer in order for her to believe what I could do for her organization. She could see the passion I had for my business, and it was contagious. I smiled; I spoke with energy; and I had a list of all of the ways that I could help her employees. She hired me the day of that first meeting. And later, she told me that my enthusiasm is what convinced her.
How To Land The First Client: Identity your target market. Get contact info from internet. Call the contact and let them know you will be contacting them with info about your product. Verify address. Send a short letter introducing yourself and your product. If possible send a demo of your product. Offer friendly terms, free shipping, no minimum quantities, 60 days same as cash. Follow up two weeks later. We must have sent over 1000 letters/demos our first week in business. Now we’re getting instead of giving!
How To Land The First Client: I have found the most effective approach to getting new clients is face time. Cold calling is stale, in my opinion, so I put on my heels and walk in unannouced to the prospective client’s office to get face time. I offer a free service initially, whether it be one hour of free consulting or one hour off a job, to get the ball rolling. I keep it short as I know they did not expect my visit. I recommend this approach to any business owner.
How To Land The First Client: Listening to the customer allows you to gather information and insight whether the customer intended to share it or not. “Listening between the lines” if you will, gives you a great opportunity, if you take it. The customer can be telling you exactly what they need without you having to ask them. Your job? Listen carefully. Not only will you gather some great information, but it might give you insight into offering the customer the “right” thing.
How To Land The First Client: SIMPLE – To obtain your first client, dramatically discount your services and post an ad in an online network like Craiglist describing what you do. If your price is lower than all your competitors, you are guaranteed to receive that first client. Prove yourself by giving that customer a high quality service or product and it will lead to more clients
How To Land The First Client: As a new entrepreneur, we can find ourselves developing our business in a vacuum. When starting out, many of use will leave out one very important task in their business launch checklist . . . telling our family and friends that we are starting a business.
What we don’t realize is that we have people who trust us dearly that want to buy from us. So if you are looking for that first customer, tell your family and friends that you are open for business. They just might be your first customer.
How To Land The First Client: Make it easy on yourself and hit up your family and friends first! You will feel more confident pitching people you already have established relationships with and in turn will be able to practice making “the sale.” Most likely you will be successful in making that first sale (they are your family and friends after all) which will be a nice confidence booster. You can also gather their testimonials which will help you establish credibility when going after those next sales.
How To Land The First Client: In the beginning someone told me that I needed to have a client, to get a client. Inspiring, right? Landing the first client wasn’t about research or a complex prospect list. I simply approached one of my favorite local businesses, an independent restaurant. I believed in their product, knew what made them great, and most importantly expressed a genuine interest in serving them. In offering a slice of my service for free (a marketing audit), we gained confidence and credibility as a company.
How To Land The First Client: Often when launching a new business or service we focus on finding the right new market when our best market is right behind us! “Reaching back” to those with whom you already have creditability, is a very effective way to gain your first client and the positive momentum you are looking for to leap your new venture forward. Make your list of previous employers, colleagues, suppliers and customers. Reach out and ask for a sale or a referral and fully enjoy the power of your relationships!
How To Land The First Client: Service providers can give away their service to a qualified potential customer (a.k.a. prospect) with these two conditions:
1. Secure a written testimony
2. Secure 3 qualified referrals from the delighted client
Of course, this presumes the client is satisfied with the results that your service delivered.
How To Land The First Client: One the most direct and least expensive ways to generate new business is to simply call prospective customers. Identify the value and outcomes that you provide to customers then target your market by identifying which companies need those specific outcomes. Figure out how you will introduce yourself and talk about your offer. Make sure to lead with the value. Be clear about the goal of your call – it often isn’t to make a sale, but it is to “sell” a face to face meeting.
How To Land The First Client: For the first event I ever ran, the first client came from someone else’s existing client base. I hired a non-competing expert to do some work previously, and we had built a good relationship. She then approached me with the idea of running a joint event where we both bring people to a retreat at my resort. We agreed that she would lecture, I would supply the accommodations at cost, and we’d split the profits.
By partnering she brought in her clients and I brought in mind, and it resulted in a us both gaining new clients. It’s the perfect way to “take” someone else’s client.
