Not knowing how to approach or to scout for clients? Here are 5 ways!

Whether you're a freelancer, entrepreneur, or a small business owner, building a solid client base is crucial for sustained success. Yet, not knowing how to approach or scout for potential clients is a real struggle. In this article, we'll explore five effective strategies to help you overcome the hurdle of not knowing how to approach or scout for clients.

For us entrepreneurs, founders and CEOs, we always freak out when trying to grow and expand our client base with new markets or avenues of potential clients that we had not explored in the past. For my clients, it is usually stepping online and knowing how to find more clients and customers for their businesses through online channels. We all hear that it is possible to grow your business or passion to 7-8 figures of revenue, by tapping in the large pool of the billions of customers coming to the online space every day. But how to do it effectively remains a question that many struggle to figure out.

How to approach or scout potential clients?

The first answer lies directly in the question. Approach them. But if it were that easy, you wouldn't be reading this article, and everyone will grow businesses to million-dollar levels every day.

When you attempt to do that, you face potential rejection, potential threat to your reputation, and potential judgment. Will you face all of these? Oh yes! I am not here to sell you a false dream. But usually, it is within these obstacles that you make the biggest lessons that will yield incredible benefits.

The goal of this article is not to raise more fear though, but to give you practical, actionable items to make your search for clients a fun and easy process that you truly enjoy.

If your business or project is a strong passion for you, it is key to make this practice a strong passion too. Because your passion or project will not grow without a strong community of clients who love your services and products! Your clients' growth will make you fall more and more in love with your business or project.

So, here are the 5 ways to make client search a fun and easy process for you!

1. Define - Your Ideal Client Profile

Before you can effectively approach and scout for clients, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of your ideal client. Here is what you should clarify:

• Their identity and demographics (their title or role, their social status, man/woman, ages, culture, etc...);
• Their BIG needs: Not just any needs, but their BIGGEST ones. Your ideal client doesn't have just a one-time 100$-problem. They have a bigger problem, that you can address... This is why when coming into business you should focus your efforts on the potential B2B or 4-to-6-figure deals clients (no matter what you sell). This is how you will understand your markets' needs faster, by penetrating the markets with bulk-order buyers.
• Their pain points: Usually the struggles in converting prospects into clients, come from not addressing well the pain points of your clients. Their needs and desires usually tell you what they desire, but the pain points tell you at what cost they are willing to get it. The biggest pain points are related to money, time, or lack of resources. You need to understand how it applies directly to your potential clients. 

Knowing your ideal client profile will help you tailor your approach, save you tons of precious time talking to the wrong people, and focus your efforts on individuals or businesses that are most likely to benefit from your products or services. It is key to focus on talking to niches at this stage. Do not be afraid if this profiling reduces the potential of client pools that you may reach. I do this exercise every month with my clients, and it has increased significantly my clients' closing rates from 10% to 33%, from the initial touchpoint to their final big sales. 

2. Search - Go where your clients GATHER

If you are not approaching enough potential clients, it is because you are not yet in spaces where they gather in tons, and thus, you may feel your products and services are not that needed. In today's digital age, online platforms offer vast (vast!) opportunities to connect with potential clients. LinkedIn only has 1 billion people engaging every month on the platform. Are you sure you really cannot find one big deal in this pool? Really? Social media, professional networking sites, and industry-specific forums are excellent places to showcase your expertise and engage with potential clients. Your clients could gather on:

• Influencers: Go at influencers and thought-leaders with large and mid-following in your industry. Your potential clients are probably engaging a lot on their platforms if they are actively looking and searching for your services. networking with individuals who may be interested in your offerings.
• Your online content: this is why you should create a strong online presence by sharing valuable content. In my list of top-influencer to follow that have gained me many clients, I am among the top 10 myself, because my content also brings me clients monthly.
• Groups and forums with clearly identified titles from your ICA profiling above: participate in relevant discussions in these communities and listen to people asking questions related to your products or services, they need you!

One bonus tip here: you need to reduce your pool of searches only to the relevant ones where you are sure to quickly find your clients (e.g. don't go on tons of social media platforms, focus your energy on the platform where you're most likely to close your high ICA, I prefer LinkedIn!). But you also need to increase and expand your pools of potential clients enough, read point 5 to know why!

3. Approach them with a point of commonality or a compliment:

Your potential clients are people, and they do not deserve to receive an automated message that you've sent to 100s other prospects in a day. It is key to find points of commonality before approaching a new potential client. Platforms like LinkedIn are great at giving you a full résumé and points of commonality that you share with someone. Compliments also work well when introducing yourself to a new prospect. 

4. Build - the relationship first. Validate that they can be a client.

It is essential to invite them to a chat first, by asking key questions about their priorities and needs, before proposing them a sales discussion. I share in my program a clear guide of how to do this effectively. You can sign up for a discovery call with me here if you are interested in learning more about it.

5. Multiply - Approach many opportunities. Put a strategy behind it.

The more prospects and opportunities that you would generate, the more you will get a personalized approach that works for you. So, if in the past, you have approached only 10 people per month, grow this 50 per month, and if you truly want to challenge yourself and upskill fast, approach 100 great ICAs. It will allow you also to be less affected by the potential rejection of some prospects. When you have an opportunity that's about to close, you're less concerned with the prospect disrespecting, than if you were betting everything on just that prospect.

Got it? Define, Search, Approach, Build, Multiply!

These are my 5 strategies for approaching and scouting for clients. It is an integral part of growing your business and any! Remember that building relationships and establishing trust are key components of successful client acquisition. With these strategies in place, you'll be better equipped to expand your client base and drive the success of your business.