Hello! In this article, we will talk about how to find clients for a web studio.

Searching for clients on the Internet is an interesting task. For any business, there are many ways to attract attention, which can result in orders or useful contacts. In this article, I will try to answer the questions of how and where to look for web studio clients, consider the main channels for attracting and talk about when it is most logical to open a web studio.

Where to look for clients for web studios

First, let's talk about available web studios. There are only 5 of them.

Own website

The most important attribute of modern web studios. Without a good site, you can forget about and generally about. With the help of your own resource, you solve 3 problems at once:

Tell us what you do and what your rates are.
Provide examples of work.
You can independently attract customers through search engines and.

The website of the web studio must be selling. If a client came to you, then you need to close him for a deal, along the way telling him that you are the best way to solve the problem for him.

Content Marketing

Pretty effective way to attract customers. You publish on your website or a third-party resource (authoritative in your niche) materials that may be useful to potential customers.

For example, on the website of a digital agency there is an article “Why not order texts like Apple?” with a clear and reasoned explanation.

Such texts show your expertise. Potential customers can come to you first for advice, then with specific tasks, and colleagues will distribute your materials.

Freelance sites and similar exchanges

freelance.ru;
fl.ru;
Freelance.

I have seen a picture more than once of how specialists from the TOP-10 in different profiles in freelancing have their own teams that perform a whole range of tasks. Basically, this is a full-fledged website development. Along the way, they can give contacts of a person who.

Networking

Networking is building business connections around yourself. Even when you just chat on social networks, respond to comments, you can build a full-fledged network of acquaintances.

A banal example: you commented on a post in your professional community, showed that you understand the topic and are an expert. The next time you will be contacted directly, either by colleagues who want an answer to a question, or by customers. Each option is good.

It is very useful for the owners and management of web studios to leave posts and comments on authoritative portals or in thematic groups on social networks. This, again, shows your expertise, you are growing as a specialist in the eyes of colleagues and customers. You may be recommended to friends.

Communication with clients in real life

Many people forget about this method of attracting customers. Surely everyone has friends who need to do something, and you can help with this. I had 2 such situations:

My friend's employer needed a description for the group. I came with a laptop, we quickly did everything with him, and then he ordered a couple more texts.

At the age of 16, I was working in the sales department at a factory (just sitting on the phone) and got into a conversation with their CEO. When he found out what I was doing, he threw a couple more orders.

And this is me, a person who just deals with texts. The owner of a web studio among his acquaintances will definitely find businessmen who need their own website. The main thing is to explain to them that this will help sales.

Each of the acquisition methods described in this article is important for creating a good flow of customers. If you have many clients, you can choose, if not, you are forced to take what is given.

Where to get clients for a new web studio: step by step instructions

Now let's move on to a complete step-by-step guide to attracting customers for a novice web studio.

Step 1. Create your own website.

The better your site looks, the more customers you will have, so you should not spare your time and effort to create your “face” on the Internet. After creation, you need to test, check all the jambs and start filling out . It is important to tell how you differ from other studios, how you can help solve the problem, what are your main advantages.

Even before creating a site, you need to figure out what kind of . These are all the benefits that will help you stand out from the crowd of competitors.

If you do not have a text specialist on staff, it is better to order articles from trusted authors.

Step 2. Filling the site with content.

After initially filling in the basic information, contacts and creating selling descriptions of your services, you need to create high-quality content that will also bring customers to you.

Tell about everything that can help your potential customers. Do not think that they will be able to do everything themselves exclusively according to your methods. Just present yourself as a specialist, reveal your knowledge and experience.

It is very important to pay attention. The best option: copy the approach of Artemy Lebedev. It shows each stage of the project.

Continue to post content throughout the life of the studio. Clients come with a typical error? Tell about her. Customers don't quite understand how something works? Give detailed instructions.

Step 3. Create a group on social networks.

When you have fully understood the site and released some useful articles, it is time to distribute them. Create your own group and start posting useful articles in it. Your task: to achieve the maximum number of views and reposts.

It is best to work on Vkontakte and Facebook. These are the two most profitable social networks for business.

Distributing content is pretty easy. Write comments, offer your entries to professional communities, raise the necessary topics in them. It all comes down again to one thing: show your expertise, interest readers and your potential customers.

Step 4. We try to acquire useful connections.

Post materials, comment on posts in professional communities, tell everyone about what you are and do your job professionally. Suggest something to less experienced colleagues, consult with professionals.

Links and word of mouth are some of the best sources of customers.

When should you open a web studio?

Now let's move away from the topic of finding clients and touch on another important question: “When should I open a web studio?” At what stage of development in your profession, at what load and client flow? There are 2 options.

