To fill her initial pipeline, consultant Jessica Best targeted her local network who knew her expertise but couldn't afford her previous agency's rates. This created an immediate pool of warm leads who saw her new, independent services as both high-quality and newly accessible.
Related Insights
The goal of networking shouldn't be to find your next customer. Instead, strategically identify and connect with potential referral partners. One such partner can become a center of influence, introducing you to hundreds of ideal customers, far outweighing the value of a single transaction.
In a noisy, low-trust market, referrals are the fastest way to build credibility. Don't just ask passively; actively build a tight-knit circle of customers and peers where you mutually act as 'Yelp reviews' for each other to generate business.
For a new service business, the primary goal is building proof, not immediate revenue. It is far more efficient to acquire 10 free clients to generate testimonials, case studies, and learnings. This social proof then becomes powerful leverage to attract the next 10 paying customers much more easily.
Ditch the aspirational "Ideal Client Profile," which represents a rare, perfect-world scenario. Instead, build a "Target Client Profile" that defines which customers will perceive the most meaningful value from your offering. This provides a realistic, operational benchmark for qualifying leads.
If referrals are your main acquisition channel, shift your focus from selling to the end-user to serving the referrer. Create a dedicated "customer journey" for your referral partners, equipping them with the right framing and tools to pre-sell your service at your desired price point.
The quickest path to securing your initial client base is not cold outreach. It's systematically informing your existing professional network about your new services. People who already know and trust you are your warmest leads; they just don't know you're available.
When starting out, don't just charge a low fee. Instead, state your full market-rate price and offer a significant discount (e.g., 50%) as an introductory offer. This establishes your true value from the beginning while still winning the client. Then, systematically raise your price every few clients.
To win over a high-profile client resistant to outsourcing, identify a small, specific gap in their current strategy (e.g., lack of carousels). Pitching a low-risk, targeted solution can be the 'foot in the door' that leads to a much larger, full-service engagement.
If your business relies heavily on referrals from centers of influence (e.g., consultants, agencies), reframe your entire business model. Your true customer is the referral partner. Build a 'customer journey' specifically for them, focused on making it easy and profitable for them to send you well-framed, high-quality leads.
The most credible salesperson is a former client who successfully used your service to grow their own business in your target industry. Their story becomes an authentic, built-in testimonial during the sales pitch, creating instant trust and rapport with prospects.
