While marketing can bring awareness and add credibility to your services, there is more to growing your business that all comes down to you. Scary thought? Shouldn’t be. After all, you went into business for yourself because you believed in you. And you don’t need a sales or marketing background to make others believe in you. So, let’s talk about how to convince a client to use your services.

TIPS TO PREPARE FOR ENGAGING CLIENTS

Get to know the client. Everyone is not your client. Everyone doesn’t need your services. So instead of casting a wide net, zero in on clients who align with your business. Here’s how:

• Connect with them on, or at least examine, their social media to get a feel for their personality. Are they super buttoned up and serious? Are they laid back and casual?
• Check out their website. What are they doing for their customers? Can you help them better reach or engage their customers in some way?
• View their customers’ reviews and feedback. Customer feedback is a good indicator of  their pain points. Can you help them improve their customers’ experience with your services?
• Use their services or buy their product to get a firsthand experience of being their customer. Think of ways you can help improve their customer experience.

Get to know the competition. But don’t bash them to clients. You shouldn’t need to do that to convince a client to use your services instead of a competitor’s. Instead do this:

• Look at their website. By checking out your competitors, you will know what their selling points are and possibly find some opportunities to differentiate yourself from them.
• Check out their ads. What do you think they are doing right? Are you also doing/saying those things? If you look at enough competitors, you just might find that some traits are “table stakes” and that you have to mention them somewhere if everyone else is.
• Look into their social media. Are they posting “thought leadership” content that is aimed at helping customers alleviate their pain points? Could you speak to these points better on your own social media or website?

TIPS FOR WHEN YOU’RE ENGAGING CLIENTS

Listen instead of being a talking head. The big moment arises when you get the chance to meet over the phone, internet, or in person. Time to tell them what they need? No. Here’s what you should do instead:

• Ask them what they need. Create a series of questions that will help your customers tell you what they’re looking for and what problems they have that you can solve. For example, if the problem the client has is that they want to use your services, but they feel they don’t have the time to hire you for the work, what options can you give the client? Are you willing to work evenings and weekends instead?
• When you get a chance to talk, be a trusted guide. Using your experience, how have you seen other clients overcome their objections. You may have no way to alleviate their pain points, but you may know it’s better to “rip off the band-aid” and get your services.

Let your work sell itself. Marketing genius and bestselling author Seth Godin says, “People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves.”

• Sometimes when you are in business for yourself, you don’t take the time to gather examples of your work. If it’s conducive to being a visual aid, make sure to take a photo of before and after.
• If your services are complicated, create a piece of collateral that explains your offerings in a simple (but not simplistic) way. Thinking of Seth Godin’s quote, your goal is for clients to talk themselves into buying from you.

AFTER YOU HAVE ENGAGED THEM AS CLIENTS

Mind your manners. Thank your clients, don’t forget them, and don’t let them forget you. Here are some things you can do:

• Send an official “thank you”. First things first. Whether it’s a handwritten note or a short email, make sure they know that you appreciate that they trusted you with their business. And make sure your contact information is noticeable so that they may have it in case they want to use you again or refer you.
• Keep them in mind. Did you find out something about them in the process of working with them? If you see something online that would interest them, why not share it with them and deepen your relationship?
• Don’t let them forget you. You don’t have to inundate them with communications, but an electronic newsletter containing a note from you and some helpful blog posts and a video may be a great way to keep top of mind.

Convincing a client to use your services does require some thinking and effort on your part, but it doesn’t require you to be a sales pro. That said, you may have to get a handle on other aspects of your business so that you have the time needed to set yourself up for growth. Are you treading water, not sinking or swimming? Try managing your projects and cash flow forecasting with FuelGauge, and free up the time you need to work on your business.

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When you first decided to start your own business, you may have chosen to try to handle most things on your own and use some freelance help to fill in the gaps. You would not be alone. A lot of small businesses start as solo acts. While you’re bound to make mistakes, some of them can be more costly than others. And hiring at the wrong time is one of them. In this post, we’ll discuss when to hire your first employee.

