Mindset Shift: Focus On The Clients You Already Have
Have you ever found yourself preoccupied with getting new leads – almost to the point of complete obsession?
Every six to eight months or so I’ll catch myself becoming hyper-focused on getting new people in the door — all the while having clients that I am either actively working with or clients I just finished working with who I absolutely could be providing better service for. In other words – I am so caught up in the future that I am missing out on the here and now.
Of course, we need leads. We need inquiries. We need new business! But something I see all too often is people checking out on their current clients in search of greener pastures. Fancier projects. Bigger prices. The truth is that while leads are important, they are also a bit of a vanity metric. Sometimes we get so distracted by seeing and hearing what other people are doing that we can forget to pay attention to the people right in front of us!
I try to manage this by having a little personal rule of thumb which is to always give clients that I currently have priority over clients that I could possibly have in the future. So for me that looks like:
Completing all client work for relevant deadlines prior to responding to inquiries.
Offering more competitive pricing for clients who are returning (who I know I love working with). Ie, let’s say I’m designing a set of 12 illustrations. The project might be $6,000 for a returning client and $6,500-7,000 for a new client. This isn’t information that I would share with the client, but it’s relevant because the process of onboarding and getting to know someone is very intense. When I start new projects for returning clients I almost always have a great sense of their vibe, their work style, and whether or not their personality aligns well with mine. There are no unknowns, so projects for returning clients who you enjoy working with can often feel very low-risk and easy breezy.
Offering scheduling priority for returning clients. My calendar can book out quite a ways in advance, especially between the months of January–June and September–December. However I always give my returning clients priority in the design calendar and 90% of the time I can fit their project in, even if it’s last minute.
So, with that in mind, if you’re feeling yourself becoming overly obsessed with client acquisition, let’s talk about a few reasons why it’s important to make sure you are serving your current clients as well as you possibly can before you get too deep down the rabbit hole of client acquisition:
It’s fulfilling
Giving something your all is one of the most rewarding things we can do in our lives. Have you ever sort of “coasted” on a project before? Gotten the invoice at the end and thought… man, could that work have been better? Could I have done more? Over the past 13 years this has happened to me a couple of times and it does not. feel. good. So the first reason it’s important to focus on your existing clients is just that it will feel really damn good to know that you are giving projects all you’ve got. That peace of mind goes a LONG way in your business.
It’s easier to get new work from a returning client than it is to book new clients
So here’s the thing – getting a new project from a returning client is SO much easier than convincing a new client to work with you. Returning clients are already in love with your process, your work, your approach. Outside of the fact that it’s just what we should be doing as baseline respectful business owners, we need to be serving our existing clients well because they are the best possible pipeline to additional revenue.
Word of mouth is … everything
At this stage in my business, I am 95% booked with returning clients or referral clients. That means I truly need almost zero leads coming in to generate a wonderful living for myself and my family. So while it’s true that we do need new leads, the best new leads will often come from your existing client roster. So we want that client roster to be VERY happy. When a client refers another person to you, that person is going to be coming to the table already a bit bought in. They have social proof. Someone they trust trusts you, and that means they are going to trust you too. You might find that those initial conversations where people ask you about your process, how many rounds of revisions you offer, if you can discount the price, etc. just sort of evaporate when you are communicating with a lead who has had personal contact with someone you have already provided excellent service for.
So to wrap things up, here are some phrases that I repeat to myself when I feel myself slipping away from the present. These help my mindset shift back to the current reality:
Focus on the clients who are here right now
What can you do to go above and beyond for your clients today?
Finish up client work on time, in a strategic and intentional fashion… then focus on lead gen if there is extra time
Who can I check in on today to see if they may have any additional projects in the pipeline?
If this feels awkward, you can say send an email that says something along the lines of “Hello ________, I hope your week is off to a wonderful start! I wanted to check in and see how you are doing [insert something thoughtful here. I am 100% certain that you love and care about your clients as much as I care about mind, so it shouldn’t be hard to add in a personal note about their business or family that you are genuinely interested in hearing about]. I wanted to check in because our design calendar is almost completely full for the summer so I am touching base with a few of my favorite clients [If this isn’t true, don’t say it :)] in case you have any projects that might be in the pipeline. I just want to make sure I give you priority before responding to some of our current inquiries. Looking forward to catching up!”
Stay tuned – on Thursday I will share three ways I go above and beyond for my clients (and you can too)!