How To Get More Customers For Your Digital Reseller Website

How To Get More Customers For Your Digital Reseller Website

At Resellerbiz.online, I’ve helped hundreds of people start their own reseller websites in order to start their own online businesses.

For the purpose of this article, I want to display one of many of my reseller websites, let's say you bought this reseller website offering web design services and you want to know how to get customers.

First, what is the advantage of a reseller website as your online business?

Quick and easy business already set up to earn proceeds: you get everything you need to start reselling immediately, including a dedicated supplier, marketing plan, training, and ongoing support.

Profits: If you put in the work, reselling can be extremely profitable.

• Sell an Extensive Number of Reseller Products or Digital Services
• Launch Your Business Sooner
• Carry no Inventory
• Expand Into Other Verticals Easily
• Lower Time Commitment
• Lower Financial Risk
• Able to Set Your Own Margins

A common question that lots of people have is how to get customers to buy on their reseller website.

Facebook groups 

As you probably know, there are a lot of different Facebook groups.

The best part? Some of these groups are full of your ideal clients. 

By using the search function, you can find groups of people who are interested in what you offer. 

For example:

As a Webmaster, Business Coach, and Digital Creator, I find groups about Starting an Online Business, Dropshipping Groups, or Home Business Groups. 

You need to choose, follow, and join 3-5 Facebook groups and start adding value to your own posts by commenting on other people’s posts. 

These are typically groups where people may not have a website and may be currently selling offline. For example search on Facebook for:

FREE Market for Small Businesses UK or Small business owners/entrepreneurs

Find groups where you think your potential customers are hanging out, reach out to them, offer value in the group, educate them and be part of their network.

 

Twitter 

Twitter is another strategy you can use to get more clients.

 But: Not so much by posting on the platform. Instead, take these steps on a daily basis:

Search for a keyword in your niche in the “search” function on Twitter. 

For example: “Small Business Owner” "Update my website" "Website Down Help"

When you scroll through the feed, you’ll find people who may need your web design services. Bingo! Now, all you have to do is engage and offer your services. 

 

Visit your local Chamber of Commerce 

If your clients are business owners, a GREAT way to find them is to visit your local Chamber of Commerce. Chances are that it organises events on a regular basis. 

But instead of showing up and handing out your business card, take a more strategic approach by incentivising people to learn more about your services.

How? For example, if you’re a web designer, you could offer to take a look at their website and give specific tips on how to improve it. You can end your review with something like this: “Did you find this valuable?” And when they say yes, you can follow up with: “In the next few months, you could get [results].

Would you be interested in speaking more about how we can work together?”

 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the perfect platform to find other business owners or professionals. 

As with Facebook groups, post engaging content and be helpful.

 

Your Network 

Great news: You might already have clients in your network.

All you have to do is send a quick message where you offer your services or ask for referrals.

You can say something like this,

“Hey [name], I recently launched my business where I help [what it is you do].

Do you know of someone who would need my services?

I’d be grateful if you would share my information with them.”

 

Your Old Employers

If you’ve already built a career in what it is you’re selling, pitch your former employers. 

They’ve worked with you, so chances are high that they’ll say yes.

 

Cold Emailing 

One of the best ways to quickly grow your business? 

Pitch companies and people you would love to work with, even if you don’t personally know them. 

You can use a simple cold email like this:

Hi NAME,

My name is [your name]. 

I happened to read the article you published on X. Great read!

I had a look at your website. Looks like your conversion rate could be increased by at least 1-2% with a few simple strategies. 

When would you be available for a quick 15-minute call next week to discuss how I can help you?

-Sign off

Another strategy is to cold call potential clients.

Here’s a simple script you can use when cold calling:

Hi! My name is [your name] and I’m a web designer based in West Ham, East London. 
I happened to notice that your website could perform 20-30% better with some simple website optimisation strategies. 

Are you currently looking for web design help? 

 

Visit Local Businesses 

Online, you can reach hundreds of people with the push of a button. 
But nothing beats meeting a potential customer face-to-face. 
That’s why a great way to quickly start getting clients in your business is to visit local businesses.

For example, you could go to your neighborhood restaurants and offer them personalised website tips (or whatever service you offer), after which you ask them for a meeting to talk about how you can help them.

 

Upwork 

Upwork is a platform that connects freelancers with businesses. 

Because it’s full of projects that clients are looking to fill right away, it can be an excellent place to pick up a few clients in the next few days. 

Keep an eye out for better-paid projects (by selecting the highest project fee in the search filters, “$$$”). 

 

Upwork Search

Meetups and events 
Another way to meet clients in person, and in that way build trust, is to go to local events where your ideal clients are hanging out. 