How To Land The First Client: When building a brand, it is important to always be the face of the brand while out in public. Whenever I am out and about, I am wearing one of my company’s signature tees.
The day I landed the Nordstrom deal was no different except it was one of my volunteer mom’s wearing her favorite tee. A sales associated approached her and asked where she got the shirt. The rest is history.
How To Land The First Client: Join forums that relate to your industry, including those run by professional organizations to which you belong.
Ask questions.
Answer questions.
Share your experience and build relationships with other business owners. Share your knowledge of your niche. Help other solve problems with the skills you possess.
People refer prospective clients to those with whom they have relationships.
How To Land The First Client: I highly recommend the mindset of personal R&D (Research & Development). Take an attitude of “learning and testing on the job” to build your credits, credibility, and confidence. Approach contacts by saying you’re in R&D mode and would love to work with them to test out the solution/methods you’re developing. Offer to do a specific project–paid or unpaid–for the credit and a possible testimonial. You can quickly refine your focus, niche, and pricing based on real results. A win-win.
How To Land The First Client: Before attempting to land that first customer, line up some “clients” to whom you have provided goods or services at no charge. Non-profits always appreciate pro bono goods and services. Call schools, churches, charities and offer to help.
In return, ask them if you can use them as references. Then, when you approach that first real client, you’ll have many satisfied “customers” to point to.
How To Land The First Client: To stand out in a crowded marketplace from day one you want to position you and your firm as a resource and the experts at what you do. Yes, even if you are brand new. The simple way to do that is to provide value to the market place before you ask people to hire you, use value-based marketing.rnrnTeach a webinar, a teleclass, give away a free e-book, host a seminar with valuable info. that your potential clients need and are looking for. You will be amazed at how many clients you will gain.
How To Land The First Client: Immediately under your nose you might find your lips, then chin and then rest of your body, but just beyond that you’ll find your first customer. Whatever business you’re in your customers are going to have to know, like and trust you, so why not start with the people who already fit the bill (pun intended)…the people you currently have relationships with. Reach out to them with special friends and family deals and let the customers and referrals start rolling in.
How To Land The First Client: I learned this from Robert Allen, 11-12 years ago,… What is your name? Well, register it as a domain name…
Chances are that there are some people – somewhere in the world- that share your name. Ultimately you will come across other entrepreneurs with the same name as yours, and it can strike up some business opportunities.
How To Land The First Client: I think it’s much easier to attract the first client if your are known for a specialized expertise. When you specialize you become the go-too expert for a specific thing. Narrow your business develop focus to the one thing that matters most to you and serves your clients success. When you position yourself as the expert, you are positioned to solve problems that a generalist can not. In this way, your first client will seek you out… which is way more fun than selling someone on hiring you.
Wow, some great ideas here! I think many of these ideas will be good for regular selling too not just for landing the first client.
Mike Michalowicz Says:
September 1st, 2009
@Kyle – Thanks for clarifying that. Yes, I agree!
- Mike
Colleen Says:
September 1st, 2009
1. READY
2. FIRE
3. AIM
Ricardo Bueno Says:
September 1st, 2009
You know Mike, landing the first one can often be difficult but boy does it feel good when you do and the project is completed successfully! It gives you THAT much more confidence to move onto the next one, then the next one, then the next one…
EC (Lisa) Stewart Says:
September 2nd, 2009
@Ricardo -I agree.
I will continue ask the same questions as though they are my first customer because one can never be certain of the answer -and that just adds to the knowledge base!
September 1st, 2009
Wow, some great ideas here! I think many of these ideas will be good for regular selling too not just for landing the first client.
September 1st, 2009
@Kyle – Thanks for clarifying that. Yes, I agree!
- Mike
September 1st, 2009
1. READY
2. FIRE
3. AIM
September 1st, 2009
You know Mike, landing the first one can often be difficult but boy does it feel good when you do and the project is completed successfully! It gives you THAT much more confidence to move onto the next one, then the next one, then the next one…
September 2nd, 2009
@Ricardo -I agree.
I will continue ask the same questions as though they are my first customer because one can never be certain of the answer -and that just adds to the knowledge base!