How to Get New Clients: Sell the Outcome of Your Work
Get new clients by selling the outcome of your work. Show the before and after, choose a clear audience and describe an offer customers can understand.
I run my business in Germany. Monetary examples use euros unless another currency is stated.
For someone with a hammer, everything is a nail. That’s the phrase that came to mind when a consultant showed me his landing page. He uses artificial intelligence to help craft businesses. On his page, he offered a general AI check.
The page generated contacts. However, every conversation felt forced. He had to first figure out what problem the business had, how urgent it was, and what he could even sell them. The reason was simple: he didn’t know exactly what he was selling, and neither did his potential customers.
That’s the mistake I most often see when acquiring new customers. Customers don’t buy tools; they buy a result that they urgently want right now. Here’s how you can find that result, filter your contacts, and ultimately only speak with people who genuinely want to buy.
AI is the hammer, not your customer’s problem
The consultant had AI as his hammer. So, he tried to solve every problem with AI. Ironically, the business owners themselves told him what they were missing during the conversations: new orders.
These customers don’t care how you solve their problem. You could even use a magic wand. They want a full pipeline of customers. I wouldn’t even talk about the tool itself.
This applies to any tool, whether it’s software, a method, or a process. It helps you deliver the result faster and better in the background. For your customer, you’re simply the problem solver. You’re in the marketing business, not the AI business.
Find out where your customer’s business is currently stuck
Every business is in one of two phases. In the first phase, they lack orders. In the second phase, there’s enough demand, but not enough people or processes to handle everything.
A restaurant in a prime location is an example of the second phase. Customers come in anyway. The problem is a lack of staff, not a lack of customers. The craft businesses from my example are in the first phase.
Those in the first phase aren’t buying process optimization. For them, it’s an expense, and they’re looking to save money. They think, “What’s the point of improving my processes? I don’t even have any orders.” It only becomes interesting when their order books are full, and their team can’t keep up.
Your customer’s business is a chain of several steps. Identify where the chain is breaking for them, and fix that specific point. If the phone rarely rings, they need more inquiries. If it rings, but nobody buys, perhaps their offers are too slow or too expensive. Only after one step is working do you optimize the next.
That’s why I always listen first to what my customers want and position my offer accordingly. Trying to sell against the current is extremely draining.
Make your promise as concrete as possible
A general AI check doesn’t tell anyone what they’ll gain. Compare that to this title for a lead magnet: “Seven ways for tile layers to get more customers, even in a difficult economy.” A lead magnet is something free that potential customers exchange for their email address.
With this title, the reader immediately understands. “I’m a tile layer. I’m lacking customers. The economy is tough right now. And here, someone has a trick up their sleeve.” With a title that specific, I believe you get much cheaper contacts than with a broad promise. However, you need to focus on a specific target audience. I show you how to do that in the article Narrowing your target audience.
In the lead magnet, you openly show how your system works. At the end, you simply ask, “Should I implement this for you, or do you want to do it yourself?”
Filter with a survey instead of cold calls
The consultant had so many contacts that he couldn’t call them all. Many didn’t answer the phone, and others weren’t a good fit. This cost him energy every day.
My advice was clear: stop chasing people down with follow-up calls. The worst waste of time is making a process efficient that you don’t even need to do.
Instead, immediately send every new contact to a short, multi-step survey after they’re added. For craft businesses, it could look like this:
- How many employees do you have?
- What is your business’s revenue?
- What is your biggest bottleneck right now? Too few inquiries, too few inquiries are converted into orders, offers take too long, or your team is too small?
- When do you want to solve this? This month, next month, or do you not know?
Those who select “do you not know” don’t get a call. You speak with those for this month and next month. They land on a results page. It says something like, “Thank you for your brief introduction. Based on your answers, I can help you achieve this result. Let’s talk about it.” Below that, there’s a calendar for booking a meeting. You don’t have to cold call anyone.
If someone reaches out and wants to speak with you, talk to them. I explain how I handle those requests in the article Structuring your sales process. You need a survey when you get more contacts than you can personally call.
The order in which people buy
For someone to buy from you, four things need to align, and in this specific order:
- He is friendly and cooperative and eager to talk to you.
- He knows what he wants.
- He wants it now.
- He wants it from you.
If someone doesn’t even bother to respond to a short email, they won’t be able to complete a project with you. And if someone doesn’t know what they want, you won’t be able to sell anything to them.
I experienced this firsthand. I once offered consulting services to people who wanted to build an online business but didn’t have any ideas. Initially, I worked with them to brainstorm ideas. Then it became clear: No one makes a decision about a business model in 30 minutes just because I spontaneously suggest something. I discontinued the offer.
You can prepare the first three steps with text, surveys, a results page, and emails. You only need the personal conversation for the final step: The customer decides that they want it from you.
Take small steps
Many people want to jump from the initial contact to a sale in one leap. However, most people prefer a slower pace. They first need to feel that you understand their situation.
Recently, I was looking at perfume in a store. The saleswoman asked me thoughtfully if I preferred sweet or fruity scents. As soon as I made a small comment about one fragrance, she offered me three bottles with a discount. Then she offered another promotion with a €10 discount.
I hadn’t even said that I wanted to buy anything. If I like something, I’m willing to pay more. At that moment, I just wanted to be left alone. It’s the same with your customers. First, find out what they want. Then, offer them exactly that.
Reconnect with existing contacts with a simple question
Often, contacts from previous campaigns are left unused. You can find out who currently has a need with just one question.
For example, write to your contacts: “Are you looking for new customers for your trades business this month? Simply reply with ‘Customer’ and I’ll send you all the details.” The idea comes from the American marketer Dean Jackson. You can find my version with a template in the article The 7-Word Email.
This email doesn’t sell anything. It simply checks who is currently interested and wants to talk. Everyone else will naturally sort themselves out.
After that, write to your list regularly. I’ve been writing emails for ten years, every day, personally. To start, once a week is the minimum, that’s the bare minimum. The email only provides value. The sales pitch is in the P.S.
Here’s an example for trades businesses: You mention three specific ways to generate more inquiries, such as local search engine optimization, advertising campaigns, and organic marketing. In the P.S., you ask again for the word “Customer.”
Choose a market where it already works
I would choose a business that has been proven to work. Acquiring new customers for trades businesses is one such market. Other providers are already making good money in that market. Of course, there’s competition. Anything that’s successful has competition. And you don’t need thousands of customers. Often, five or ten are enough.
Then, look at how successful providers in your market sell their services. What do they offer, how do they phrase it, what emails do they send? In Meta’s advertising library, you can see what ads they are currently running. Adopt the process, not the words.
For paid advertising, there’s a simple rule: If you invest €10 in advertising, you need to recoup that €10 as quickly as possible. That’s the most difficult part. If you can do that, everything after that is profit. I describe how advertising works with a lead magnet as bait in the article Direct Marketing.
Your checklist for acquiring more new customers
- Write down, in one sentence, the specific result your customer urgently wants to achieve.
- Determine whether they lack demand or capacity, and sell a solution that addresses that specific bottleneck.
- In your advertising, talk about the result, not your tool.
- Give your lead magnet a title that targets a specific audience and addresses a particular problem.
- Ask about their size, bottleneck, and timeframe. Only those who want to solve their problem now will see the calendar.
- Send your contacts a question that requires a one-word answer and write to them at least once a week.
Start with the question to your contacts. It’s quick to write and will show you today who is currently interested in talking to you.