What does every ambitious entrepreneur want? Clients. Every business needs someone to buy the goods and services to help keep the business afloat. Yet, acquiring loyal clients takes strategy and finesse.
If you are ready to work with people who are happy to pay you for your service, here’s how you can convert people you don’t know into paying customers.
Step 1: Target the right audience
“Focus on identifying your target audience, communicating an authentic message that they want and need, and project yourself as an “expert” within your niche.”–Kim Garst
What you’re selling is as important as who you’re selling it to. That’s why having a target audience, or a group of people that your product or service is meant for, is an important aspect of your business.
So how do you find your target audience? You can start with creating a buyer persona. Imagine the details, descriptions, problems, and goals of the people you want to sell to. When you have a better understanding of who you want to sell to, you can create content and advertisements that connect to them.
From this, everything you do in your business, especially your messaging should be done with your target audience in mind.
“In a very distracted world, if you want to be able to convert a stranger, you have to be able to grab their attention,” says Christine Job, a business strategist and podcast host. “ The best way to do that is to make them feel that you are speaking directly to them.”
Step 2: Create Valuable Content
In this digital age, content makes the world go round. But not any type of content, valuable content is what gets pushed in front of bigger audiences. Informative and engaging content is what generates business leads. To create this type of content, the Content Marketing Institute says that your should content contain the following.
- Show your authority: Showcase your knowledge, and experience in your field of business. Highlighting your achievements is also another way to show authority. If your business is new, you can gain authority by referencing data from reputable sources or showcasing your success.
- Have a purpose with your content. Most people gravitate to content that is informative, entertaining or answers questions. Before you post, ask yourself what you hope your audience gets out of a particular piece of content.
- Create content that is simple to consume: Don’t fill your content with industry jargon, flashy texts, and over-the-top video effects. Your content is competing with other creators. If your information is too complicated, viewers will click away.
“Don’t just create content to get credit for being clever — create content that will be helpful, insightful, or interesting for your target audience.”-David Ogilvy
Step 3: Cold Calling
Do you remember getting phone calls from random numbers who within seconds of you answering is trying to sell you something? That is a form of cold calling, where businesses contact potential buyers and try to convince them to buy their product.
Although cold calling may seem like a poor business strategy, there are effective and less effective ways to this approach.
The key with cold calling, or cold emailing, is to start a relationship or help someone become interested in your business.
According to the business owner, Vickia Johnson, building these relationships starts with being friendly.
“I am a friendly person so turning strangers into clients comes easy for me,” Johnson shares. “Part of my secret to turning strangers into clients is to go above just commenting on their post.”
When you notice people consistently engaging with your content, reach out to them to introduce yourself. Then start to inquire about what they need help with. Learn what problems they are currently facing. Once you establish a connection you can start nurturing that relationship into something more.
Step 4: Nurture potential clients
One of the best ways to gain potential clients is to get them on an email list. An email list, allows you to create content exclusively for your audience. You can create content that targets their pain points, helps solve their problems, and makes them feel seen.
Consistent nurturing through videos, podcasts, and emails solidifies that you and your brand are a trusted resource available to them whenever they are ready to purchase,” Job advises. “ I strongly recommend always having a call to action/call to purchase throughout all content (which can be done in an informative way, not necessarily a super salesy way).”
The more you interact with your audience, the more you establish trust with them. Once you establish that trust you begin to sell to them thus turning strangers into clients.
