Christina and Derrick were building a new house from the ground up. Their vision was to build a solid home that would bring them years of joy and last for generations to come.
While Christina was busy picking out wallpaper and finishes, and Derrick was designing the backyard pool area, the builder walked over to the couple and said:
“Congrats you two! We’re about ready to break ground! But first I need to know what type of foundation you have in mind. Choice A will last a lifetime but takes more time for us to construct. Choice B we can start today, but is likely to require maintenance and work down the road.”
The two looked at each other, confused. They didn’t know that building a long-lasting, high-quality house started with the foundation – and one that required time to build.
Generating clients for your service-based business is not so different than building a strong foundation for your home.
If you want a business that can sustain for the long-term and that requires little business development work down the road, then building that client pipeline foundation is key.
That’s why anytime someone asks me the question, “How do I get clients?” I first want to know two things:
- Is their personal LinkedIn page optimized
- Have they been posting consistent content for at least 6 months
99% of the time, the answer to both is “no.”
These two simple strategies – optimizing your personal LinkedIn page and posting consistent content – are hands-down the best foundation for building a client pipeline that results in very little business development work down the road.
In fact, just yesterday, Upside member Stephanie Blair Caranante told me, “I’ve seen close to a 75% increase in traffic to my LI page and a 50% increase in traffic to my website after posting two recent podcasts where I was a guest.”
So before you spin your wheels with cold outreach strategies and question why it’s so darn hard to get clients, lay a strong client pipeline foundation with content and LinkedIn.
This will help position you as the expert you are, stay top-of-mind and draw in warm client leads… without ever having to sell one thing.
And if you’ve read this far, then I’ve proven my point that content really does work!
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