How to find more clients and generate more sales

If you’re a business owner, then you’re in the business of marketing. Effective marketing boils down to three key things that you need to do to find more clients, create more sales and generate more revenue.

Number 1: Get clear on your target audience

This is by far the most important thing you should be focusing on when marketing your products or services – having a really clear idea of who you’re targeting.

Business owners often struggle with identifying their target audience because they think that if they focus on one audience segment, they’ll be excluding others. They think that if they market their goods or services to one type of client, they’ll be missing out on sales from others.

To get you out of this type of thinking, I recommend that you think of identifying your target audience as PRIORISITNG, not LIMITING.

Who do you want to attract first?

This could be for any number of reasons. You may have clients that you love to work with because they’re profitable, or they generate good word of mouth for you, they’re great referrers, they’re easy to work with, or simply because they’re easy to find.

So I ask clients to think of their A-list, B-list and C-list clients.

Another way I like to talk to clients about this is to say, if I were to give you $500 to spend on marketing, who would you go after first? With $500 you couldn’t go after everyone, so you’d have to really narrow it down. Who are you going to spend that money on in terms of trying to get their attention? Who would you focus on with your advertising, marketing or promotions? If you have limited marketing funds, who do you want as a client FIRST?

To make it even clearer, imagine this. I take you to a networking event or a cocktail party. There are a lot of people there who you could potentially do business with. But we’re only able to stay for one hour. Faced with a room full of people, you could rush around and try to talk to everyone quickly and without much substance or meaning. Or you could select just a few who you prioritise over others and really get to know them. If I give you an overview of who is there, who do you want to talk to first before our time runs out?

Which target audience segment do you want to talk to first?

Number 2: Get clear on your messaging

If you look at your different audience segments, you’ll probably realise that everyone has different needs, or different desires. Therefore, you’ll have to use a different approach with different segments – different messaging, possibly a different offer, and most probably, you’ll reach them in different ways and communicate with them differently.

So developing clear messaging is not just about avoiding jargon and technical terms. We start with the idea of speaking to them in the language that they speak. But we need to do more than this.

Clear messaging starts with knowing what your prospects are looking for, what they need, what problems they need solving, what issues they need resolving. Why are they seeking out a company that offers what you offer? What outcomes are they after?

Once you are clear on what they need, you can talk to them about the solutions you offer, the pain points you can help get rid of. So your job becomes more about helping, not selling.

Number 3: Get clear on your offer

Now that you’ve gained some clarity around who you want to work with, who you want to help, and what they need, you need to be clear on what you have to offer them.

Do you have something to sell that helps with their needs?

If you sell products, are you providing clear information about the benefits of what you sell, not just the features? If you sell services, is your packaging and pricing crystal clear so they aren’t faced with just an hourly rate and intangible results? Do people know what they’re getting when they invest with you? And this means more than just the process of how you work with clients. It’s about the outcomes that your clients end up with – regardless of whether they purchase products or services from you. Have you put an offer of an outcome in front of them that they can say “yes” to?

Once you get clear on these three things – audience, messaging, offer – finding more of your ideal clients and generating more sales will come easily. If you need more help in any of these areas, please contact us .