Here are some indicators that you may be ready to hire an employee:

1. Despite using freelancers, you have more work than you can do on a consistent basis, so you are turning down work. And most of us realize that turning down work means that you could lose the client, even if it’s just because they assume you are always too busy. Keeping in mind that you don’t want to run out of cash, you have to balance losing customers with the cost of the employee. According to an article by American Express, it costs six to seven times more to get a new customer than to retain a current customer.
2. You can’t do all your necessary work and keep clients happy. Is your response time down because you simply can’t get to it? Or are your other duties getting neglected? You can’t be everything to everyone, including yourself. And losing clients or skipping over other important customer acquisition initiatives or daily financial activities will likely cost more than hiring the right person.
3. You can increase revenue by offering expertise you don’t currently have or don’t have time to cultivate. Perhaps hiring someone will allow you to do more of what you are really good at. Perhaps someone else is really good at something you’re not. Whatever the case, if you can bring in more cash flow on a consistent basis, it’s a good bet.
4. You have checked your financial forecast, and your projected revenue will be able to cover costs of an employee. Using a software such as FuelGauge can really give you insight into both historical and upcoming billing. Simply by looking at your FuelGauge Dashboard, you can see spikes in anticipated revenue a few months down the line. There’s nothing better than having real data at your fingertips to be sure you are making a sound decision.
   

Here are some reasons NOT to hire an employee just yet:

1. You are desperate and in a pinch. Don’t have a knee jerk reaction. You may only need to get by a few weeks or months, then will have nothing for your new employee to do. Really consider whether this uptick in business is long term enough.
2. You don’t have a clearly defined position for the employee. If you don’t know exactly what your employee will be responsible for and how long his or her daily duties should take, you are setting both of you up to fail. You need clear expectations, and you should carefully interview several people before deciding who is the best for the position (no matter how much you may like him or her).
3. A friend or family member needs a job. Unless your friend can increase revenue with a skillset that you need in your business, don’t risk your friendship or your business. Anyone who you consider hiring should help take you to the next level, not drain you of your resources.

All told, it’s not that easy to predict when to hire your first employee. However, following these tips and investing in a software that gives you visibility into your financial forecast can greatly improve your odds of succeeding. See how FuelGauge can give you that visibility without the risk. Try it for free for 45 days with no credit card needed.

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TIP ONE FOR HOW TO FIND CLIENTS: GET COMFORTABLE ASKING FOR REFERRALS.

The thought of asking for a referral may make you squeamish at first, but “referral marketing generates three to five times higher conversion rates than any other channel.” And there are a wealth of statistics supporting the power of and the willingness of people to give referrals. It’s one of the easiest ways to build your business fast, so here are some tips to help you get comfortable.

1. 1. Offer them options. You’ll both feel more comfortable if they have choices on how to sing your praises. Some people would rather give you contacts; others would rather write a testimonial. And still some are fans of star ratings.
   2. Partner with other small businesses that do what you do. It may sound a little weird at first, but asking people in your niche to let you help out when their project load is more t
      han they can handle can be a win-win. And of course, you should reciprocate.
   3. Refer your clients/customers. Refer your clients to people you know that may be interested in their products and services. Comment on their social media and share their posts to show your commitment to them and stay top of mind.
   4. Use your email signature to call them to action. Your email signature is a great place for a call to action button to make referrals easy for your contacts. Plus, it will be a gentle reminder in every email.

TIP TWO FOR HOW TO FIND CLIENTS: GET LEADS BY CREATING WEBSITE CONTENT.

Remember the line in the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come.”? It’s not always quite that easy with small business marketing. You likely won’t see overnight higher ranking in Google search results, but you can use email campaigns or paid ads to drive traffic to your site. And, your engaging, high quality content will immediately give your site visitors a better impression.
When you build website content, it gives you something to talk about while establishing credibility for your area of expertise. It can also increase your search engine optimization. Consider blogging, and creating videos, case studies, eBooks and downloadable content that will interest prospective clients by helping them personally or professionally.