That could be anything from a cooking class to a fitness or business event. 

You can search for meetups on Meetup.com and events on Eventbrite.com.

How do you use them in the best way?

Simple: Start by building some rapport with the organiser.

After all, this is the person who can connect you to all the other event attendants. 

You can simply start by introducing yourself to the organiser at the event.

Ask: “I’m a career coach who helps my clients land executive positions.

Who do you recommend that I meet here tonight?”

 

Meetup Group

Conferences are another great way to meet clients.

And even better: Conference tickets are often sold at a higher price point than other event tickets, so you know the people there have the ability and willingness to pay for your services.

 

Reddit

Reddit is another great resource for finding hundreds of clients in one place. 

You find your people on Reddit by searching for relevant subreddits. 

 

Reddit Search

Just like with Facebook groups, the way you get clients is not so much by publishing the occasional self-promotional post. 

Instead, engage. Give value, answer people’s questions… 

Soon enough, you’ll start getting inquiries from people who’re interested in working with you. 

 

Online Forums

Online forums, just like Reddit threads, are full of your potential clients. 

And online forums are a great way to show your expertise quickly. 

A good rule of thumb is to post at least 10 valuable posts and reply to at least 20 threads before you pitch anything.

The way you find these forums is by searching for search phrases like:

“Keyword” + forum

“Keyword” + board 

 

Craigslist

Craigslist can be a simple way to search for a few clients when you’re just starting out.

e.g search web design 

You create an ad and publish it in your local area. That way, local businesses who are looking for help will find you and get in touch with you.

 

Job boards 

Job boards are another way to get in front of people who’re already looking for your services. Instead of replying to job ads in the same way as everyone else (and never hearing back from the clients you pitch), focus on tailoring your application to each client’s requirements.

 

Industry-specific Job Boards 

Finally, you can use industry-specific job boards. If you look for them, there are job boards that are dedicated to writing projects, web design, translations, marketing, and more. 

To find your industry-specific job boards, use these search phrases on Google:

“Keyword” + “job board”

“Keyword” + “jobs”

“Keyword” + “freelance jobs”

Industry job boards

 

Organise Your Own Workshop or Event

If you want to position yourself as a thought leader fast, you can organise your own event by setting it up on Eventbrite or Meetup. 

Alternatively, ask a meetup host if you can give a free workshop to his or her audience. 

That way, you can leverage that person’s existing audience without having to promote your event.

 

Quora 

Quora is another platform you can use to market your business. 

This questions-and-answers platform lets you answer people’s questions. 

The reason it’s so powerful for getting clients is that your answers can get massive traction, which means that a lot of your ideal clients could end up finding you thanks to your Quora answers.

 

Guest Posting 

In the same way, you can grow your audience and client base by pitching guest posts. 

For example, my clients have successfully used publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and YFS to attract high-paying clients. 

 

Set up referral partnerships

A great way to leverage someone else’s client base? 

Reach out to more established people in your niche without being direct competitors. 

For example, if you’re the owner of a reseller website offering web design, that person could be a graphic designer. 

Or you might partner with a printing shop, internet cafe, business advice trust, or even digital consultancy companies. 

By offering a commission for every lead they send your way, you’re basically giving them free money for very little effort while you get clients without having to do much legwork. 

 

Partner with Facebook Group Admins

We’ve already talked about using Facebook groups to get clients. 
But another way you can use these groups? 
Partner with the gatekeeper, the admin of the group. 

Your Own Reseller website 

Search Engine Optimisation + by mentioning it on social media and driving traffic from paid ads, your website can quickly become a great way to drive clients. 

Case Studies

You can also create a case study about a specific result you helped a client get. 

Start your own Facebook group, with the aim of educating your members not selling.

Create valuable content for your group members, then engage with your audience and create a group full of ideal clients.

 

Use Live Streams

Another way to use social media platforms is to use livestreams, which is a powerful way to get in front of your audience and engage them directly. 

For example, use TikTok, to get clients or Facebook livestreams.

 

Use video on LinkedIn 

If your audience is on Linkedin, LinkedIn videos can help you share with your audience quickly and effectively. 

The platform is pushing video content, so now is your golden opportunity to use LinkedIn video marketing. 

Once you’ve used the strategies here above, it’s time to take a look at long-term strategies to get clients. 

Here are the some ways to get clients in the next 3- 6 months.

Paid traffic from Facebook

Facebook ads are a great way to start getting clients into your business. 

But they’re not the magic bullet so many want you to believe.

While they CAN work faster than in 3-6months, it takes time to test your ads, especially if you’re completely new to using paid ads in your business. 

