Work with people who know what you can do

Does finding customers feel a bit like this?

Getting your first clients is always hard.

You need to be able to convince your potential clients that you know what you are doing, that you can deliver, and if it is more than a one off transaction then you also need to convince them that you will remain in existence.

You can spend weeks preparing marketing documents, product brochures, capability statements and fine tuning your website. The only problem is that they are passive tools in your marketing kit – they don’t win the work, you do.

So if you can, instead of trying to convince complete strangers of your abilities go to people who know you and what you can do.

It is likely that you have colleagues who have moved to different companies, old college friends, old friends, relatives, old suppliers or business contacts, etc. Don’t be afraid to ask people you know.

I can give a good example from just last week. A friend of mine is looking to set up a legal based advisory firm and is working out how to market. Given that he just helped win a major litigation case I can think of no one better than the losing party to that lawsuit as potential customer. Think about it, that company was on the receiving end of his work and appreciate in minute detail how good he and his colleagues are at what they do.

Get creative, don’t focus all your time and efforts on documents and get out there and shake the tree.