#7: Growing the Client Tree

Unlock the hustle roadmap to grow your agency from the first client to a thriving client tree, packed with real-world tactics and insider secrets that fueled my agency's skyrocketing growth!

Warning! This newsletter will make more sense if you read previous editions. Thank you.

My first client: a tale of trials and triumph

In my next series of newsletters, we're going to dive into growing your client base. I believe it’s the topic that will bring me new subscribers; let’s see.

It's all about 'growing.' We all start with that one client and then expand to 10, 50, 100, 200, 500, even 1,000. Just like a tree that thickens its branches, your key accounts should deepen through better ACV contracts, upsells, and cross-sells.

Our first client came on board in 2016, thanks to outbound prospecting and cold emailing. Back then, running outbound campaigns was quite an endeavor:

1. Leads were either scraped off LinkedIn or purchased from ZoomInfo, often of lower quality and pricier.

2. The engagement tools market was largely dominated by Outreach.io and Salesloft, with newcomers like Reply.io, Lemlist, and Woodpecker just beginning. Apollo and Instantly weren't even in the game yet.

3. Email Deliverability was still a novel concept. The only notable player was Validity, catering to enterprise-level clients.

Aaron Ross's book 'Predictable Revenue' was the prospecting bible everyone swore by. Salesforce was for the big spenders, while HubSpot was popular among marketers. And Cience? They were the outsourced SDR heavyweights.

Fast forward to 2023, and boy, have things changed! Instead of recounting how we snagged our first clients back in 2016, I'll focus on the present.

I'm going to outline the methods available to you in 2023 for scaling from 1 to 100 clients.

Getting your first few clients

Before diving in, let's get something straight. There are countless ways to land your first clients, depending on your background, who you know, or where you've worked. But I'm not going to talk about leveraging connections or family ties.

We're focusing on pure hustle here.

I've been somewhat cursed with the need to hustle. In my professional journey, anything I've achieved has been through sheer hard work. Perhaps that's why I've found myself in the lead generation industry, a field many find challenging. We've climbed to the top the hard way, powered by pure grit and determination.

Here's my rundown of the top 5 methods to acquire those initial clients, ranked from budget-friendly to more costly options.

Hustling your first few clients

1. Thought-leadership

Thought leadership is more accessible than you might think. If you're considering starting your own professional service agency, you likely have 5-10 years of experience, a professional network, past client interactions, and a genuine interest in your industry.

Let me share two impressive examples from my network, where founders have used thought leadership effectively.

1. ColdIQ, founded by Alex and Michel.

They create engaging content on LinkedIn that requires creativity and time, but not a specialized background. For instance, Michel's post about 14 free outreach tools is a great example. He took the time to research and compile a list of tools, create a PDF, and share it on LinkedIn.

This is one of the content types that has helped both Alex and Michel reach 10,000 followers, generate significant engagement, go viral occasionally, and, most importantly, generate leads.

All this without ads, purchased leads, expensive tools, or professional design – just through hard work and wit.

2. TinyData, run by Mary Dub, is a small agency specializing in data research.

Mary, a socially active marketing specialist, built her following through consistent, genuine engagement in her field and outside. Her presence on Facebook, sitting at around 10,000 followers, is a testament to her hustle through meet-ups, nurturing connections, introductions, and consistent activity.

Her efforts paid off, helping her secure her first clients through connections and her extended network.

Both cases share common traits:

• Socially active

• Creative

• Useful

• Professional expertise

• Reliable with social proof

• Intelligent

• Consistent

• Curious

• Approachable

• Engaging

But the key is authenticity. They write in their own unique style that reflects who they are.

If you're a young marketing professional, your content might include reels, ChatGPT memes, and sharp, pointed examples. Authenticity doesn't always mean being entertaining; you can engage your audience even with a more serious tone.

In the past two months, I started writing my own daily content on LinkedIn. Over time, my followers and engagement have increased by 300%, and people have started to notice the quality of my content. Before this, I relied on a ghostwriter, but engaging personally has made a significant difference. This experience taught me the value of storytelling and authentic, consistent content creation, which I now emphasize to my CEOs and mentees.

2. Upwork / Freelance Hubs

Here's an insider tip many agencies overlook, one that's well-known in the software development world:

Believe it or not, you can actually land clients on Upwork who are willing to spend upwards of $100K/year on your services.

Surprised? I was too.

Just a while back, I had to convince a sales executive from one of our new ventures about this very possibility. The idea of finding clients ready to shell out $5K monthly on ads and a matching amount on our services seemed far-fetched to him.

Companies like Gigradar.io have already helped numerous agencies build their pipelines through Upwork. They've mastered this art, and I urge you to explore their strategy.

It's a game-changer.