Youtube ads

Similar to Facebook ads, YouTube ads can work great to grow your business. 

But again, this isn’t the best way to start because if you’re not sure about how to use ads to get clients, you’ll probably not see a great return.

Use this strategy when you have paying clients in your business.

Here’s the thing: You don’t have to pay for people to find you on YouTube. 

With a good YouTube strategy, you can instead attract them organically with the content you create. 

 

Bing/Yahoo or Google ads 

Search Engine ads are another way to get paid traffic to your website.

Your ads will show up as search results in Google, Yahoo or Bing

 

Pinterest ads

Pinterest ads are relatively new and a way to start growing your Pinterest traffic. 

Again, you should be aware of how to use paid advertising to get clients with them.

 

Instagram ads 

Instagram ads show up as promoted posts in your audience’s Instagram feed. 
Like other forms of paid advertising, people click through if your offer drives curiosity.

 

Want to know how to get clients on Instagram? 

Instagram stories work well to engage your audience and with the right type of content, you’ll start building a following of ideal clients.

Alternatively, you can partner up with influencers.

 

Pinterest 

Pinterest is another social media platform to use to get clients in the next few months. 

Building up your traffic from the site takes time, so prepare to spend at least a couple of months mastering the platform.

 

Joint ventures and partnerships

Once you’ve built up a network in your industry, you can partner with other entrepreneurs to promote each other to your audiences. 

The person you partner with should have an audience who needs your services, but at the same time, this person shouldn’t be a direct competitor.

For example, as an owner of a reseller website offering web design services, you can partner with webmasters, digital marketers, mentors, business coaches, etc..

 

Create a high-quality lead magnet

Use a lead magnet. 

This is a free PDF people get when they sign up for your email list. 

With your PDF, you share valuable tips about web design with your audience.

For example, a 3-step strategy to reach the goal they want. 

You can share your PDF on social media and on your website to get people to find it.

And by asking readers to book a call with you at the end of your PDF, as well as sending an email sequence after they sign up to your list, you move your audience closer to a sale.

Webinar funnels 

A webinar is a great way to quickly show your expertise and how you help improve your clients’ lives. You can either launch a live webinar and promote it on social media and ads or you can build an automated and pre-recorded webinar.

Both of these strategies take time to get to work, so give it at least a few months.

 

Referrals 

When you’ve worked with a few clients, you can start asking them for referrals. 

The best way to do this? When they tell you how satisfied they are with your services or how happy they are about the results you’ve helped them get, you can ask, “That’s great to hear! Would you happen to know anyone else who’s looking for my services? I’d be grateful if you would share my information with them.”

 

Email marketing 

When you have clients in your business and it’s growing steadily, you can start working on your own email marketing. Send out at least a few emails a week and don’t forget to mention your services at least once a week.

Upsell to existing clients 

Did you know that your existing clients can bring in even more business? It’s true. 

By upselling your existing clients, you can increase your monthly income. 

Become a regular contributor to a publication

By becoming a regular contributor to a publication like Forbes or Inc, you can start driving clients to your own website. 

As it takes a bit of time to build a network that can open doors to becoming a Forbes contributor, reserve at least 4 months for this strategy to work. 

 

Blog on Medium or LinkedIn 

Medium and LinkedIn are platforms with existing audiences.

You can tap into these by publishing your own content on the platforms.

Getting visible on these platforms will take a bit of time so be patient and post regularly to get noticed by your clients. 

 

Become a speaker 

Did you know that speaking events can be a good way to find clients? 
After all, they’ve probably paid to be in the audience, and thanks to your talk, they will see you as an established expert. 

Set up an online summit

Similarly, getting influencers to participate in an online summit can quickly boost your expert status and get you, clients. 

The idea here is that you put together a program with a common topic and interview experts during live webinars.

For example, as a business coach, your online summit could be about branding or getting more sales for small business owners.

6 ways to make sure your offer is amazing

To get clients, you need an unbeatable offer. 

Here are my 6 best tips for creating an offer that stands out and gets clients to say yes. 

Your offer is something people want

First, your offer needs to be something that your clients want.

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see new entrepreneurs make- they try to sell something they think people want.

To figure out if your offer is something they want, you need to do some research. 

Does someone else in your niche offer programs that are similar to your services?

 

Here are 5 quick tips to figure out if your offer is irresistible:

Focus on benefits, not features 

The reason your clients buy from you is that they see you as the person who can help them get the results they want. Maybe they need a new web design which converts into sales.

When they buy, the features of your offer aren’t that relevant.

Instead, focus on showing the benefits of your service.

Your offer needs to be clear

The one thing that distinguishes a great offer from one that makes clients say no is clarity. 