TIP THREE FOR HOW TO FIND CLIENTS: GET THE INSIDE SCOOP ON JOB BOARDS.

You can harvest prospects from job postings. While you need to be upfront that you are not applying for the position, many companies are wasting money on staffing needs that might be better met with a freelance/small business. Here are some places to check out:

Indeed

Monster

Glassdoor

LinkedIn

LinkUp

Authentic Jobs

Reddit For Hire

Krop

AngelList

We Work Remotely

GrowthHackers

Product Hunt

TIP FOUR FOR HOW TO FIND CLIENTS: GET SOCIAL.

Social media is a great place to find connections and network. Here are a few things you might try using social media.

1. Use Twitter search to find tweets where people are looking for services. Type “looking for a [your keyword]” in the search bar. In the example below, we searched for graphic design work.
2. Find questions that you can answer on Quora that relate to your industry. Most questions are indexed by Google, so you can get discovered by being an expert at what you do. In the example below, we searched “home renovation” and clicked on the “answer” link.
3. LinkedIn gives some good advice on getting clients using its platform in six steps.

1. 1. First, they instruct you to complete your profile so that it’s professional, search-optimized, and client-focused.
   2. Second, they tell you to prospect by searching Groups or using LinkedIn’s Advanced Search, making sure to target people that fit your ideal customer profile.
   3. Third, they want you to simply send a “thank you” message to people who have accepted your request (but don’t try to pitch anything to them).
   4. Fourth, start to send relationship-building messages on a regular basis. These messages are a good use of the content you’ve created for your website that we mentioned in our tip above.
   5. Fifth, check what groups they are in, and join those groups. Get involved, show your expertise and engage your prospects there.
   6. Sixth, convert prospects to customers offline. Get them to talk to you outside of the social media platform once you have built a rapport.

Do you have a favorite tip? Connect with us on Facebook or LinkedIn to share your thoughts. Then, manage your clients better by making sure you can keep track of all the projects that start and stop and move around by signing up for a free trial of  FuelGauge’s cash forecasting software for project-based businesses.

The post How to Find Clients: Four Tips for Future Success appeared first on FuelGauge.

Get Ready with Some Inspiration

The right attitude is essential. Setting goals may be a thorn in your side, so get inspired and learn the value of goal setting by reading quotes or a motivational book. Here are a few quotes that helped me prepare myself for the task:

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” -Tony Robbins

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” – Napoleon Hill

“Don’t become a wandering generality. Be a meaningful specific.” – Zig Ziglar

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

Get Set with the Right Mindset

While S.M.A.R.T. goals are a staple of so many business development team’s goal setting strategies, all the elements are not necessarily right for a new entrepreneur or startup. Let’s take a look at the makeup of a S.M.A.R.T. goal to better understand.

It is SPECIFIC. A general goal such as “increase revenue” or “make a lot of money” is not specific enough for goal setting for any purpose. It doesn’t provide any parameters to ensure the goal’s success. Answer these questions to make sure your goal is specific enough:

1. What exactly do you want to achieve?
2. Why? Give the reasons you have for accomplishing the goal. How will the company benefit? What’s the purpose of the goal?
3. Who will be responsible for achieving the goal? Is it an individual or team effort? What is each person’s role?
4. Which barriers must you hurdle to achieve the goals? What weaknesses exist that you will need to overcome?

It is MEASURABLE. It’s important to know at any point in time whether you are on track or not, so you can make adjustments to your efforts. But you can’t improve what you don’t measure. A measurable goal can incorporate almost any data set, but should definitely answer: How much or how many? Your goal needs to be quantifiable to be objective and easy to measure. Additionally you need to decide how you will know when you have accomplished the goal and how you will determine if you are on or off track.

It is ACHIEVABLE. The idea behind this tenet is that if you make a goal too lofty, you will give up. However, that’s not how successful entrepreneurs operate. Meeting goals by lowering your expectations will not reflect your true capabilities. Setting your goals higher than you think is possible forces you to innovate. While you might not meet your goals 100 percent of the time, you will still be more likely to exceed what you thought was simply “achievable.” In a letter to shareholders, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos stresses how important it is to aim high, saying, “Working backwards from customer needs often demands that we acquire new competencies and exercise new muscles, never mind how uncomfortable and awkward-feeling those first steps might be.”

