One of the most common questions I hear from business owners and real estate agents is:
“How do I get more clients?”
I see it in Facebook groups. I get it in emails. People ask me in phone calls.
When I read the question online, I want to answer, “Have you tried posting about your business on the thing you’re using to ask me that question?”
If you own a business, sell real estate, or are responsible for bringing business into a company, you need to take on another title.
You have heard of the CEO: Chief Executive Officer.
You have heard of the COO: Chief Operating Officer.
Now meet the CRO: Chief Repeating Officer
The term I learned from Wes and Kristy Mas when discussing being a business owner, but it applies to marketing.
Your job is to repeat yourself.
Over and over and over again.
People Don’t Remember What You Do
A common mis-conception is “my friends and family know what I do”.
The fact is, no. They don’t. You, friends, and family are too busy thinking about their own careers to be thinking about your career. If you don’t remind them what you do, they can and will forget.
But Nobody Wants to Hear About My Job
The other excuse I hear is “My friends and family aren’t interested in what I do.” This is a limiting belief. Sure, your friends and family may not need your services right now, but at some point, they might. More likely, one of them will run into someone who does need your service and can refer you. If they remember what you do. And as you grow in your business, you’re going to make new friends, and if you don’t remind them what you do, they can and will forget.
Basics Before Buying Ads
When someone is asking about getting more clients, inevitably, they ask if they should buy advertising. And buying advertising is not necessarily a bad idea, but just like you must learn to walk before you run, you should make sure you have the basics first.
The basics are having a website. The basics are having your social media set up. Because if you run an ad, most people aren’t going to call right away. They’re going to do a search on your first. Do you pop up on the more popular social media sites? Are their recent posts?
Too many websites and social media pages look abandoned, which gives off the vibes you have gone out of business. Or at least, you don’t take your career very seriously.
The interesting aspect is that if you keep up your social media enough, you may find you do not actually need to purchase advertising. My business grew to 6 figures on social media. Not ads, not paid posts, just free posting.
Must Be Taggable
I know, some of you are rolling your eyes. Social media? Really?
But there is the thing, I see people asking on social media all the time, “Do you know someone who does _____” Inevitably, I do. However, if I have to think about where their phone number is, look it up, and type it out, I might not. If I can just tag them quickly in the post, easy, done. And not only does the person who asked see your name or business, but so does everyone looking at that post.
If people can not easily tag you, then you are making it difficult for people to refer you.
Respond to the Leads You Get
This sounds like common sense. But I am constantly surprised by how many small business owners never respond to leads I send them. I am surprised how many times I have tagged someone on social media, but they never logged in to see it. I’m surprised how many times I’ve called a business, only to hear that their voicemail box is full.
The worst case was several years ago when I wanted to have some work done on my house. I had 10 people come out to take measurements and get the information they needed to make an informed estimate. Out of those 10, only 1 ever got back to me with a quote. And while this may be an extreme example, I have dozens of other examples of when I referred someone and they never followed up on that referral.
If you feel like your business does not have enough leads, perhaps you need to look at how you’re running your business, and not how to get more leads.