Are you clear with what it is you offer and why? 

Remember: The clearer your offer is, the faster your clients will understand how you can help them and why they should pay you. 

 

Focus on the right audience

Listen: Your offer won’t sell unless you offer it to the right audience. 

These are people who have the ability to pay.

For example, school students don’t usually have a lot of extra money to spend on your services, so you can most likely exclude them from the start.

Your offer has the right price

To get clients, you need the right price point.

So the price you offer should be aligned with the value you offer.

Once you feel that the value your clients are getting exceeds the price you’re currently charging for your services, you can raise your price. 

For example, if you’re the owner of a reseller website offering web design and you can show your clients that you’ve successfully helped others or yourself get results, you can consider increasing your price. 

Your offer is packaged in the right way

And finally, your offer needs to be packaged in the right way. 

What I mean is this: If you package your services on an hourly basis, you’ll position your services as a commodity. 

But if you package your services based on the results you help your clients get, you’ll instead position yourself as a valued expert. 

Focus on one or two strategies 

When you look at the list above with tons of different strategies to get clients, it’s easy to think, “I’ll just use a ton of them and get lots of clients that way!”

Not so fast. If you try to do it all, you’ll have a hard time focusing enough on any of these strategies to truly master them.

 

Track your metrics

Something most people don’t talk about in this space is metrics.

You see, this is what I see happening to too many people. 
They start working on a strategy, but when that strategy doesn’t deliver results in a couple of weeks or a month, they give up. 

But here’s the thing: Strategies seldom work right off the bat.

You need to understand how YOU can use them in your industry. 

That’s why you need to track your metrics (like the engagement rate of your social media posts, the number of people who sign up to your email list, and so forth).

That way, you know if you’re close or far off from your goal. 

 

Batch your tasks on the weekends

If you are currently in a 9-5 job, batch your most energy-consuming tasks on weekends and follow up on them during the week, you save a lot of time. 

Schedule your work, when you work on your business AND your 9-5, things quickly become overwhelming. 

To make sure you get all your business-related tasks done, schedule your work. 

And I mean all of it- when you’ll work on your specific client acquisition tasks (like social media), create content, and talk to potential clients. 

Lower your goals 

Look: I know that you can’t wait to be booked out so you can quit your 9-5.

But if you focus on all the clients you need to get, it easily gets overwhelming.

Instead of trying to get 10 clients, start with 1 and work your way up from there.

 

Use an egg clock 

One of the things I always tell my clients is this, “Every task needs a time limit.”

Why?

According to Parkinson’s law, the more time we have for a task, the more time we spend on it.

But how do you keep your time limits? Use an egg clock. 
Set the time you’ll use on a task and be strict with yourself: You need to stop working when you’re done with the task. 

 

Automate what you can 

Did you know that there are some great tools you can use to automate a bunch of your tasks? For example, use canned email templates to automate your emails and use calendar scheduling tools to automate how people schedule meetings with you. 

 

Outsource tasks

Want to free up time in your day? A simple trick to save at least a few hours every week (hours you can use on your business) is to get help cleaning your house and get groceries delivered to you. 

Cut out your time-wasting activities

Did you know that every day, you waste time on activities that don’t add anything to your life? It’s true. 

Think about the hours you waste on social media or watching TV shows. 

Use gap time 

Finally: You have “gap time” in your day that you can use better to work on your business. 

For example, when you stand in a queue, you can work on your social media promotion. 

Or during your lunch breaks or your commute, you can get a few tasks done. 

4 things to have in place to make sure you’re ready to work with clients

What do you do once you have clients in your business?

To prepare you for a smooth process, I’ve listed the top 4 things you need to have in place to make sure you deliver a great experience to your clients right from the start.

 

1. A Client Contract
A client contract is a must when you’re starting out. Not only because it protects your business from legal claims, but also because it makes your business look more professional.

2. An Intake Form
When you first start working with clients, you’ll want to know exactly what their goals are during your time together. That’s why an intake form with standard questions works great.

3. An Invoice Template
To make your client acquisition process as smooth as possible, you’ll want to have your documents ready to be sent out when you take on a new client. A contract and an intake form are two of those documents, an invoice template is another. 

4. A client intake process
What are the next steps your clients should take when they sign up with you?

Scheduling your first session and sending out all your documents are a few such steps. Make sure you have your process in place so that you get everything you need from your client and you can successfully start working together.

10 tools you need to start working with clients

When you start your reseller business offering web design services, you need a laptop, desktop, mobile phone, and internet. 

But you can save a ton of time with a few simple tools.

Here are the top 10 tools.

