State Of Client Acquisition

I was 16 and was looking for a summer job. A family friend hooked me up with a gardening shop. Unbeknownst to me, he also fixed up my salary. The owner was willing to pay $x, and so our friend added another $x on top of it which the shop owner was paying me. I only learned about it a few years later. 

When I started my business in 2016, I was relying on my network, and for 2 years I've just been cruising with that. And then the network was exhausted. 

All of these stories just show what a bad idea it is to rely on your network to be successful in business. You're in a cocoon of inflated demand while you're offering sub-par products or services. 

The message: Use your network as a launch pad for a month or two, but then go right out there into the fierce choppy waters of the open market and prove your worth there. 

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The State Of Client Acquisition (www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com) is an Ask-Me-Anything style podcast that covers all aspects of client acquisition for coaches, consultants and small B2B. We focus on LinkedIn organic and on YOU, the listener. Submit a question on www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com.

Watch the free Alpha Lead Academy Training on how to win clients on LinkedIn: https://www.michalbohanes.com/webinar-lp

In today's episode I dig into whether Business Consultants should use Facebook to grow their business, in which circumstances they should do so and which features of Facebook in particular they should use. 

The State Of Client Acquisition (www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com) is an Ask-Me-Anything style podcast that covers all aspects of client acquisition for coaches, consultants and small B2B. We focus on LinkedIn organic and on YOU, the listener. Submit a question on www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com

Watch the free Alpha Lead Academy Training on how to win clients on LinkedIn: https://www.michalbohanes.com/webinar-lp

In today’s episode I reflect on my journey to $29k revenue per month, a milestone I hit in March 2021.

Truth is it took me unnecessarily long to get there (4.5 years). And so I thought about what I would have done differently if I could go back in time. 

After this reflection, I answer two listeners’ questions about outbound prospecting and about personal brand on LinkedIn.

Timestamps:

2:15 - Lesson 1: Do you have a business or are you just doing gigs? 

5:15 - Lesson 2: Friends? Great. Wider Network? Meh

9:50 - Lesson 3: Get market validation (with strangers) fast

12:50 - Lesson 3b: Don’t waste time on building an elaborate website

14:30 - Lesson 4: Eliminate side hustles

19:40 - Lesson 5: Design the business for later scalability

22:25 - Listener question about starting LinkedIn outbound conversations with a “problem question”

30:35 - Listener question: How do I build a personal brand on LinkedIn as I’m starting out with my business? 

The State Of Client Acquisition (www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com) is an Ask-Me-Anything style podcast that covers all aspects of client acquisition for coaches, consultants and small B2B. We focus on LinkedIn organic and on YOU, the listener. Submit a question on www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com.

Watch the free Alpha Lead Academy Training on how to win clients on LinkedIn: https://www.michalbohanes.com/webinar-lp

This is an interview with me by Kyle Hamer on the Summit Podcast, originally published here: 

https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/SUMMIT-p1234956/?topicId=159584413

Timestamps: 

00:01:22 Intro

00:02:40 How we met - Kyle's baby isn't ugly 

00:03:55 The Cocktail Party Comparison

00:05:30 My background

00:08:30 My LinkedIn philosophy

00:11:00 Breakdown of the conversation Kyle and I had on LinkedIn

00:19:40 How to scale this approach

00:25:10 Does this work with a Team of SDRs? 

00:32:40 What success rates can be expected with this approach

00:39:30 How do you find the right people on LinkedIn?

00:44:30 The positive upside from organic outreach

The State Of Client Acquisition (www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com) is an Ask-Me-Anything style podcast that covers all aspects of client acquisition for coaches, consultants and small B2B. We focus on LinkedIn organic and on YOU, the listener. So if you have a question, go to www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com.

Watch the free Alpha Lead Academy Training on how to win clients on LinkedIn: https://www.michalbohanes.com/webinar-lp

This is a free consultation call I did with Francesco, a gentleman who is starting a paid ads agency for eco-conscious brands. We cover the basics of LinkedIn client acquisition, where to find clients on LinkedIn, how to start conversations, how to deal with getting ghosted, how to know what kind of marketing/sales method to choose, how to do content.   

