When it comes to finding clients, it is important to know who your target audience is. What type of projects you would be willing to take on, and most importantly what types of projects would you be most excited to work on?
This process of figuring out what you want your business to look like doesn’t happen over night. You may have started your business with an idea of what you want to do, but as you start working with different types of people, on different types of projects, you will find these preferences.
I personally started Quill and Co. after taking on a project for a friend. So when I first started I took whatever projects I could get, not really sure what I wanted to focus on, or even realizing that I had the option to only take on projects that interested me. But that all changed when I started researching and understanding brand strategy. My ah-ha moment of THIS is what I want to do, what I am good at, and what excites me. After working with many different types of people, industries, and styles, I also came to find my target audience.
Once you figure out what it is you want to do and who you want to work with is when you can start to attract clients, but man does that take a long time to achieve.
Don’t become discouraged when people don’t come knocking on your door immediately, it takes time for you to make a name for yourself in order for clients to find you. So how do you go about getting the attention of this target audience that you know you want to work with when you haven’t exactly been targeting them yet?
Danial Mall has an amazing analogy that has forever changed how I see the search for clients as we strive to become that ‘go to’ person within your niche. This analogy is, as I refer to it: ‘magnets vs. archaeologist’ and can be found detailed in this article.
There are two types of ways to search for clients, there are magnets and there are archaeologists. What does this mean?
“Archaeologists survey for years to find the right digging sites, then spend more years carefully excavating.”
“Magnets draw all metal in the surrounding area to them. When you become one of the best in the world at what you do, you draw great clients to you.”
As I was mentioning, when just starting out clients don’t often just show up on your door step. You’ve got to go digging to find the people that you want to work with.
Once you’ve put in the effort to position yourself as an expert, people will start to recognize you, refer you, and respect you.
Obviously, to become the best in the world takes a lot of time…probably a lifetime.
So if you are short on time, or just starting out, become an archaeologist.
“For those of us who are still on our way to becoming magnets, we must dig to find good clients. Archaeologists survey for years to find the right digging sites, then spend more years carefully excavating.” – Daniel Mall
Your hard work of digging and testing the soil in multiple areas will pay off, so continue finding new sites as you search for your gold mine.
If you are ready to start planning to work with your dream clients check out this blog post. Ensure that you nail all your sales calls by checking out this blog post.