 

Mail Track
Unlimited email tracking for Gmail. Real-time notifications and link tracking.

Works in Chrome. Integrate your business email with Gmail and Track emails.

Google Calendar

Google Calendar (the best part? It’s completely free). 
It saves me SO much time when booking client meetings and organising my schedule. 

Calendly

Calendly is another time-saver. This tool connects with your calendar so that your clients can choose a time that works for them and schedule a meeting with you.

So: No back-and-forth emailing is needed. 

Later

With Later, you can easily schedule your social media content and have it go out at set times. This frees up a lot of your time for other client acquisition strategies. 

DocuSign

Want a simple way to send out your client contracts? 
DocuSign is a tool that lets you electronically sign your contracts. 
It then sends them out to your clients, who can sign the contract using the tool. 

Zoom

Wondering how to best hold your client calls? Zoom is a video meeting tool with which you send a dedicated meeting link. You can schedule meetings and add them as calendar invites. (Pro tip: You can connect Calendly and Zoom so that a Zoom link is automatically sent out when someone schedules a call.)

 

Google Drive & Dropbox

Google Drive is another tool that saves the day. Dropbox is also another useful document-sharing tool, I personally use it to display my reseller websites for sale. 

You can share documents with your clients and keep everything in one place. 

 

Trello

With Trello, you organise your client's work.

You can even share your Trello board with clients to tick off tasks and set up task reminders.

 

PayPal/Stripe

Now we’re getting to the fun stuff: Getting paid. One of the easiest tools to use is PayPal. You send out an invoice and get paid in one go.

Some UK banks like Monzo, Tide, etc offer you the ability to send payment links to send to customers or they give you the ability to generate invoices that you can send or send to your customers' email directly. 

 

Loom

In between your client meetings, your clients might have questions and need your support in other ways. To share audio or video, you can use Loom, a tool that lets you record yourself or your screen and send a video link to people. 

 

10 common client-getting questions

Should I do refunds?

When you have clients in your business, should you accept refunds?

Look: You have a contract in place for a reason.

If you’ve said that you don’t accept refunds (in accordance with the laws that apply to your contract), then you’re free to choose if you accept refunds or not. 

 

When should I hire a Virtual Assistant?

If you’re considering getting help in your business (to free up time to get even more clients), here’s my advice:

You shouldn’t put together a team just to have a team. Instead, the reason you’re growing a team is to grow your business. 

My rule of thumb is this: If you’re not bringing in clients to cover the cost of a VA with a good margin (so that you have money saved for taxes and other expenses), don’t hire a VA just yet. 

 

How should I balance my time between helping clients and working on my business?

This is a tricky one! But the answer is simpler than you might think: Helping your clients doesn’t come down to the time you spend working with them, but the results you help them get. When you become a more experienced coach or consultant, you’ll get faster and faster at client work.

In the beginning, I recommend using a set amount of time on client acquisition strategies every day. Leave a few hours for client work (and if life gets stressful with a 9-5, remind yourself that this is temporary and that you’ll soon be able to say goodbye to your job). 

 

What if I’m not getting results?

One of the most important skills you’ll learn as an entrepreneur is to re-think your approach to problems. When something doesn’t work, don’t throw your arms in the air.

Instead, think, “What else can I do to achieve results?

What are others doing successfully and how can I use that?”

Where do I find my clients?

You might be thinking, “All this sounds good, Derek. But where do I find my clients?”

Your clients are literally everywhere. But, there are targeted ‘watering holes’ where your clients hang out. 

Just like football enthusiasts hang out, your clients are gathering somewhere.

To figure this out, you might need to do a bit of research. 

First, think of who your client is. A middle-aged mother? Pinterest is a fairly good guess.

An entrepreneur? Facebook might be the place for you.

A 20-something male? Take a look at Reddit threads. 

 

How do I avoid bad clients?

The best way to avoid bad clients is to set yourself in a position where you don’t have to take them on. 

So by first building a stable income before quitting your job, you never feel forced to work with bad clients.

That said, you will from time to time come across clients who aren’t respecting your boundaries or understanding your value. 

To avoid this from happening, make your offer crystal clear from the start and tell your clients that their results are up to them and the work they put in. 

 

How do I deliver results for my clients?

Look: I get it. You want to deliver amazing results to your clients… And that’s a good thing. 

You should work on your business with the mindset that you want the best for your clients.

But there’s ONE thing you need to remember here: Client results aren’t dependent on you. 

Yes, you need to show up to do the work and deliver your service. 

But if your client isn’t doing his/her part, there’s not a lot you can do. 

 

How do I sell without feeling salesy? 

I know what you’re thinking: “Ugh, selling feels salesy. I don’t want to do it.”

