After you’ve experienced some initial success with your small business, it’s essential to move onto larger clients as part of the growing process.
Having more recognizable clients on your books can help your marketing and play a part in your winning larger ones down the line.
As a business that is technically still finding its feet though, how do you go about making yourself seem more appealing to clients who shouldn’t realistically give you the time of day?
4 Best Ways To Look More Appealing To Larger Clients
1# Be Active on Social Media
An active and engaging social media presence helps to show off all the different sides and successes of your business.
It’s not just a platform for quirky jokes, answering queries and posting gifs, it’s somewhere where you can shout about the best assets of your business in an environment people feel comfortable within. Having a polished social media strategy is a vital part of building a strong perception of your business.
A strong social media operation across multiple platforms shows a competency within your business for business development and modern forms of marketing.
Social media performance is vital to brand building, and if you have mastered it for your own business it tells a potential larger client you understand the importance of it and how best to establish them should you work together, even if that work isn’t on social media.
An impressive social media following can also entice bigger clients to take a chance on you. If your follower base is strong and active despite being a small business, it shows you’re not just surviving off of name recognition alone on the platform, but an understanding of best practice and a unique voice.
Showing competency and a diverse skill set is vital. Social media is one of the first things a client will look into when researching you, so make sure it’s near perfect.
2# Become Multi-Service
Expanding the skills and services your business offers won’t just help you win a wider range of clients. It can be the tipping point that convinces pickier, harder to win clients you’re the real deal.
Rather than looking for the best specialists in each field, larger clients will often look for one business to cover the multiple tasks they require completing.
By offering multiple services you save clients time searching through different businesses and industries, simplifying the process.
Once you have them interested in one service, it can be easy to convince them to invest in another you offer if they’re impressed with the results. Having multiple skill sets within an expansive team makes your business feel like a more serious outfit, rather than a new, naive one with one service and limited shelf life.
Introducing this can be as simple as hiring one new member of staff with a unique skill set. Your services can start small and grow alongside the business. Before you expand the number of services you offer, think about what you could move into that complements your existing output.
If you’re already offering technical services such as website building, why not add a more artistic endeavor such as product photography or copywriting. This kind of service works as it’s related to your flagship output and builds upon the work you’ve already done for the client, so the benefits are more obvious.
3# Customer Reviews
The phenomenon of social proof has shown everyone the power of customer reviews and testimony. Not just a tool for eCommerce websites to make use of, other businesses are also susceptible to the power of social proof and can be enticed by it to make a decision. You should make heavy use of it when building a perception of your business and trying to win clients.
The phenomenon of social proof has shown the power of customer reviews and testimony. Not just a tool for eCommerce websites to make use of, other businesses are susceptible to the power of social proof in the same way it can entice customers to make decisions. You should make heavy use of it when building a perception of your business and trying to win clients.
Promoting positive words about yourself is a very simple thing to do. Reviews and testimony should be woven into your website design and email newsletters. This can be done either through a trusted review website such as TrustPilot or by obtaining longer, more bespoke testimony from clients you’ve worked with in the past.
It helps if these clients are well-known names within their industries, so try and develop strong relationships throughout your time working together.
4# Position Yourself as a Thought Leader
Larger clients will naturally gravitate towards working with thought leaders, even if they aren’t involved with the biggest businesses available to them.
For many of the best possible clients, it’s less of a case of picking the biggest name on the list, and more about finding leading people who will give them the best possible service.
Establishing yourself and your brand as a thought leader assures others of the quality of your service. The first step is to make yourself as available as possible, working your way into industry discussions and positioning yourself within leading conversations.
Writing blogs for other websites within the industry helps to get your name out there and attach yourself and your business to major discussions. Equally, you should create content for your own website, making it an essential stop for anyone looking to learn more about the industry. Talking at events is another brilliant way to put yourself in the public view and define a perception of yourself as in the know.
Most importantly, all of these tactics give you the opportunity to get in front of important people and relay your knowledge. Leading researchers within clients want to know they’re getting the best people possible, and being a leading voice within your industry helps towards that.
There’s a lot a small business can do to compete with larger competitors and position themselves to win the biggest clients. It’s not always a case of the two biggest parties matching up. Use these methods and remember to always talk up your best points and present yourself with a focus on quality over quantity.
Author: Kayleigh Alexandra from microstartups.org
