The Fierce Business Babe Podcast Ep 164: How I Signed My First Five Clients

Today, I am diving into how I signed my first five clients without even having a sales page. I talk about how I got started, what I did to make converting leads into paying clients possible, and action steps that you can take in your business right now to help you sign more clients.

How I Signed My First Five Clients

By: Melissa Lin

Welcome back to another episode of The Fierce Business Babe Podcast! I do hope that you are having an amazing morning or afternoon or evening, whenever it is that you are taking the time to listen to this podcast episode. It is currently Friday morning for me and it is one of my CEO/ content days. Typically Fridays are a mix of both CEO and content days for me. I am most in flow in the earlier part of the day when it comes to content creation and I love leaving my content creation towards the end of the week. I usually have a lighter ends of the week, so Thursdays and Fridays, mostly Fridays. I've got my hot cup of tea in my hands on this chilly fall day all snuggled up in my big comfy sweater, and I'm ready to give you all some amazing tips and tricks today. Something that I absolutely love doing, and this is something that we actually do almost daily in our business, is some form of market research from our audience. And so we always want to make sure that we are creating the content that fits our launch calendar, and our schedule, and it's also content that our audience is wanting and content that our audience is looking for, meaning you, right? So this is maybe something that you're struggling with at the moment. I'm excited to dive into today's podcast episode and it's something that came from that same market research. So a few weeks ago I asked my Instagram stories, “what topics would you like to learn about?” One of the most frequent questions or topics that came up was, how did I sign my first two clients? So I'm going to share exactly that in today's podcast episode. So we're going to dive into how I signed my first five clients, some key items to signing clients, some actions that you can take today to convert more of your leads into paying clients, and so, so much more.

How I Signed My First Five Clients

So, the first thing that I want to chat about is, of course, how I signed my first five clients. My first five clients were all private coaching clients, and this is normally what I recommend starting with as your first offer. Something I will share is nothing in business is cookie-cutter. However, as your first offer one-on-one is typically the lowest overhead for you, it’s typically the easiest to get started, and you really don't need too much in terms of a website or a sales page. Let's say that you do want to start a course first, you're just really aligned into starting the course or some other programs besides one-on-one coaching. Amazing, you most definitely can do so, however, I do recommend having a few people go through it first. Whether that's a few beta clients or even one-on-one clients, go through the actual material first before launching into the full course so that you can get some feedback on it. It is much easier to make adjustments to something before it's live, or when it's one-on-one with clients versus in a group program, or a course that’s been launched into the world. And so, I definitely recommend having some people go through it, beta clients, whatever that looks like, test it out. Make sure it's exactly what your clients are looking for and exactly what is needed for that transformation as well. I can tell you from experience, again, it's so much easier to make any kind of adjustments to a program or program material when it's one-on-one versus everything that you create for a course.

So, I signed my first five clients all without a sales page. I signed my first five clients without a full planned launch. I signed my first five clients without working, you know, 20 hours a day. So I want to share how and what that looked like for me. Again, this was years ago when I was just starting, but I've learned so much over the years and want to really share what I did, what I would recommend you focus on today, this week, and next month. And so one of the big key factors was I had my business foundations put together. I knew exactly who my ideal client for private coaching was, and I was able to speak directly to their pain and pleasure points. I was so clear on the transformation of my program and started to add value onto my platforms, Instagram and my first free Facebook group that I also had. I built strong connections and strong relationships with my audience and everybody that was interested in my content that I was teaching on those platforms, and so, for my first five clients, I was really focused and spent most of my time in my free Facebook group. I wanted to grow a community and really have a space where others could surround themselves with other like-minded women who wanted to go where they wanted to go as well. So I was really focused on my free Facebook group for a while, and it was less than 100 people at that time actually. I want to say for my first five clients it may have even been less than 50 at that time, and I spent time really getting to know every single person in the group, what their struggles were, what they were trying, what they were doing, what was working, wasn't working, their goals, and I gave massive amounts of value with live trainings and my other content inside of this free group for my audience and potential leads. I was really nurturing my audience, connecting, adding touch points, and so the minute that I announced that coaching spots were available, my DMs were flooded. On top of my warm leads that were reaching out, I also utilized all the tools social media was providing at the time. So in terms of my Facebook group, I could ask polls, I could connect in Messenger. When it came to Instagram I could utilize different things as well, getting feedback in my content through comments and things like that. So really utilizing the tools that social media provides us. I was also able to see who in my audience needed the program and support for me based on responses. So something I did, and I recommend this for any kind of high-touch program, if there's any one-on-one or even group support, I prequalified potential clients that were interested in the DMs and, yes, I prequalify as I mentioned. We do not accept everybody into my programs or to work with me because not everybody is a fit and I'm not always a fit for them, which is okay, both my time, both their time are so valuable. I had a single conversation and determined whether it was a fit or not. Back then I was hopping on sales calls and doing mostly all sales calls, and now most of my sales, if not all of them, come without any sales calls. We sell via email, via website, DMs, and more. Selling is selling whether it’s on the phone, over videos, or through messages, and over the years I've become an expert in selling in ways that feels so, so good to me, and yes, I teach my clients how to do the same. So that is how I signed my first few clients, my first five clients. Connecting, building relationships, adding so much value, and truly, truly being in the mindset, having the mindframe of “I want to serve regardless of if this person signs up to work with me.” I was in such a place of service, which I always am, and I love, love, love serving and adding value. Those were the things I was focusing on.