As a business owner, you have to learn how to sell (after all, your livelihood depends on it). 

And selling doesn’t mean you have to be salesy or feel like a snake oil salesman. 

What it comes down to is the value you share upfront.

If you’re authentic and give value in the form of content (live streams, social media posts, emails, and even the information you share in cold emails/calls) to the right people (your ideal clients) before asking for the sale, you’ll come off as an expert helping a client who needs to solve a problem.

That’s not salesy at all, right? 

 

How many clients do I need to quit my job?

This depends on your current salary and costs.

I recommend my clients double their current salary to make sure they can cover all business costs and taxes that might come up. 

 

How should I price my offer?

This depends on what you’re selling.

Once you have a couple of clients in your business, you can raise your rates. 

Want to Reach Customers? Think Like One!

How do you really know what your client wants?

Simple: Think about your business from their perspective.

One of the biggest mistakes I see my students make when it comes to getting clients in their reseller businesses is this:

They don’t follow up. 

Following up might feel pushy or salesy.

But it’s actually about keeping yourself top of mind.

Think about it:

We’re all busy. Life happens and sometimes people who want to work with you forget to keep in touch. 

That’s where you as a business owner need to remind them of your services. 

Here’s a simple script you can use:

“Hey [name], 

I recently shared this great article [this works just as well for an event, email, webinar, referral, book, etc.] about how to [do something they’d mentioned wanting to do] and immediately thought of you! 

I recommend [some course of action — plan, list of next steps, etc.], which I know from experience would be a fantastic plan for you. I just implemented this with a client a few months ago and we’ve seen fantastic results — [specific details of results]. 

If you’re interested, I’d love to support you in customising the next steps for how to [kick-off the plan]. I’m happy to hop on a call and am free [insert times].

Do any of those times work for you? Let me know and we’ll make it happen! 

[Sign-off]”

Rejection messages

In my early days as a digital service reseller, I often got these types of replies to my follow-ups. But there’s no reason to get discouraged.

Instead, by tweaking my offer, I quickly started getting “YES” from people when I followed up. 

How do you get happy clients who keep coming back for more?

You help them get results. 

And to do that, you can give that “something extra” that will make your clients feel special and help them get even better results. 

This could be a bonus like an extra session with you or an assessment. 

When you share your free service, make the value clear. 

For example, anchor the price to your regular rates (“I would like to offer you a free strategy session to kick things off and map a strategy that works for you from day #1. The value of this free session is £500 based on my normal consulting rates.”)

When I started my business I quickly realized something.

I had successfully sold a £2,000 business opportunity programme, but for some reason, other clients wouldn’t convert. 

After weeks of failed sales calls I realised what it was:

Because I was new to business consulting, people didn’t trust me yet.

That’s when I came up with a strategy that has worked to this day. 

Instead of working with a number of people for free, I chose to give potential clients a short, 30-minute session with me. 

This worked wonders and ever since, I recommend you to do the same. 

So where do you start?

Find clients on Craigslist

Craigslist gets a bum rap, and for good reason.

(Thank goodness they kept the Best of Craigslist so we can all have a good laugh every so now and then.) 

However, client work is waiting for you if you can just demonstrate that you are 1,000 times better than your competition — which shouldn’t be hard to do. 

Don’t just peruse the Gigs postings — go through the Jobs postings, too, because some might be part-time and remote. 

By taking the time to shortlist the right postings and craft a semi-thoughtful message, you can immediately separate yourself from the throngs (and bots) sending canned, boilerplate emails.

Attend networking events online/offline and meetups

I know what you’re thinking: Networking events SUCK.

But that’s because people typically go to them looking for clients.

Instead of being that creeper at the event, go to the event to find CONNECTORS. 

These are people who may not turn out to be a client but instead can help introduce you to potential clients.

Whew, what a relief! Now that you know that you’re not going to be necessarily looking for leads at a networking event or mixer, you’re not going to go in there and try to constantly pitch your business. Instead, you’re going to be finding connectors.

As an example of a good script you can use to connect with a connector, you might start a conversation by using, “Hey, if you know of anyone who’s looking for a web design, let me know. Here’s my card. You can pass it along to them.”

(Of course, you should mold the script to fit your individual situation and find subjects to talk about in a non-icky manner.)

Be sure to check out event boards like Meetup, Eventbrite, and even Facebook for networking events in your area or industry.

Reach out to your existing network

This might seem like a no-brainer, but after years of hearing this advice over and over, it’s time to take a closer look.

For one, just because you have an existing network — you might enjoy seeing the “500+ connections” every time you visit your LinkedIn profile — doesn’t mean that those 500+ people are going to be willing and ready to hire you.

