How to attract clients in a new business?

[Joratk]

I'm started a new venture offering a professional service to businesses, I've been doing this service myself on previous projects for the last couple of years and so am well versed in how to do it well. There aren't many competitors, especially in my area, and it's an expanding market so I think I'm getting in at the right time.

All of this looks to be favourable, however, I currently only have my previous projects listed on my website's portfolio, and no real testimonials etc. Are there any things I can do to appear more professional/attractive to future/first clients? Would it be off putting to yourselves to come across a business that has what appears to be no real prior experience (despite this not being the case)? As above, it's good in that they can't exactly go running to a multitude of other companies, but I suppose that still may be a factor.

[twoblacklines]

If in doubt...blag it, so I have been told.

As for attracting clients, paid traffic lead generation.

[DSLiverpool]

Not enough meat in this to realistically advise but as an old guru once told me
"Leverage your contacts" get what you can from what you have.
And dare I say BNI / chamber of commerce?

[HoHoHo]

98% of sales are based on emotion and people buy from people.

Pick up the phone and call people, that's what I have done throughout my career and it's a tried and tested way of increasing sales in any industry.

When I started my business 20 years ago by myself I spent hours making lists of potential clients at night and phoning them during the day, every day. I was operating from a stty little rented bedroom whilst going through a divorce pretending to be working from a lovely shiny factory and life was rosy as you like. I had a website and tried to think of ways to help increase revenue.

for example I had printed some very high quality product labels produced that were stuck to every display system that went out of the door. Each label had our company details and a barcode and as a result clients wouldn't remove the label as they assumed it was important. What they didn't know was I had 10,000 labels with the same barcode on However, as a result of that little trick we picked up BSM and M&S for example which amounted to £200,000 worth of revenue and really good margins each year for some years

If you're the right man with the right produce at the right price (and don't confuse 'right price' with 'cheap'!) you stand a good chance of getting work - being clever and thinking out of the box occasionally also helps

[Jockman]

DSLiverpool said:

"Leverage your contacts" get what you can from what you have.

Good Advice. Just try not to make the leveraging too obvious.

Sow seeds and accept that not all will come to you on the first contact. Multiple contact points are essential.

[anonymous-user]

twoblacklines said:

If in doubt...blag it, so I have been told.

As for attracting clients, paid traffic lead generation.

Not a bad start.

And you have a chance of some free advertising here - what is it you do?

[Jockman]

HoHoHo said:

98% of sales are based on emotion and people buy from people.

The other 2% must be Amazon then

So long as product, price and service are all in the same ball park I always go for the supplier I like, I get on with, I connect with etc.

[blindswelledrat]

Joratk said:

I'm started a new venture offering a professional service to businesses, I've been doing this service myself on previous projects for the last couple of years and so am well versed in how to do it well. There aren't many competitors, especially in my area, and it's an expanding market so I think I'm getting in at the right time.

All of this looks to be favourable, however, I currently only have my previous projects listed on my website's portfolio, and no real testimonials etc. Are there any things I can do to appear more professional/attractive to future/first clients? Would it be off putting to yourselves to come across a business that has what appears to be no real prior experience (despite this not being the case)? As above, it's good in that they can't exactly go running to a multitude of other companies, but I suppose that still may be a factor.

Where are these clients going to come from?
Are you targeting business purely via your website?

[twoblacklines]

desolate said:

Not a bad start.

And you have a chance of some free advertising here - what is it you do?

I don't need any advertising, which is ironic because what I do is...advertising lol... in the form of lead gen.

The problem with using phones to find leads is without anyone doing lead gen for you you have no way of knowing if those people fit your demographic. Therefore you lose time with every non converting person.

This is 2016... use Facebook ads not phones!