How to Find More Clients for your service-based business 📬

If you’re a graphic designer, brand designer, web designer, photographer, developer, interior designer, or even a fashion designer, WillowSpace is a fantastic CRM platform where you can start creating processes that your clients can’t help but rave about (and tell their friends - hello referrals)!

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So how can you find more clients, you ask? That’s the most important question, isn’t it? We’re going to outline what has worked best for us in our design studio, Function, over the past several years. Buckle up!

How we find more clients at Function (our design studio)

Let’s talk before we dive into the nitty gritty - you don’t have to follow this formula, or anyone’s formula to be successful! These are just some tips and ideas for you to grow your business, but that doesn’t mean these are the only ways to find clients.

📣 Word-of-mouth

The number one way we get new work over at Function (our design studio) is by word-of-mouth. It’s that simple.

I know we’re all tired of hearing it, but word-of-mouth marketing is still the most powerful tool in your toolkit. Yes, even with social media and the world of the interwebs at our fingertips.

When you do a stellar job for a client, the idea is that they’ll tell all of their friends about what it was like working with you. And when someone is looking to hire another person or invest in something, they’ll usually ask their immediate community for suggestions first!

Staying top-of-mind for clients is key and to do that, we want to blow their socks off with an outstanding client experience.

📧 Check in with past clients

Once you’ve provided an out-of-this-world experience for your clients, they’re not going to mind when you check in with them once your project is complete.

We like to check in with our clients at some standard intervals like 2-weeks past wrap-up, 1-month later, 2-months later…etc.

Check-ins can be simple. A quick “Hi! I was thinking about you.” message can be a genuinely nice gesture, and also helps remind your client that you’re still there supporting them.

Go ahead and swipe this copy:

“Hi!

I was thinking about you this week and thought I’d reach out to see how things are going with XYZ.

Let me know if you need any extra support now that our project together is wrapped up.

Oh, and I also thought I’d put the bug in your ear that if you know anyone looking for XYZ services, I love working with referrals the most. Please feel free to pass my name on. I’d appreciate it!”

📈 Level-up your processes

In order to wow your clients, you need to have a very thoughtful, fluid client experience in place. Every single interaction we have with clients affects the experience they are having working with us.

From the moment they inquire about your services, you need to be in a flow of ease and intention. It all matters.

For example, imagine this:

A lead reaches out to you because they love your work. They send the details of the project they are looking to complete and it’s a perfect fit.

You get the lead in your WillowSpace account (you’re on WillowSpace already, right?), and then...

…you let it sit there for TWO DAYS!

That person’s level of excitement has now dwindled and you’re left to try to reignite the flame. Your client experience starts right away, so be mindful of making it the very best at every step.

Main takeaways to up-level your client experience

Here are our top things to focus on when it comes to wow-ing our clients:

👉 Create automation when it makes sense and personalize when it doesn’t.

Automation is a wonderful thing, but it shouldn’t replace real connection and real conversation. Make sure you find the balance so that your client feels taken care of and not just some peg in a machine.

👉🏿 Follow up with leads in a timely manner.

When someone reaches out to work with you, they’re excited. Ride that wave and respond as soon as you can with the next steps.

This might be a good spot to have some automation set up so that when they email you, they automatically receive a response acknowledging their inquiry, and instructing them on the next steps. Perhaps you want to include a media kit or a lookbook in this response too to give them some more to dig into!

PS - you can do this automation right in WillowSpace! 💡

👉 Send a custom project proposal.

Again with the automation vs. personalization. It’s great to have a template set up, but ultimately, it’s more personable to customize a proposal to a specific lead’s project than to send them a generic document. They’ll know the difference.

PS - read more about what to send in a proposal right here! 💡

👉🏽 Make it easy for clients to accept proposals, pay invoices, and sign on the dotted line.

Don’t make your clients run through hoops with accepting proposals, signing contracts or paying an invoice. Be clear, specific and give them direct instructions on how to manage these tasks.

PS - WillowSpace makes this ridiculously easy. Clients can click accept or decline on an invoice (while providing a reason), digitally sign your contracts and pay invoices (in any currency) right in your link. 💡

👉🏾 Keep clients up to date at every step of the project.

Sure, you’re silently working hard on a client project, but the client doesn’t know that. Make sure you keep them up to date on the status of their project at every step.

Send a weekly summary or update for them on what you’re working on or what they can expect. You can also use this email to remind them of any tasks they need to complete or things they need to get back to you to keep the project on track.

PS - You guessed it! WillowSpace does THIS TOO. We have beautiful, easy-to-use client portals that don’t require a login. That means you can send your clients a unique link so they can keep up to date on what you’re working on, request new meetings with you, request new projects with you, or add-on to their existing projects (which means more $$ for you). 💡

👉🏻 Keep projects on track and don’t miss deadlines.

This goes both ways. It’s so important to keep projects progressing because at the end of the day if a project launches 2 months past its initial timeline, that’s going to fall on you. Yes, even if it was entirely the client’s fault! It sucks. We know. But all that client will remember from the experience is that the project launched late.

In order to curb procrasti-clients, you can do a few things like:

1. Set up due dates for every task you send.

2. Set up late fees and rescheduling fees in your project contract.

3. Clearly outline your expectations at every point of communication. If you send an email, write down when you need to hear back.

4. Follow up. More than you think you should.

5. Communicate consequences to missing deadlines and due dates. Refer back to your contract whenever necessary.

PS - WillowSpace has really cool project-progressing features like auto-late fees you can set up on invoices, document due dates, and automated reminders. 💡

👉🏼 Wrap up projects with excitement and continued support for your clients.

When a project is complete, the door should stay open! Make sure your clients have everything they need for continued success (like offboarding guides, checklists…etc.).

This is also a great time to send a nice note, card or gift to your client to thank them for trusting you, and it’s also a great time to collect some feedback on your client experience and processes.

At Function, we like to send a form in WillowSpace to collect feedback and a testimonial. We also encourage our clients to review us online or tell their friends about us. There ain’t no shame in the referral game.

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Let WillowSpace work for you. Set your marketing on auto-pilot by creating beautiful client processes at every step of the project.

Build an unforgettable client experience using our platform to help organize your processes from start to finish. Once you start blowing clients away with your client experience, the referrals will roll in. It’s like marketing on autopilot and that is the most powerful marketing tool in your toolkit!

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