They might be busy and have missed your messages.

They might not know of any openings for someone with your expertise. 

And let’s face it, some people will never help you, no matter how many times you’ve helped them in the past.

That’s life.

So, sure, you can certainly reach out to your existing network, but proceed with caution. Take the time to shortlist those who know you and your work well, and take the time to craft a message that will resonate with them.

Explain that you have become a freelance contractor, explain in detail what services and deliverables you can provide, and ask if they know of any people or companies who are actively looking for someone with your expertise.

Additionally, if you still feel uncomfortable about asking people for work, ask your network for something potentially equally valuable: a recommendation.

No, not just a recommendation on LinkedIn, but the type of longer recommendation that you needed when you applied to college or grad school.

When you are applying or bidding on projects down the road, you can always forward these to a prospective client as proof of your past achievements.

Try this. You’ll be sure to stand out.

 

Join professional organisations in your niche

Just because the professional organisation was built, does not mean that clients will come. 

Aside from finding connectors, a great way to leverage the power of a professional organisation is to volunteer for them. 

Offer to do something for them for free: design a landing page, restructure a database, or something of value to them. 

Unfortunately, you wouldn’t be the only person attempting this strategy, so you might need to do this a few times for a while until a staff member provides you with a contact who might hire you.

Of course, you would also want to learn something from this organization along the way as well. Professional and personal growth are often reasons people join these organizations — not just for new business. It could be a terrific unexpected benefit of getting involved.

 

Spend time where your clients do

No, this doesn’t mean stalking potential clients and going to where they live (unless you want a restraining order).

Instead, you’re going to go online to the same places where potential clients might be spending time online.

I started spending all my free time hanging out where my potential clients were online (free Facebook groups) and directly engaging with them by sharing valuable content and answering any questions I could about advertising.

That’s how I got my first client. A woman I’d been helping for free — answering her questions about how to start a reseller business — asked me how she could work with me, and when I told her the price — £499 One Time Fee with Ongoing Support — she said, without missing a beat, “I’m in.”

You can use the exact same framework for your potential clients.

Do you have a reseller website offering web design services?

 Find a Facebook or subreddit group for small business owners who need your services.

Do you own a Facebook Management Reseller Website?

Start answering questions on Quora regarding your niche. 

(As you would do by answering interesting tweets)

Maybe you own an SEO reseller website. Find online groups for bloggers looking to expand their content media.

No matter what you choose, you need to make sure you stay engaged and provide high-quality answers to your potential client. 

By doing this you build your brand and make connections you would never have otherwise.

It all goes back to the 80/20 rule. 

The little bit of effort you put in now will pay off in spades in the future.

How to land high-value clients
So you think you’re ready to scale and start targeting higher-level clients? 

It’s actually incredibly simple once you’ve attained your initial 3 – 5 clients.

All you need to remember is to keep delivering incredible, white-glove service to your clients. After that, it’s all a breeze.

Ask for referrals from existing clients

Referrals from existing clients are one of the best ways to not only get more clients but also earn more for your services as well.

Here’s why:

You can raise your price when you get referred.

A lot of resellers fall into the trap of keeping their rates the same when they get referred, thinking that their old client told the potential client your rate (they usually do not). 

DON’T DO THIS!! Your old client added more value to your work by recommending you AND by the experience you’ve gained working for that client.

Reflect that with a higher rate.

There exists more of an incentive to do good work. 

This is yet another example of why you want to treat every client that comes your way with respect while going above and beyond to provide them world-class service. 

There are always areas where you can add value, and it’ll only help your client and yourself.

You get higher-quality clients. If you charge more, that means you’ll start to weed out the lower-quality clients who complain about the tiniest things from the higher-quality clients who can afford you and appreciate you as a professional.

By paying you more, they’re less likely to waste your time and money. It’s a win-win.

Referrals are a simple yet powerful way to start charging more. 

Not only does it allow you to increase your rates, but you’re also able to gain more clients.

And the best way to ask for a referral is right after you’ve delivered a high-value product to your client. 

Once you’ve delivered great service that you’re proud of, you can ask for referrals and rest easy in the knowledge that your client will want to tell others about your work.

 

Cold email potential clients

Cold emails don’t have to be scary.

In fact, they can be shockingly effective if you use the right techniques.

 

Partner with an agency or related business

Perhaps you own a web design reseller business, but you don’t do any of the backend coding. 

Or you’re a PR person, but you don’t know the first thing about marketing automation.

As the technology stack, marketing stack, or whatever stack it is these days keeps growing, businesses of all sizes need expertise in several areas all at once. 