Timestamps: 

00:15:00​ Intro

00:01:30​ Advantage of using personalized e-mail content

00:05:50​ Reasons not to use automated e-mails

00:08:35​ Purpose of using sales navigator

00:09:10​ Two ways to find prospective clients on LinkedIn

00:11:55​ How to start conversations on LinkedIn - dating analogy

00:16:10​ Secret to starting conversations: Genuinely caring about other people

00:18:10​ How to pick from among different marketing / business development methods & coaches

00:21:30​ What to do when someone ghosts you on LinkedIn

00:25:30​ How to deal with ghosting in general

00:28:20​ Using google sheets as CRM

00:29:20​ What to do every day on LinkedIn when you're early stage

00:31:20​ Content review

The State Of Client Acquisition (www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com) is an Ask-Me-Anything style podcast that covers all aspects of client acquisition for coaches, consultants and small B2B. We focus on LinkedIn organic and on YOU, the listener. So if you have a question, go to www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com.

The State Of Client Acquisition (www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com) is an Ask-Me-Anything style podcast that covers all aspects of client acquisition for coaches, consultants and small B2B CEO. We focus on LinkedIn organic and on YOU, the listener. So if you have a question, go to www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com.   

This week, I have my friend Karl Morningstar on the show and we discuss his latest client acquisition tactics on LinkedIn. We also cover the 3 outbound conversations that got me clients in March 2021. We go through them word by word and cover the psychology of outbound social selling. 

Time Stamps:  02:00 - What Karl is Doing on LinkedIn to get clients 08:30 - Karl enjoys my content but doesn't engage: Typical for successful decision-makers.  12:00 - Why I'd rather have one quality comment from an ideal prospect than 100 likes from irrelevant people 13:00 - Example 1 of my outbound conversations that got me a client in March 18:35 - Example 2  24:00 - Example 3 30:00 - Do I wait until people are live on LinkedIn?  31:00 - Do I follow up with people who didn't respond?  32:00 - Do I do anything with people who never engage? Disconnect them or scrape their email address?

In today's Episode I welcome my lovely wife Ana Bohanes (www.anabohanes.com). We talk about mindset, building your Alter Ego for optimal performance, the quality of your inner dialogue and the need to isolate the negative inner voice inside of yourself.

Plus we talk about how we met! :-)

00:01:25 Introduction Ana Bohanes

00:02:40 Ana's workout today (and why it matters for today's topic)

00:04:30 The concept of an Alter ego

00:06:10 How entrepreneurs can use Alter Egos

00:10:00 Why do we need it? Can't we achieve our goals as our usual selves?

00:12:40 How Ana and Michal met (and why it matters for today's topic)

00:15:40 Separating yourself from the inner voice

00:18:00 The importance of keeping the Inner Conversation positive

00:21:00 Your thoughts are like smells in an apartment

00:22:00 How Ana works with her clients

00:23:50 How to get started with building your Alter Ego

00:28:00 Question: How can we train our mind to be more resilient and improve the quality of the inner conversation?

00:39:35 How Landmark fits into all of this

The link to the short Alter Ego template is here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NeSprR1bt4rgC7zTkRX3nD-tz7vzAnJzTWB7-yK-38Y/edit?ts=6051aefe#heading=h.iiy3wunridia

Click File and Make A Copy.

The State Of Client Acquisition (www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com) is an Ask-Me-Anything style podcast that covers all aspects of client acquisition for coaches, consultants and small B2B. We focus on LinkedIn organic and on YOU, the listener. So if you have a question, go to www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com.

Today, I'm joined by Arthur Hoffman, https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthur-s-hoffman/

Founder In-Link Advisors https://inlinkadvisors.com/ and creator of the Cold Click Method to win clients on LinkedIn.