3. Communities

Collaborative growth within communities is a powerful thing. The best communities offer regular events, open discussions, and active Q&A sessions. The key to leveraging these communities is being proactive, not just reactive. Active members often rise to moderator roles, lead special projects, and gain higher visibility.

Our Belkins Sales & Marketing Pro community, for instance, has grown to 2,500 members as of November. We run various initiatives that provide visibility and opportunities for active participants, opening up potential avenues for growth and collaboration.

4. Targeted outbound emailing and LinkedIn outreach

Here's a straightforward checklist for effective outreach in 2023:

1. Secure two domains and connect them to GSuite.

2. Build a solid email-sending reputation using Folderly.com.

3. Craft compelling email copy. The team at Lavender.ai shares excellent best practices. Also, check out Belkins’ collection of 40 effective email templates.

4. Carefully curate a list of 100 accounts, ensuring each one is clicked and verified. Quality over quantity is key.

5. For the send-out, consider using Apollo, or look out for Frostbite.ai, set to release in Q1 2024.

6. Combine your email efforts with Expandi.io for LinkedIn outreach. Follow this sequence:

Email → LinkedIn connection → email plus LinkedIn engagement → LinkedIn comment and repost → email → LinkedIn message

Remember, people appreciate genuine interactions. If someone takes the time to engage with my content and reaches out with sincere feedback, I'm more inclined to build a relationship.

Outbound efforts should focus on nurturing and steadily growing momentum. It might take time, but consistency will ultimately pay off.

5. Ask for it

Your first client might not come from asking, but your second one just might. Don't assume clients will spontaneously recommend more work. Usually, if you've done well, it's perfectly acceptable to ask for more business.

In the early days of Belkins, we regularly asked our clients to refer us to their colleagues, friends, or even spouses. This simple yet often overlooked strategy is incredibly effective for expanding your client base.

Hustling your way to 50 clients

When aiming for 50 clients, be prepared to invest a significant portion of your revenue into marketing – consistently. Usually, it’s between 15% to 25%.

This is non-negotiable if you want to succeed. Work out the business model and make it effective.

If your MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) is $10K, allocate $1K-$2K for marketing. At an MRR of $100K, your marketing budget should be around $10K-$15K. $1M MRR → $150K-$250k/marketing spend.

Here's what your focus should include at 50 clients and more:

1. Optimized Website or Landing Page: Ensure it’s especially user-friendly on mobile devices.

2. Social Proof: Leverage review platforms to your advantage. I delve into how Clutch helped us reach 100 leads monthly in this webinar.

Ranking #1 on Clutch is a choice, not a given.

3. Case Studies and Video Testimonials: Continuously gather, publish, and refresh these assets. We use our extensive collection of over 100 case studies and 50+ video testimonials as both social proof and powerful sales tools.

4. Consistent Outbound Sequences: By now, you should have a clear understanding of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and effective messaging. Consider hiring a Lead Generation Specialist for manual data scraping and lead list preparation. Josh shares the intricacies of this role in this video.

5. Retargeting Ads and Pipeline Nurturing: Utilize custom audiences in HubSpot for retargeting ads at different stages of the sales journey to enhance lead conversion.

Hustling your way to 100 clients

1. Leverage Paid Ads for Appointments: With a more substantial budget, Google Ads has become a powerful tool for acquiring convertible appointments. For example, we netted 120 new deals in October alone by investing $40K in ads. A 10% conversion rate into paid clients is expected, with the potential for an additional 5-10% conversion through nurturing.

2. Master Email Marketing with Automated Flows: By now, your lead lifecycle should be robust: Subscriber → Lead → MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Customer → Evangelist → Partner. Use newsletters and dedicated email flows for long-term conversion improvement.

3. Focus on Unique and Data-Driven Content: Instead of generic copywriting, utilize unique data and your proprietary insights as your content backbone. Transform this into compelling, shareable pieces. Take, for instance, our article ‘What are B2B cold email response rates? Belkins’ 2023 study’, which was based on data from 10 million emails sent in 2022, garnered numerous quality links for us.

4. Invest in a Marketing Data Analyst: This role is crucial for building analytics, tracking, and reporting systems essential for A/B testing and conversion optimization. In our experience, delaying the hire of a marketing data analyst was a costly oversight for an agency scaling towards $5-10 million in revenue.

5. Utilize PR for Brand Reach and Authority Reinforcement: PR activities like media outreach, awards, podcasts, webinars, influencer collaborations, and content projects (e.g., podcasts, video academies) are invaluable. Creating free, widely-used tools like the ‘Folderly Free Email Spam Words Checker’ can also bolster your brand presence.

If you've found value in these insights, I'd appreciate your support. Hit that like button, and feel free to share this on LinkedIn or Twitter. Let's empower more agency founders together!