They also know that a solo freelancer, no matter how talented, cannot handle it all.

Reach out to businesses and even other freelancers who offer a service that’s adjacent to yours. 

If you are in similar niches, you can exchange referrals and drive business to each other.

This can be great for them because they can demonstrate expanded capabilities and can now offer additional services to clients. 

You, of course, have now won a new piece of business.

Or, you can even approach prospective clients together as a much larger team — and charge higher rates. 

This is because the client is getting a whole team rather than just a solo freelancer and knows that the rates are usually higher and they are willing to pay them.

Advanced client acquisition tactics

If you’ve tried all of the above recommendations and are chomping at the bit for more, there are some advanced tactics to consider. 

Because these take too long to get off the ground — and some also incorporate some additional expense — we don’t recommend starting with these tactics.

Most people will be better off starting with the tactics outlined above, and it’s important to note that the tactics above can still be actively used even when your freelance business is humming. 

However, the adventurous should consider the following advanced digital marketing tactics. 

Build a professional website Yourself, Buy a Ready Made Reseller Business or Hire A Developer to do it for you.

Unfortunately, anyone who’s tried to build a website in a few minutes for free knows that it’s not as easy as it sounds. 

But at some point, as your reseller business grows, it will make sense to have your own website.

 

Grow a social media following

Starting a social media account is even easier than starting a website because no design is involved at all. (Well, you might need to resize your profile photo)

However, while starting a social media account is easy, growing a social media account is hard. 

It’s especially hard when you want to use that social media account for lead generation. 

You need to find ways to attract more followers and convince people to want to engage with you. 

You need to constantly be thinking about interesting messages to send, but be careful not to say too much so that someone reading your tweet or LinkedIn post gets their question answered without engaging with you further. 

Argh.

Luckily, people know that having thousands of followers doesn’t automatically make you a highly sought-after expert in your field. 

Instead, be strategic: Choose only those social networks that your target market is hanging out on (which might not be TikTok) and engage for quality, not quantity.

Keep in mind that this is still time-consuming, though, but it does give you social proof.

 

Try digital advertising

It’s a no-brainer that only sponsored posts from Facebook Pages surface in newsfeeds. 

Because of this, many freelancers and small business owners decide to just bite the bullet and pony up the advertising dollars.

Of course, you can boost posts for as little as £1 per day for impressions, and £5 per day for clicks likes, and other engagements. 

This might not seem like much, but it can quickly add up, month over month. 

It never hurts to give something a try.

But even the most die-hard performance marketers (that’s what paid advertising pros call themselves these days) agree that a blended strategy of organic content along with pay-per-click advertising is the way to go. 

Creating perfect posts might be more time-consuming than that for an ad, but a mix of both generally gives better results.

Your prospect doesn’t want to just learn about your expertise in an ad. 

They want to learn about your expertise in other ways. 

“What about my marketing strategy/Facebook campaign/hashtag optimisation??”

It’s very easy to get excited about all the sexy tactics like marketing campaigns and creating a blog — but the truth is, none of that really matters.

Do you think that doing high-level tactics like SEO, blogging, or viral marketing is easy? Absolutely not.

Do you think it will help you when you’re just starting out? Same answer.

What DOES matter is that you get your first few clients. 

Once you have a reliable base of people who’ll pay for your services, THEN you can start complex marketing strategies like Facebook or blogging.

The most important thing is getting your first few clients though.

Start-Up Turn-Key Portfolio of Income Producing Digital Assets - Digital Services Websites

Have you noticed that these days all businesses are online and all businesses are connected to Social Media?

This is why we build simple Digital Services businesses that anyone can run and make a full-time income from.

All businesses have suppliers in place and will be set up so you are ready to receive proceeds of sales.

There are excellent profit margins you can’t find outside the Digital Services space.

The businesses have unlimited growth potential meaning it is easy to scale up to double your income without a lot more time being spent.

The businesses can be Sold Together Or Individually

Please register your interest & I will reply asap with all the domain names and a rundown of how each website will work.

Ask now...A Start-Up Turn-Key Portfolio of Income Producing Digital Assets - Digital Services Websites

Have you noticed that these days all businesses are online and all businesses are connected to Social Media? This is why we build simple Digital Services businesses that anyone can run and make a full-time income from.

All businesses have suppliers in place and will be set up so you are ready to receive proceeds of sales.

There are excellent profit margins you can’t find outside the Digital Services space.

The businesses have unlimited growth potential meaning it is easy to scale up to double your income without a lot more time being spent.

The businesses can be Sold Together Or Individually

Please register your interest & we will reply asap with all the domain names and a rundown of how each website will work.

Ask now...