New clients are the lifeblood of any business.
Without new clients, any successful business or agency owner will tell you that it’s only a matter of time before the business perishes.
As the former CEO of IBM, Thomas Watson, said in the 1940s, “Nothing happens in business until something gets sold.”
As luck would have it, getting new clients also happens to one of the most difficult thing for any business, especially agencies – whether that be a software development, digital marketing, or branding agency.
Since we are an agency and have made millions of dollars for business and clients since launching in December 2017, we are providing this guide to help digital marketing agency owners, managers, and leaders get more new clients.
It is duly noted that you are the one who knows your business best, but we hope these 5 practical strategies & tips help you just a bit.
But first, some words of advice
In medicine, there is a well-known phrase “Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice”. Be sure to diagnose correctly before you apply any remedy. It could certainly be possible that a bigger issue your agency faces is not attracting new clients, but maybe retaining existing clients.
It is of course a colossal waste of time to allocate massive efforts, capital, and resources to generating new clients if many holes are present after the contract is signed (e.g. client wants out after 2 weeks due to lack of initiative or performance, poor communication, no clear path to continuous or retained services, no word of mouth referrals post-engagement, etc.)
Once you have a good grip on your agency business and you know that excellent results will be delivered to the prospective client, only then it is wise to go confidently & aggressively into the market and bring on new clients.
Strategy #1: The 7-Point System
Math, data, and statistics tell us that most customers need to see or hear about a product/service at least 7 times before they buy.
Develop and implement a concrete strategy to roadmap when/how a specific subset of clients will see & hear about your agency, and its services, at least 7 times. (And for goodness sake, no, this does not mean message them on LinkedIn 7 times in a row).
Here is a tip written by Rei Llazani, 50Pros co-founder, on LinkedIn about this topic:
https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:7097604531579957248
Let’s look at a general & hypothetical example, supposing we are a software development studio in Phoenix, Arizona.
Here is what you might do:
- After identifying a nicely operating AC/heating company with a poor booking system, poor website, and poor CRM, reach out to the company owner to introduce yourself. (We’ll talk about proactive sales in the next section).
- This is touchpoint #1: they have seen your agency name.
- The day after the introduction, provide materials to the owner including a link to the website so they can get a chance to see your services, portfolio, and more.
- This is touchpoint #2: they have seen your website.
- Since you have set up pixels on your website, the AC/heater company owner will see your advertisement throughout the next few months when he visits Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook. This is relatively inexpensive compared to general paid ads because you are only targeting users that already visited your website.
- This is touchpoint #3: they have seen your services on social media without you pushing it.
- Showcase your services where you think this prospective client might be browsing. This could include a physical billboard advertisement where you know that the AC company owner is driving through each day, online directory platforms, and an early morning television program that highlights local business owners like yourself.
- This is touchpoint #4: they have seen your brand come up through other reliable sources.
- Time to start selling. Note that several months have passed from the first touch point, so now things are a little warmer. Send an email to the owner saying how you reviewed their website and have a specific solution: A, B, and C that will increase their revenue by at least x2 because what you build will do X, Y, and Z.
- This is touchpoint #5: they have seen what you are willing and capable of doing for them, and a seed has been planted in their mind.
- Through any method, including a direct/personalized email, showcase a recent success story you developed for another AC/heater company and what that did to their business.
- This is touchpoint #6: they have seen the real results you have achieved, and the FOMO may start kicking in if they don’t act asap.
- Send a formal pitch to be a client.
- This is touchpoint #7: they have seen why working with you is a terrific opportunity and will improve their business.
Again, this is an example and the actual touchpoint methods will differ from agency to agency. The point here though is to establish a 7-point system like this one because it simply works if it is done effectively.
Does it usually go this smoothly? Of course not. Many times, you won’t even get a response to touchpoint #1. However, you should experiment with what works best for you and your team. Mix and mingle the arrangement and work out a blueprint that works for you.
Importantly, if you want to scale your agency, build this process “infrastructure” so it can be effectively replicated over and over again by anyone on your team. After all, the true test of a good business is whether it can keep operating successfully after the founder has left.
Strategy #2: Proactive Sales
How do you get prospective clients to talk to you?