It is RELEVANT. Celebrated Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl rightly said, “Those who have a ‘why’ can bear with almost any ‘how.’” A relevant goal has a clear “why.” For a goal to be relevant, it needs to align with your values and support your long

term goals. And, it should be the right time for it. Otherwise, it’s all too easy to give up on the goal before fruition.

It is TIME-BOUND. Robert Herjavec, investor and star on Shark Tank, is known to say “A goal without a timeline is a dream.” Any goal should have an end timeframe and milestones along the way. That way, you will be more likely to dedicate time you need to work on your business and not get caught up in the day-to-day whirlwind of activities. Some things to consider when you are setting your timeframe are:

• Is it a short, medium or long-term goal? You don’t want to give yourself too much time to complete a shorter goal or not enough time to complete longer ones.
• Is the goal difficult? If you have to learn something new, it will probably take longer to achieve the goal.
• Will you have to change your habits? That can make a difference in how long your goal will take to achieve. The oft repeated statistic that it takes 21 days to establish a habit originated in the 1960s has been replaced by a newer study that revealed it actually takes anywhere from 18 to 254 days, or an average of 66 days.

Goal Setting with the Right Tools

Using technology can speed your time to achieve goals. Whether you use them to spend less time managing your goals or other tasks, there are tools that can help you be more efficient as an entrepreneur.

As I mentioned in the intro to this post, I went through a lot of trial and error to find what worked for me … actually, I ended up creating a software platform because everything I tried was either too robust or did not do enough of what I wanted. Here’s why FuelGauge is the right tool for project-based businesses:

EASY-TO-READ DASHBOARD TELLS THE STORY

Whether your goals include expanding your facility, hiring new team members or launching a new product, it all comes down to having the cash flow to make it happen. Your monthly revenue goal is always clearly visible at the top of your Dashboard. Your variance (plus or minus) from your monthly goal is calculated automatically. Plus, you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing exactly where you stand at any time of the month.

DRAG AND DROP SIMPLICITY SAVES HOURS TRACKING PROJECTS

Projects start and stop, get canceled and move. Keeping track of them can be time consuming. With FuelGauge, you can drag and drop projects into another month or simply put it in the Ice Box to chill until it’s ready to go. Keep track of all the project details you’ve already started, and never worry about a project falling off your radar.

FINANCIAL GOAL SETTING IS BUILT-IN

You can easily set and manage your revenue goals for multiple years in one place. With the ability to have a different amount for each month, you can take into account variances to your schedule. For example, if you are taking a vacation, you may not expect to make the same revenue that month. You can also monitor your progress and see exactly how close you are to reaching those goals anytime with a quick peek at your Dashboard.

I hope that this post gave you a little fuel for thought on goal setting for business development. When you are ready to set your goals, get the power of FuelGauge with a FREE 45-day trial.

About FuelGauge

FuelGauge is a simple, easy-to-use, cloud-based cash forecasting software created BY a small business owner, FOR small business owners. FuelGauge is an affordable business planning tool with nimble drag-and-drop functionality that helps you tame the chaos of projects starting, stopping and starting again, as projects often do.

Committed to helping owners of project-based businesses succeed

At FuelGauge, we’re committed to helping small business owners succeed. So, in addition to our awesome cash flow software program, we continually create content that offers small business owner tips and small business marketing ideas that have worked for us, and we KNOW will work for you.

If you’re ready for a new way to gauge your project-based business, plan with confidence and achieve the goals you’ve set for your small business, get the power of FuelGauge today, with a FREE 45-day trial. You don’t even have to provide a credit card number. If, after 45 days, FuelGauge hasn’t rocked your world, you can simply walk away.

With FuelGauge, you’ll have your past, present and future revenues and expenses at your fingertips, anytime of the day or night.

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