I’m happy to answer this question, but one thing to ask yourself first is “do you really want more clients or do you want more income?” The two are not the same. If you want more income, I’d advise finding bigger clients, not a larger volume of clients. It much easier to make money with large clients than it is with a lots of smaller clients.
If, however, you really want more clients there are a few strategies you can use that will make finding them easier.
#1: Clone Your Top 20 Clients
Go to your CRM or database and pull a list of your best clients. Those are the ones who have spent the most with you, most recently. If you don’t have a database, then make a list of the top 20 clients that you can remember.
#2: Find Commonalities
Once you have your list of top clients, ask yourself what they have in common. Are they in similar industries, are they similar sizes, did they come from a particular prospecting method? Really dig deep and look for clues about common denominators. Imagine you’re a detective trying to figure out a common thread.
Where are they similar? Vertical market? Pain points? Stage of growth?
#3: Focus on a Targeted List
>Now you have a basic profile of your best prospects. Plan out your sales strategy focusing only on prospects that fit this profile. It will be much easier to make sales when you are focused on a set of prospects that are similar to sales you’ve already made.
#4: Automate Follow Up
To get started, write out your sales process, step-by-step, from first call to follow up email to next contact, etc.
Take a look at your process and see which steps you could set up in an automated email program like Contact Monkey, MadMimi, or Constant Contact — or marketing automation software like Infusionsoft. Having these steps ready to go whenever you want will free you up to focus on the parts of the process that demand more of you, such as making appointments.
As part of this strategy, you can think about outsourcing administrative tasks such as paperwork and proposal writing. There are great resources such as PandaDoc (create, track, and sign documents online) and Zirtual (by-the-hour virtual assistants).
There are other strategies for increasing the number of clients you have but these are very, very effective. Try them first, and let me know about your success with either strategy!