First: you have a steady flow of customers who pay well. But purely physically there is no opportunity to close all projects on time, and I don’t really want to lose money and useful contacts. After all, there is a high probability that no matter how cool a specialist you are, they will leave you and transfer your business to another if you refuse once or twice due to high workload.

Here, the web studio acts as an element of scaling your own profession. You simply increase the number of hands by competently managing the work of the entire team. You train new employees, attract professionals and work on the most important projects along the way.

Second: you are multitasking, able to work in several directions, but clients prefer narrow specialists. And to work on entire projects, you need an agency. You will spend less time, concentrate on solving complex problems yourself and will be able to attract more qualified narrow specialists. In this case, you yourself act as a controlling body and superiors, who perfectly understand how and what to do.

This is also a completely working option for opening a web studio. You hire additional specialists to close projects on time. If necessary, train them, and work together on full-fledged tasks that are not assigned to one freelancer.

Website development is a piece product. And in order to promote your services expensively, you need to have many customers. More choice, more opportunities and interesting tasks. And, accordingly, more money. Therefore, use all channels of attraction, competently close clients for transactions and prove to everyone your skills with examples of work.

As a rule, companies are willing to share their technical expertise and proudly announce their achievements. But there are taboo topics. One of them is how to sell, where to get clients, how to enter major players and international markets?

To bookmarks

1. Freelance exchanges

On international exchanges, you can easily find profiles of both market leaders and small companies. When we were just starting out, freelance exchanges were our main source of orders. We took on almost all tasks, from selecting keywords to setting up analytics. Now we also use exchanges. But now we choose clients more carefully and pragmatically. We look at the possibility of business development, topics, solvency, customer history, communication and many other key factors. This source has both advantages and significant disadvantages. You can get a quick order, but because of the speed and thirst for money, you can not notice an inadequate customer and get into a mess. The customer can spoil your profile with one review, or will try to blackmail you with this. Even if you are 100% right, exchanges often take the side of the customer, since it is he who brings them money.

2. Cooperation with contractors

The most rewarding way to get clients when your merit runs ahead of you. It's damn nice when your clients are satisfied with the results of your work and recommend you as professionals to their environment. The loyalty of the audience that came on the recommendation is as high as possible. Everyone loves such clients, and to get them you need to do your job well and give clients more than they expect from you. Satisfied customers will talk about the quality of your services and new customers will look for you.

5. Corporate blog

Feel free to post your achievements and finds. Blogging will not only give a good increase in traffic to the site, increasing positions in organic search results, but also attract the attention of your future customers and partners. For each published article, we receive several requests for our services. It also forms your reputation in the market as specialists.

6. Educational activities

Perhaps one of the most native ways to make new connections, find partners and even friends. People who came to the master class or decided to attend the course on a regular basis will be happy to talk about their business and share useful information.

7. Conferences

Quite often business owners attend profile events. If you are also a speaker, then this is a great opportunity to express yourself and show off the results of your work, technical skills. If you are just a participant, nothing prevents you from getting to know the person sitting next to you and making new acquaintances at a coffee break.

8. Cold calling

Although this method is considered by many to be an atavism, it still has a place to be. Usually the conversion rate is 2-5%, but it is there. To this day, I hear stories about tenacious salesmen who know how to dial the right people and make cool deals.

A good place to make the right connections. The main rule is do not send spam. If you have found the right person for you, first of all find common interests with him. Before you sell something, try to understand the essence of his business and think about how you can really be useful to him.

10. Tenders

A great way not only to find a major client, but also to make yourself known in the market. It is necessary to be able to offer the client complex solutions and a professional approach. If the first time you fail to work with the desired client, start preparing, collecting information for the next stage, even if it will be in a year.

Always remember that selling is a systemic process, especially if you are aiming for large orders and long-term cooperation. They buy from someone they trust, no matter what source the client came to you from.

Write

When you become well known in your business, customers will constantly contact you, and not stop looking for them. When there is a lot of work, then there will not be much need to try to sell your services.

But what if you are just starting out? Before clients start calling, there may be problems with what to do all day. This is the perfect time to make yourself known.

Don't Focus on Freelance Sites

If you have nothing to do all day, it might be tempting to check out freelance sites like eLance, Guru, or Freelancer. I mean, there's a ton of clients out there offering jobs, right?

In fact, such sites can create a lot of problems for freelancers and should therefore be approached with caution. Hours spent on sites, participating in contests and low (sometimes too much) pay compared to the real value. Much better to spend this time promoting your name.

Glows everywhere and always

The reason clients started finding me was because I seemed to be everywhere they were all the time. I left comments on the blogs they visited. Then I started writing for these blogs. I tweeted helpful articles and tips throughout the day and started my own blog with unique articles.

I am often asked how I manage to be online so much. In fact, I'm often offline after work or on weekends, but I keep tweeting. My Twitter account is connected to Facebook, my website, LinkedIn and some other social networks, so it seems that I am always and everywhere. In this way, the client will remember you, consider you an expert and apply for a job.

Optimize your portfolio

I have many interests and hobbies. When I created the first portfolio site, I put everything I did there: print design, web design, logos, layout, photos and drawings. The funny thing is that I didn't get any work even though I had a lot of talents. Clients could not understand what I was doing. Now I have a simple portfolio with the best projects in one area - layout. And clients can tell exactly what I do.

Write, write, write and write again!

Customers want to know they are being taken care of by the best in the business. If they have to choose between a freelancer they've never heard of and one who's written on several popular blogs and published a book, who do you think they'll consider an expert?

You don't have to write books, but blogging is a fantastic way to get your name out there. Most sites will even pay for articles - which is a great way to make extra money.

Old Fashioned Marketing

Social media won't make you rich or solve all your marketing problems. Sometimes a few good old-fashioned marketing techniques can be the best source of new customers.

Job Boards - Job search sites in the form of job boards differ from freelancing sites because they only contain a brief description of the company and what they want to do. Such clients are often willing to pay fair money than on freelance sites.
Cold Emails - The best source of customers in the early days was sending them cold emails. I just Googled the type of client I needed and sent them a pre-prepared offer. I still get orders from this even though I stopped sending emails over a year ago.
Face-to-face - I know most of us freelancers are hermits, but attending events is a great way to find local clients. Conferences like Barcamp and Podcamp are just fun to attend and networking with other freelancers is invaluable.

Finding customers from RSS feeds

On most social sites you can subscribe to RSS feeds and they can be super helpful for finding new clients.

For example, if you go to Twitter and search for "I'm looking for a freelancer", what messages will be displayed? What other phrases might be useful for finding clients?

You'll see an RSS button for every search you do on Twitter, so it's a good idea to follow them to keep track of potential customers' posts.

In addition, almost all message boards usually have mailing lists. By subscribing to them, you will save valuable time, never miss useful messages and there will be no need to visit different sites every day.

Tell everyone what you do

When you're just starting out, let everyone you know know what you're up to. There is a possibility that someone knows someone who needs your services. So make sure everyone knows what you're up to.

Post information about yourself wherever you can

There are literally thousands of sites that allow you to post your name and link to your site. Not only is this a good SEO link exchange practice, it also brings us back to the idea of glowing everywhere. Here are some ideas:

CSS Galleries

Why is there a job for beginners when there are professionals?

Beginners charge less than professionals.
- Newcomers are more often approached by customers with small projects and a small budget. They pay little but are willing to take risks.
- Beginners are more open and willing to learn, they have more enthusiasm, and they are more responsible approach to work.
- Often, novice specialists can do the job more professionally, because everything changes very quickly on the Internet, and they have the most up-to-date knowledge.

The first customer: how to find a customer, even if you are still a novice specialist?

1. Publics: “cerebro”, “messengers”, “internet marketing from a to z”, etc.

2. Acquaintances and friends. As it turned out, one of the most efficient ways. Think carefully about all your acquaintances - most likely, among them there are business owners who may need your services.

3. Employers and partners from past work. When a person leaves work, he often stops communicating with former employers, but in vain - among them may be your potential customers.

4. Forums for entrepreneurs. Search for any business forums (business forums, startup forums, forums for restaurant owners / builders, forums in your city, etc.). Register, find topics on your specialization and answer questions there. T how do you secure the status of an expert, and customers will begin to contact you for services.

5. Internet exchanges: fl.ru, freelance.ru, work at home (community on Facebook), Startup Woman, mama lancer (LJ). The method is not very working.. There are a lot of freelancers on freelance exchanges who want like 1000 subscribers for 500 rubles. or a website for 1000 rubles. You can’t raise good money on the freelance exchange. I myself started with freelance exchanges, and if you are completely new and without a portfolio, then you need to write 50 letters a day to get an order.

6. Write on your pages in social networks that you are looking for a customer. Among your friends and subscribers, there may well be those who need a specialist in the project. And it will be even better if you represent your profile on social networks. And start publish your cases and achievements. This will help a lot if set up promo posts for your case. For example, you promoted a beauty salon and drive traffic to all Beauty Salon Owners.

7. Organizations/companies whose services you use. These can be online stores where you buy goods or authors of newsletters that you subscribe to, or leaders of trainings that you have taken.