Key Items to Signing Clients

So let’s talk about some of the key items to signing clients. Let's say that you already have your foundations in your business and you have your signature offer or maybe you're currently selling or offering something. And, another quick side note, if you don't have any of these items yet, no need to worry. This is what we support you with inside the first 2-3 weeks of the Fierce Business Academy, and we're currently open for November enrollment and accepting applications. This program is invitation-only. There's a high level of support from myself and my team, and so what happens is if you do apply for the program and If it feels like you're a fit we will reach out with next steps. And we do it to make sure that the program and container are the right fit for you, right? That is exactly why we have application based programs. So, foundations, clear on who you're speaking to, a problem you're solving, how you're going to help solve it, your program, and again, if you don't have these things would give you the step-by-step inside of the Academy.

A key thing is really get to know your audience and let them get to know you. If we're posting like a one-story graphic in our Instagram stories with the quote and that's the only thing we post once per day every single day, your audience isn't getting to know you and they want to know you in order for them to like, know, and trust you. So for example, can they answer some of these questions about you? Do they know what you do? Do they know what makes you laugh? Do they know what your favorite drink is? Do they know what to get you for your birthday? So I'll actually answer these here for you so you can see this as an example. I share these things on my Instagram stories, but in case you haven't been on Instagram for a while or maybe this podcast is your main platform where you get to know me, I'm a business couch. What makes me laugh? I guess some people say GIFs, any kind of Hallmark romance movie, I love those, they make me giggle, I love them, they make me so happy. Let’s see, what else makes me laugh? Anything cute that Pearl does. In terms of what my favorite drink is, I was trying to remember what the last thing I mentioned was, non-alcoholic, of course water, I know that’s so silly to answer that with water, right? I would say water, I definitely love myself some Sprite. I would say Sprite is probably might go to soda or pop, whichever one you prefer, and then alcoholic I would say Prosecco is my go to white glass of wine, or if I'm feeling it a margarita. Love me some margaritas, love me some margaritas. What to get me for my birthday– anything kitty related or anything small, I love small cute little things, those are all things that you can get me anytime. So get to know your audience and vice versa. Let them get to know you. Provide question boxes for them. If you do some kind of like “this or that” on your Instagram stories, give them an option to answer so you can also get to know them. And then also share your answers with them very similarly to how I just did in this podcast episode.

Okay, so you're getting to know your audience, you're sharing your journey, the highs, the lows. If you’ve been with me you know that I was a chemical engineer. I left my 86k a year job to go full-time in my coaching business. So you know the highs, the lows, I’ve shared both, I’ve shared so many mistakes that we've gone through. Your audience wants to be able to connect with you and see all parts of your journey. They may be at the same spot you were one year ago and they may need to see what's possible for them, so share your journey. It's a huge connection point for you and them. Show them as the expert that you are, show up fiercely, so fiercely, and let your audience know that you're the real deal with valuable content, right? In order for you to start to move some of your leads into paying clients you really get to step into that authority figure that you are. If you are getting friend-zoned, let's say, on sales calls or in the DMs, really start to step into that authority and show them, hey, this is what I do inside of my program, I teach my clients some of these things. Would you like to hear a little bit more about it and see if it's a fit for you? Give them tips and show how you're supporting your clients as well. Show up as that expert, add valuable content. You can definitely do both. You can be that friend while stepping into authority, and if you've ever chatted with me before, this is something that I personally feel I do very very well. And so we get to do whatever feels good for you and what feels aligned for you and your business in terms of how you sell and how you show up. However, do show that you are an expert in your field, show that you know what you're doing because you are steps ahead of them. You only need to be a few steps ahead of your ideal client, and you are already so many steps ahead. So own it, show up fiercely, be that expert, and add massive amounts of value. Sell your offer and actually talk about your offer. Ask for the sale. No more beating around the bush. We get to ask for the sale. You get to really lean into it and believe that selling is serving, selling is helping. And so what I kind of walked through just then is basically your sales process. You bring leads in, you nurture those leads, and then you convert those leads.

Action Steps To Take In Your Business

I want to share some action items that you can take today. There are dozens and dozens and dozens of sales activities you can do to move the needle forward in your business and sign more clients. Here are a few quick things that you can do today to add more touch points to your leads and start converting more of them into paying clients. Add value on your Instagram stories or on an Instagram live and ask your audience to answer a poll, yes or no, if they want to learn more how they can move from point A to point B. Have them reach out to you if they're interested in one of your remaining spots in your program. Follow up with past leads. So that’s the first thing, add value and let them know about your offer, that’s something you can definitely go and do today. Then, follow up with some past leads. Have done a workshop lately? Have you followed up with those leads? Have you done a challenge recently? Were you following up with them during the challenge and seeing how things were going? Were you having conversations with them? Go and chat with them. Go build your relationship with them. Follow up with them. Go and reach out to some of your warm leads in your audience. Selling a serving, so let's go be in service. Something that I truly, truly believe is that fortune is in the follow-up below. Believe in your offer, believe in yourself and know that you are going to create an incredible transformation and experience for your clients, they're already on their way to you. I'm so excited to see you sign your next few clients with some of these actions that you can take today!

So today, we've touched on how I signed my first five clients, key items to signing clients, some actions you can take today to convert more of your leads into paying clients, and so much more. You know we're already getting ready and we're already excited for next week's brand new episode. We cannot wait to share with you. We will see you next week in another brand new exciting episode of The Fierce Business Babe podcast bright and early Monday morning.

Topics we cover include:

How I signed my first 5 clients
Key items to signing clients
Getting to know your audience
Action steps to take in your business

And so much more!

Times to check out:

(08:16) How I signed my first five clients

(10:54) Nurturing your audience

(14:55) Key items to signing clients

(21:35) Action steps to take right now

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