We talk about the outreach philosophy he teaches to his clients and how it contrasts with mine.

Time Stamps:

0:06 Michal's Intro

1:18 Arthur Hoffman Introduction

2:31 How LinkedIn detects potential spammers

2:53 The importance of preconditioning people to just press the ignore button

4:40 The psychology behind the message structure

7:31 What's the Cold Click Method?

11:03 Statistics the measure performance

12:24 What other things does Arthur avoid from happening?

15:31 Tips and advice from Arthur to the audience: Conciseness and Relatability

16:52 Arthur's philosophy on content

19:43 Michal's take on content

21:17 How does podcasting help Michal with outbound prospecting in LinkedIn

23:22 People react negatively to sales pitches

24:44 Arthur talks about his company and the services he offers

26:54 What is the most efficient approach in organic outbound prospecting?

29:41 Different types of prospects (Shoo-ins, Bedrock, Cream on Top, Ocean of Indifference)

33:07 Different types of prospects 2 (Ocean of Indifference)

34:35 Different types of prospects 3 (Opposition and Haters)

37:26 How to treat each type of prospect

39:13 Prospecting is categorizing people

41:37 Like to View and Comment to View ratio and Content are important

45:26 Arthur acknowledges that content is necessary

47:55 Posting time is not that important. Posts with better engagements show up more

50:40 Content is a silent sales rep

52:57 Michal's Closing

Live recording on Wednesdays at 7pm CET (6pm UK, 1pm EST, 10am PST)

Sign up at www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com to get notified when we record new episodes.

Time Stamps:  

00:52 LinkedIn discussion with Karl Morningstar https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlmorningstar/ 

01:26 Observation about the LinkedIn landscape 

02:05 Building credibility through content: outsourcing vs. writing your own 

04:14 Why outsourcing content is not the best idea 

06:11 How to identify your target people on LinkedIn 

07:41 Why you should be interested in your audience's interest 

13:18 What to do when LinkedIn outbound strategies don't work 

14:44 Should you stop doing outbound strategies in LinkedIn? 

15:58 Should I remove LinkedIn connections who aren't in my target audience? 

18:01 LinkedIn Pods: join or avoid? 

19:53 4 conditions if you were to join a pod 

22:53 My experience joining a pod 

24:00 The number 1 recipe for good content: Know what your audience wants 

25:39 What to do with diverging advice from gurus 

29:15 Why you should leave your at the door when networking in LinkedIn

The State Of Client Acquisition (www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com) is an Ask-Me-Anything style podcast that covers all aspects of client acquisition for coaches, consultants and small B2B. We focus on LinkedIn organic and on YOU, the listener. So if you have a question, go to www.StateOfClientAcquisition.com.

In today's Episode I welcome Chris Weiher (www.cleavercreates.com). We talk about differing content philosophies for LinkedIn.

Watch this episode on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/5I0c795-e4o

Time Stamps:

2:00 - Chris Intro

4:50 - Our differing content philosophies

12:00 - What does it mean "is video working for you on LinkedIn"? Desired benchmarks

18:50 - Chris' sources of business and how he does outbound

26:40 - What does Chris do for his clients

29:30 - Why Chris doesn't do jump cuts

30:10 - The best source of content: Calls with Clients and Prospects.

33:00 - Why you should create content for your competitors.

37:30 - Reviewing Zarak's video

46:30 - Reviewing my video

And yes, I mispronounced Chris' last name at 2:05. It rhymes with deer. Apologies Chris!

Links of stuff we discuss:

Chris' outbound strategy: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chrisweiher_leadgeneration-videomarketing-videomarketingstrategy-activity-6689566425889280000-Hjhs

Zarak's video:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zarak-s-3baa611b0_zestyycopy-activity-6767787224894468096-EjfM/

My video:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mbohanes_linkedinmarketing-socialselling-5amclub-activity-6770262615026393088-P_Ph

Chris Weiher's LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisweiher/