So you’re an aspiring business owner and want to know the best outreach strategy to get you high paying clients?
Maybe you aren’t into owning a business and just like to read words that I like to put on the internet.
Either way is fine by me 🙂
An outreach strategy is simple.
It is how individuals/business owners reach out to potential customers and offer them a product or service.
An effective outreach strategy is essential part of keeping a business alive, especially a service based business.
After all, if your leads dry up then you can’t expect to have any revenue coming in.
Now lets get into the juicy content.
It’s going to be packed full of useful tips on how you can find clients, set meetings and get that deal over the line.
The best outreach strategy?
This isn’t an easy question to answer, but at the same time it is.
The answer is that there isn’t a single strategy that is best above all.
Although, some people have better results than others using completely different outreach strategies.
The truth is that you’re going to have to play to your strengths.
Are you comfortable talking on the phone and find it easy to articulate yourself over a simple conversation?
Then cold calling could be a good strategy for you to use.
Maybe you aren’t confident on the phones but you know how to word emails to perfection. In this case you might want to consider an effective email strategy.
You get the point.
You need to be honest with yourself and ask yourself what method out there would be best suited to me?
Now don’t get me wrong. If you have never had much experience with a certain method then don’t put that down as a strategy that wouldn’t work for you.
You need to push yourself and persevere with things in the beginning.
Don’t worry, new things always feel uncomfortable in the beginning. This certainly happened with me.
My outreach strategy
My outreach strategy is far from perfect and it isn’t the most efficient, but it works for me and its ever evolving.
Its been developed and refined over a period of time.
I don’t stick to one particular outreach method, I use a variety that compliment each other.
TIP: I recommend using a variety of platforms for outreach
These methods include:
- Social media DM’s (Facebook and Instagram)
- Cold calling
- Warm outreach using freelancing platforms (People Per Hour)
Following a plan
One of the main aspects to make an outreach strategy successful is consistency.
I aim to make outreach the top of my to do list everyday. Even making contact with 5-10 people a day can make a huge difference over a long period of time.
I doubt you will get anywhere fast with this method but it is better than no outreach for several days at a time.
Lets go through how I would work out a strategy using the 4 methods provided.
1. First contact
First contact with someone local will be a phone call. I know its scary if you have never done it before but trust me, with practice it will get a hell of a lot easier.
If the company is further away or international then I’ll get an email and use my email strategy.
Within my email strategy I can include any emails that I have collected using cold calls.
You will only get the business owner on the phone a handful of times, so the next best thing is to get a direct email address.
2. Consistency
Okay so now the lead is in your CRM system and you have all the details of the last contact you made. If you don’t have an answer then keep contacting them.
This is where the consistency is needed.
Sounds simple but this is so important. Studies have shown that it can take up to 8 touches with a lead for them to become a sale.
How can you expect to get a client if you only contact them once or twice?
Its so simple, yet very few seem to understand.
3. Multiple platforms
We understand that calling and emails may not always be the most effective way to get someones attention.
Remember we talked about using multiple platforms?
Now is the time to put that into effect using social media.
Most people in the world have social media, especially business owners.
Use this to your advantage.
Find the business owners name using companies house (if based in the UK), then search them on either Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
Bingo.
You’ve gone straight to the source.
Send them a quick message explaining who you are and how you can help them.
Again, this requires consistency so don’t expect them to come back with a reply first time.
4. Alternative Avenues
This step of the strategy is more of an extra thing you can do to find more leads.
Its what I like to use so I can keep consistent but also find high quality leads that will pay good money.
I go onto freelancing websites and apply for job postings.
I can send out 10 proposals in less than an hour. Which allows me to keep that consistency when I’ve had a busy day and haven’t got much time.
Check out other freelancing websites here.