9. Companies that send you invites to groups. But keep in mind that they are probably have a small budget times use the free promotion method. It is better to choose companies that are already investing in advertising. But, nevertheless, the method is working, especially for beginners.

10. Companies that place contextual advertising. Enter in the search the topic that interests you, and write to those companies that fell out in the ad block. This way - one of the most popular from experts in contextual advertising.

11. Targeting (and retargeting) VKontakte, Facebook or Odnoklassniki. The same - enter the topic you would like to work with, write to the owner of the business or company.

12. Companies advertised on Avito. In ads, you can see that advertising is given by a company or store, and not by an individual. Tested avito, did not work out. Clients do not understand the adequate price of the proposed project.

13. Inactive groups or groups with few posts. In the VKontakte search, enter the topic that interests you, look for inactive groups and write to their owners, offer your services.

14. Business groups in social networks - groups on the topic of business, whose members are business owners or those who are going to become them.

15. Instagram hashtags. Write something in the search in the style of #furniturenovosibirsk, #beauty salonirkutsk. Many accounts of companies and stores will drop out, which You can write. Moreover, You can offer your services to people who promote through Instagram- photographers, stylists, etc.

Advice: sign your photo with the hashtag #city (#Moscow, #Khabarovsk, etc.). They will start knocking on you companies and shops from your city.

16. DoubleGIS (2GIS) - an electronic catalog of organizations, combined with a city map. Not a very efficient way. On April 6, I opened an IP, registered there, in 2 months not a single offer.

17. I recently tried a new one. I joined Facebook groups https://www.facebook.com/groups/364545523718021/ there are many entrepreneurs in it and they are looking for contractors. If you look at the posts you can find clients there.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/targetads/ recently joined here, left a summary, one client wrote, wrote to another directly, started working with them.

Https://www.facebook.com/groups/tendering/ there are good vacancies here.

19. Write your case studies for projects and publish them in large SMM publics. You will be noticed immediately customers will contact you.

20. Expert commentary in major marketing communities.

Advice: do not immediately take on all the ways to find customers. Choose 1-2 ways, but use them to the fullest. Most likely, more methods will not be needed.

How to make the customer choose you?

- Be honest. Directly say that you are a beginner study at the training center for remote employees. Tell us about the experience and reputation of the training center of the training center for remote employees, about the fact that an experienced trainer-practitioner will observe the work on the project.
- Rest assured. Here You will receive the necessary knowledge and support, do not lose face in front of the customer. Your work will be checked at every stage, but will not be done for you.
- Be generous. Make a free consultation to your client and generously share information - the customer will appreciate it.

How much to ask?

Even if you are a beginner, don't take the job for free. Appreciate your work - and customers will appreciate you. It's better to ask for a little than nothing at all. Raising the price tag from 0 to 5000 is harder than, for example, from 2000 to 5000.

And don't negotiate terms. when the customer pays you the advertising budget, and you work for him for it for free or for a percentage of sales. Nothing good will come of it.

How and to whom do customers bring other customers?

- Customers prefer to recommend those professionals, which not only do their job well, but also love their clients, love what they do, and are ready to break into a cake, if only the client was happy.
- Customers recommend experts who know their topic perfectly and may on it advise. If you have a favorite topic (for example, yoga) and have already worked with it, share results and useful tips with other entrepreneurs and from the same area. Them Your experience can be very useful, they will turn to you for cooperation, as well as will recommend to colleagues from related fields who can also apply your advice (for example, fitness, legal centers).
- Make a portfolio with screenshots of projects and a graph showing the growth dynamics of group members, as well as describing the results in numbers. Thus, customers will see that You are a serious professional and are ready to take responsibility for the results of their work. Collect certificates and video reviews from customers. Diplomas with seals give a lot of trust.

How to find new clients for a sales manager? This question often arises for both beginners and experienced managers who are mastering a new region or territory.

Potential client portrait

Before you start looking for clients, you need to draw up a portrait of interesting business partners. Assess the most promising industries, identify market leaders by region and country, study the market situation, and identify weaknesses. This preparatory work helps answer the following questions:

Who are the clients?
Where to look for clients for a sales manager geographically?
What is the situation in the industry as a whole?
What is the client interested in?
How does he currently solve the problems, the solutions of which are supposed to be proposed?
Which companies are competing suppliers?

Having collected all the necessary information, you can draw up a portrait of a potential client who needs or may be interested in the product / service that the sales manager introduces to the market.

After the portrait of the client is defined, you can proceed directly to the search for an answer to the question of how to search for clients for a sales manager.

