If you're like most design business owners I work with, the feast or famine of client work is probably one of your biggest struggles.
Here's what you are probably doing now...
You do a big drive on lead gen or content and get some clients.
You then get busy and stressed servicing those clients so the lead gen and content drops off.
You then finish the client projects you've been busy with and realise you have no new clients in the pipeline.
So you do another big push on lead gen to find some more clients.
Then this cycle then goes round and round forever.
Not super fun :(
The 'top of mind' strategy
One easy fix to this cycle is a simple system that will take you about 30 minutes a month and won’t cost you anything.
The idea is that you already have a network of people who know you, trust you and either need design help themselves or know someone who does. These are warm contacts already sitting inside your phone and the 'top of mind' strategy regularly taps into this network. The goal is to stay top of mind with your entire network so when someone in their world mentions needing a designer, you are who they think to recommend.
Who to contact
- Past clients (especially anyone you finished a project with in the last few years)
- Suppliers, trades and consultants (suppliers, builders, electricians, real estate agents, project consultants, stylists)
- Past (qualified) leads that never went anywhere (a lot of these people are now ready to go)
- Old friends and colleagues who haven't heard from you in a while
What to say
This is where lots of designers stuff this strategy up. They send a bad “just checking in” type message or an email that screams desperation.
What you want to do instead is to give before you ask. Every message should feel like a “I was just thinking about you…” type message.
For example:
For past clients: "Hi Sarah, I was visiting [X supplier] yesterday and it reminded me of when we were there together a few years ago choosing the floors for your house. How's everything going? I hope you’re loving it!”
For suppliers, trades and consultants: "Hi James, just wanted to say thanks again for referring me to that joiner last year. We finished the Bondi house recently and it came up so well (attached are a few images). Do you have capacity at the moment because I've got a client looking for a builder in the next few months."
For consults who didn't proceed: "Hi Emma, it's been about 6 months since we caught up about your renovation. How's everything going? Did you end up moving forward with the project?"
For old friends and acquaintances: This one is about staying in touch, especially with acquaintances you haven't spoken to in a while. Send a quick text or DM with something personal (e.g. "I saw on IG that your daughter started school, how's she finding it?"). The goal is to have a normal catch up. When they ask what you've been up to, your design business comes up naturally and you stay on their radar.
How often to do this
Block 30 minutes in your calendar every month (on the same day) and set it as a recurring meeting with yourself. If you've got a practice manager or business manager this is a task for them.
In my Bootcamp program I have all my students set up a lead tracker. So if you have one of those you’ll use that for this exercise but if not I would suggest you set up something similar so you can make a note of when you last made contact.
You then want to pick about 5-10 people each month (depending on how many contacts you have) and rotate through your contact list over the year.
The goal is for each person on your list to hear from you one or two times a year (so they don’t feel spammed).
What to expect
This is a long game lead gen strategy, but if you start doing this every month you’ll see leads coming in regularly. Make sure you’re always capturing where leads are coming from. A simple “how did you find out about us?” question is all you need. That way you can thank people who are sending leads over to you (which is another excuse to get in touch with them!). I also like to send small gifts to referring partners but that’s a different newsletter topic :)
When this strategy starts working you'll see:
- Past clients coming back with new projects (their holiday home, their sister's place, a new house they just bought)
- Suppliers, trades and consultants sending you leads because you stayed top of mind
- Old leads coming back when their timing is right
- Friends and family mentioning you to people in their network
If you've been in business for any length of time your most underused asset is your network. Finding clients is not hard when you have regular systems and strategies that you implement regularly and this is one of those strategies.
By the way, I teach dozens of other practical strategies like this in my business mentoring program so you can get rid of the feast or famine for good!