Clients need to know three things:
- That you are competent
- That you work hard
- That you care
The simple answer to demonstrating these three things – your competency, discipline to work hard, and the desire/care to work for them – is by putting in the work first and proving it – not with words but with concrete proof.
Invest time upfront in identifying potential weak spots; and provide a unique solution that is not cookie-cutter. And, make an enticing offer as the cherry on top.
The point is for you to do the work, not the client to do the work. That means you should clearly articulate what happens exactly at each step of the process and how they benefit from it.
That is easier said than done, but broadly speaking, a massive objective for an agency is to eliminate any risk in the client’s mind. For instance, if you charge $10,000 for a specific service, your selling technique & messaging should focus on how that $10,000 investment will undoubtedly result in $50,000+ of new revenue for them.
Let’s look at an example of how we might approach a company’s leadership, using the same software development agency example from before:
Hi John, I hope all is well since we’ve last spoken. Would you be open to our team building & implementing a booking system for your company? I ask because the only way right now for your customers to book an appointment for AC repair is by calling the phone number you have on the website, but that usually prevents many people from proceeding (e.g. they drop off & get frustrated waiting on hold). If I needed AC repair for example, I’d probably go with a company that I can book quickly & easily in under 2 minutes.
I’m attaching a deck that shows you what the end result might look like.
We can do it for just $5k. I’ll show you how to manage the bookings too (super easy).
We’d really love to build this for you.
Sincerely,
Example Agency Team
P.S. 65% of websites nowadays are viewed on mobile phones. I mention this because your website on mobile view is super clunky (see screenshot), so we’re happy to clean this up for you while we do the booking system if you’re interested.
Why is this a good example? Simply put, it shows that we have diagnosed the problem and provided a proactive solution. The client is clear about the work you will produce, how it benefits them, and what it will cost them.
Strategy #3: Get Featured on Marketplaces
If we didn’t believe in brokerage two-sided marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers then we wouldn’t include this strategy.
Are they magic pills? For some, yes, but for most – no. Nonetheless, getting on these platforms is one of many touch points you should be utilizing.
These platforms provide more than getting prospective leads, but also third-party credibility and prestige if you get awarded badges for top performance.
Here are the six we recommend getting listed:
- 50Pros
- Clutch
- Breef
- GoodFirms
- Sortlist
- DesignRush
Strategy #4: Partner with SaaS Companies
Software companies love professional service agencies because they often distribute their software to agencies, but also all the agency’s clients.
This relationship is reciprocated by agencies too. If you partner with these software companies, they may be able to funnel new clients to you through their partnership programs.
Here are 10 examples:
- Zapier Partners
- Klaviyo Partners
- HubSpot Partners
- Webflow Partners
- ClickUp Partners
- Salesforce Partners
- Shopify Partners
- Notion Partners
- AWS Partners
- Adobe Partners
Strategy #5: Niche It In
Unless you are a big agency with over 100 employees, your best bet is to “niche in” your services. In other words, avoid saying “We do everything” and begin to carve out a particular niche that you can excel in.
When people hear “niche”, there is an unfortunate connotation with “small breadcrumbs” – we have seen from vast swaths of data that this is not the case. The more you niche in, the greater your returns and profitability as an agency will likely be.
An industry that does this well is the legal industry. Except for big law, you often see niche law firms: divorce, accident & injury, immigration, bankruptcy, etc.
With agencies, carving out a niche can take place in various forms, such as:
- Niching in by industry (e.g. “SEO firm for pharmaceutical companies”)
- Niching in by services (e.g. “White-hat SEO firm”)
- Niching in by geographical region (e.g. “SEO firm in San Francisco”)
- Niching in by target audience (e.g. “SEO firm for nonprofits”)
Of course, you can also combine those niches, but be cautious to not close down your TAM (total available market). For example, “white-hat SEO firm for a pharmaceutical non-profit company in San Francisco” is probably a pretty bad idea.
Pro tip: speaking of SEO, yes, you should have a landing page dedicated to each of these niche services. However, don’t create a 1,000 of a bunch of combinations because then you are going back to saying “We do everything” and clients will be able to smell that out easily.
Closing Thoughts
We hope this guide was helpful!
The #1 tip of all is: to do your absolute best in any project or job. The universal laws of reciprocity will work in your favor.
If you have a question, email us or leave a comment and our team is happy to help.