Young entrepreneurs battle to get clients, let alone keeping them. The problem is that young entrepreneurs are brimming with new ideas, modern skill sets, and a strong work ethic. But bigger suppliers have sewn up tight deals with larger companies. So where do young entrepreneurs go to? They have to deal with small businesses who have understandably tight budgets and can only pay them very little.
In this post I want to talk about getting clients. If you look on the internet, social media and even in books on getting clients, you’ll find that it’s made to sound easy. Well, it isn’t. It’s hard. Saying this to young entrepreneurs is easy. They are told to chase after this client and that client. They are told to try new ideas. But, who has to do all the hard work? The young entrepreneur, that’s who. I suppose it’s like this for many small businesses who struggle with their services.
Some businesses, like plumbers, electricians, roof repairers, and contractors, have long waiting lists. But, in the slow months, it’s not like that. They’re battling to get new clients. There’s no secret or magic to getting clients. You must find potential clients. Then, you pitch your product or service to them. It may sound oversimplified, but at the risk of oversimplification, let’s say that that is the key focus. Now, systems require you to contact 100 people, and if your success rate is 2%, you will strike it lucky with 2 people who may be interested in your product or service and may become customers. The odds are low. How do you reach that? How do you raise those odds? You need a magic wand to make it happen easily. I don’t want to sound negative, but unless you’ve got something that everybody wants, it’s going to be hard. Simple as that.
It’s a difficult thing to say, but a young entrepreneur needs to hassle and hassle to get clients. It’s not the stuff that they teach you in school. It doesn’t sound fancy. But, for most people, it’s what they’ll have to do unless they’ve inherited wealth.
Learn how to write pitching messages on social media.
Next, network locally.
Attend community events.
Join local business groups.
Hand out business cards.
Talk to people about what you do. Face-to-face connections can lead to new clients.
It’s not easy, but persistence pays off. The more you do this, the better you will get at it. You’ll also start to be more creative about it.
Cold-calling or knocking on strangers’ doors is not liked by many. But it can work. You need to get yourself into the right mindset. It’s still a numbers game. But, it can be more fruitful than the problems on social media. I know of one young man, a solopreneur. He started by going to every restaurant he could find to get and keep clients for his product. He prefers independent restaurants. Chains have their own suppliers for the product he sells. He’s been able to build up a large base of clients in the area where he lives.
That’s enough of this.
Here’s my offer:
I helped Samantha (her real name is not given due to confidentiality). I helped her find her first clients. Now, she’s successful. Do you want help to find clients? Type “get clients” in the comments or DM me and we can set up a time to chat.