The simplest method for understanding how to approach a sales manager is to review the existing customer base, studying the history of interaction and successful sales, volumes and characteristics of the offer. Based on this data, it is possible to find companies that are similar in industry, volumes and potential purchases, and get in touch with them with an offer based on the successful experience of completed projects. This makes it possible to conclude quick deals and increase the client base.

The second successful and effective way to find new customers is to get recommendations from existing customers with whom relationships have been established and communication has been built.

There are several ways to find clients for a sales manager using recommendations:

A personal meeting. You can ask for recommendations and contacts of potential customers who need or might benefit from the proposed solution at a personal meeting with regular customers. People love to give advice and help, while feeling like experts. With the right approach, this method can be very effective.

Phone call. By asking an existing client for a preliminary call to a potential partner of interest, with a high degree of probability, you can count on a meeting and subsequent sale. The call of the recommender increases the credibility and becomes a good springboard for successful communication.

Visiting exhibitions and thematic events

An effective way to find customers is to visit industry exhibitions and thematic events. How to search for clients for a sales manager at exhibitions and mass events? The goal may be to get to know the company, establish personal contact with employees of the organization of interest, arrange a personal meeting. It is very important to analyze the information received and work out possible "warm" contacts as soon as possible, in hot pursuit. You should write a letter confirming the acquaintance. In the letter, it is worth recalling the place of communication, perhaps quoting the words of the interlocutor, clarifying intentions to continue the acquaintance and emphasizing the possibilities of mutually beneficial cooperation.

Attending themed events is a good opportunity for networking. Acquaintance with the right people, building communication, exchanging opinions is the way to a sale. This is where the ability to make the right impression, be open to dialogue and demonstrate an expert position in the topic that the sales manager represents will come in handy. You should avoid sales "on the forehead", obsession and manifestation of need. Self-esteem, coupled with good communication skills and good product knowledge, is the key to successful commercial communication. It is important to be sincerely interested in the state of affairs of new acquaintances, to identify or form needs, to ask the right questions.

Cold calls

A proven way to find new customers is to cold call companies of interest that fit the description of the client profile.

How to find clients for a sales manager using cold calls? The cold call algorithm might look like this:

find a decision maker on the issue;
call;
clarify information, ask questions, obtain the necessary data;
sell the opportunity and idea of cooperation;
make an appointment;
prepare a preliminary commercial offer based on the data received during the telephone conversation.

Many companies have implemented consistent telephone sales scripts. If the rules of the company allow, then it is necessary to give the calls the right emotional connotation, disposing the interlocutors to communication and partnership.

In work on cold calls, such qualities as punctuality, the ability to hear the interlocutor, and ask questions are important. It is necessary to clearly understand the purpose of the call: acquaintance, appointment of a meeting, sending preliminary information by fax or e-mail.

Cold calling conversions depend on the ability to overcome barriers, deal with customer objections, and speak the language of benefit. Competent speech, a pleasant voice, a pace of communication convenient for the interlocutor will help build a dialogue and find a new client.

Search for clients on the Internet

How to search for clients for a sales manager on the Internet, how effective is it?

Searching for potential customers on the Internet can be done in several ways:

Active participation in specialized forums with the placement of information about the product / service and demonstration of an expert position.
Placement of information about the company in social networks.
Using bulletin boards and thematic aggregators.

Social networks

Using social networks to find customers is by far one of the most effective and reliable ways to find customers on the Internet. Depending on the specifics of the business and the target audience, a social network is selected. Consider the target audience on the example of the Facebook network. The audience is young people (18-24) and the middle age group (24-45+), aimed at establishing business contacts and searching for information for self-development.

This is where you get to meet new clients most of the time. Find people of interest allows advanced search. Facilitates the task of the fact that people indicate the place of work.

Many large companies create official pages where you can get acquainted with the specifics of the company, employees, problems and news. Social networks are a source of information for analysis, finding the right people and establishing communications for further sales in a segment that is interesting for business.

Forums and bulletin boards

Studying and active participation in specialized Internet forums helps to analyze the work of competitors and add really important advantages for customers to your unique commercial offer. As a rule, on such resources, customers and suppliers share industry news, opinions about products and services, and discuss pressing issues. In addition to new acquaintances and necessary contacts, here you can actively promote your company, taking into account feedback from other suppliers, emphasizing the benefits of your offer and product / service.

Bulletin boards in the Internet space are paid and free. They differ in territorial coverage and sectoral direction. By creating a small selling offer with contact details, you can provide passive lead generation without raising additional funds. The sales manager can specify his contact phone number and receive requests directly, ensuring that he fulfills the plan.