Why you need clients

Every business has its goal, to make gains. Every entrepreneur works hard to have an impressive ROI (Return on Investment). This does not fall from the skies or by magic. Every successful business has lots of satisfied clients behind it. If you do not have clients, you work hard to get them, so that your toils will not be in vain. If you have clients and you cannot retain them, you have a lot to lose, as you did not start your business to serve yourself  or your family and friends. The secret to your success lies with your clients. If you are good at what you do, you do not even need much of advertising because your satisfied clients will be your sign post. Your good work will market itself.  You may think that ‘clients’ apply only to businesses, whatever you are doing to make gain or achieve an endpoint, be it a church to win members, school to have more students, politics to win more votes, etc, all of them depend on how effectively you can acquire and maintain clients. You need clients for your business to grow.  Imagine if people do not put their money in banks, will there be anything like banks? That is why banks roll out strategies everyday to get more people to invest with them. These days banks, Internet Service  providers and other companies sponsor events, even TV shows and other things you would not believe, because they want  to reach out to people. They sponsor movies and shows so that they can reach out to you (Movie/shows lover) with their various services. They try to reach you at your point of interest. They may be spending a lot to do this, but believe me, it pays off. Many of us will probably not know of many of their services and promos, or patronize them, otherwise.

How to get more clients?

There are countless strategies that work for different setups, but here are some of the techniques that our clients have used for their businesses, and they have reported huge success with them. You should check them out too. It is true that no business starts out very successful. Many entrepreneurs report that they failed many times before they made it. You don’t have to fail before you make it, that is why we learn. Learn from the mistakes of others, learn their techniques and secrets and use the advantage to reach greater heights with less stress

1. Build your brand name:

   You have a business idea, good. You decided to work on it, even better. But have you built the name? Have you got it registered? Do you have a website for it? Do you even know why you need a website?   In case you are wondering why you need a website, have you had a look at your biggest competitors? Do they have a website or not? This time you need to advice yourself. Many people complain that they need to plan for the cost of website. And they encourage themselves to keep delaying , because they do not have an idea that a business with a website makes over 5 times as much profit. You should watch our video on why you need a website, If you are ready to make your business work, get it an online presence! A brand name in this 21st century without an online presence, is a joke.  Again, do you have logos, and other trademarks that make your name stand out? Have you created a solid presence online for your business on social media? Of course you don’t need to be told that the world has gone completely digital, and from research, the average smart phone owner spends about 5 hours daily on social media. Don’t you see the advantage? Have you got your business listed on online business directories?  Of course you know that online directories help a lot! That is why at Ozconsultz we have a forever free business listing package to support businesses that cannot afford the cost of building a website at the moment, and to help already established ones get reviews, and other business profile benefits to build their reputation. There other business directories out there too like Google Business, Bing place, etc. It gives you a ‘limited’ but necessary online presence, to have a link you can give people to go check your customer reviews, see your work portfolio and more. When you finally get your own website, the listing would still be of great use to you as you can be found by people searching for the category of service(s) that you offer. Get your business listed, it’s an advantage!  When you succeed in getting yourself a brand name,  you have achieved something. But of course your competitors all have the same, but the difference is how do you present your brand? You might be wondering, why all the questions? I need you to get your thinking cap on. I need you to see your business from another perspective. If you were a prospective client, how would you rate your brand as  at this moment? Build your brand, make it sound loud, clear and unique!

2. Be willing to invest in your clients:

   Okay so you now have a brand name, registered, with your business website all done and ready. You have created social media accounts, and started posting to them, you have started making videos for your business, and much more; and you tell yourself you have tried, that you have invested into your business. That may be true, but even your dumbest competitor has also done the same! You need to do something they have not. Invest, spend on your potential clients! It may sound crazy, but chill, lets break it down with examples from two different scenarios.

A. You deliver physical products or services, let’s say you design bags and shoes, and you have already done everything to  boost your business but not much is coming in. Did you know that each Christmas, birthday, etc, banks and organizations buy things in bulk for their workers? They reward some of their clients with many attractive gifts too. How about you write and visit different banks (or other companies) and propose giving them some bags FREE or at a much discounted rate, as a present to their clients and workers? Believe me no sensible company will turn you away. If your work is good, You can supply them let’s say 10 bags and 10 shoe pairs, your very best.  All with your branded logo and content on them. I know the banks/companies will also like to put their mark on it, but that should not be an issue.  you know how much people love and cherish FREE things. If your handiwork is good you will see influential bank/company clients and workers wearing your shoes and carrying your customized bags to events  where the timbre and caliber of the society gather. Good things easily get noticed, and someone would want to have a look, and see your name , number or website fully stamped on the shoe/bag. What do you think will happen next? The person might call you, (less likely) ask around about your brand (more likely, if they really like it) or visit your website (Most likely!) If you have a good website, they will see all your handiwork in full display,  don’t worry about the rest! Even the banks/companies can come back to you when they need bulk supplies for their marketing campaigns, and even recommend you to other businesses and brands.

B. You are a digital services provider, let’s say web designer. it is supposed to be easy for you to get one for yourself for a start. Potential clients will start judging your profile from there. It would be a shame if you claim to be a website designer and you do not have a website of your own.  If it’s because of the cost of hosting, there are many affordable web hosting companies out there. Eg. Solidhostglobal is giving a whooping 90% off all their hosting and reseller hosting packages. (as at the time of writing this piece) You can get a hosting package for yourself or get a reseller hosting to host yourself and the people you design websites for, this is another opportunity on its own, to start your own hosting business. that’s by the way.

So let’s assume you have done your homework well and that your “House” is in order, your are all ready, just need to get more clients. Go to a popular Facebook group, type “I am a website designer and I want to build my portfolio. I will design a business website for free for 20 people ( or as many people as you can), Inbox me if interested..”

Within minutes you will see people inboxing you, to show you that really there is demand for your services. It might be stressful, but If you do the free offers professionally, they will be willing to leave you positive reviews on any platform you choose. Those reviews will pay off, but maybe not just yet. Build your portfolio, let people see samples of the jobs you did.  Share them with friends and family, and on social media and even forums, when the opportunity arises.

With your portfolio and reviews from satisfied clients (That you did free) You can approach organizations, and make offers to design for them. I assure you many of your competitors may not go this far. You can even go to banks, and strike deals for web development services for their clients. At the time of writing this article, Access bank has suddenly started offering web design services. That will show you, that people are already thinking. What concerns a bank with web development? Someone must have followed an advice like this. Not just banks, think outside of the box.  And by now, you must have posted samples of the the work you did on that ” Popular Facebook Group” and many other groups like that. Lots of people will likely see your work and the good reviews, and want to have sites like that for their own businesses. It works. We have used this strategy severally ourselves. last month we did a FREE WEBSITE OFFER for up to 5o businesses, and people from different parts of the world were rushing all over social media to get the offer. And even after the offer, given our reputation, lots of people kept coming, asking for to be considered, even if they had to pay discounted prices. I don’t know if you are getting the point? To take things further you can partner with a web hosting company to offer free domains to your clients, if they patronize you to design their websites, or to give them discount on hosting, with periodic free Design+Hosting+Domain offers. These are investments, spend on your clients. I bet you, you will be the one to run from jobs! You may even start outsourcing some jobs or hiring other developers to help you out. This advice and principle apply to every digital service.

You have to have a strategy to win people. There must be something you can give them, to encourage them, something your competitors do not give. Think about what you have read, I hope it helps .

Need more ideas, or want to discuss prospects for your business? feel free to schedule an appointment, it’s free!