How to get Your First Client and Receive a Video Testimonial (12 Steps)
A comprehensive guide to success
Landing the first client is a huge milestone. There is so much work that goes into the foundation of your business before that first client can be acquired.
Today I will walking you through a step by step guide for how to not only land your first client, but get a SOLID video testimonial from them. The video testimonial is used to get you more clients in the future.
Let’s dive in.
1. Find Your Niche
Tools to use:
- YouTube
- Medium.com
This is very important. Your niche directly correlates to the type of work you will be doing. For example, I provide ghostwriting services.
Was ghostwriting the first thing I tried? No, not even close.
Before ghostwriting, I tried:
- YouTube
- Amazon FBA
- Video Editing
- Pressure Washing
- Affiliate Marketing
I tried a plethora of different things before I discovered ghostwriting. I recommend starting with niches that have very little startup cost. An example of this is writing online.
It’s free to write on Medium and it only costs $5.00 per month to start making money from your writing. Focus on low barrier-to-entry niches that don’t cost much money at all.
I’m talking about niches that cost less than $100 to start.
From there, it’s important to fail fast. That’s right! You are most likely going to fail at the niche you choose. That’s how entrepreneurship works. However, if you fail fast, you can quickly move on to the next niche that catches your eye.
Now it’s important to understand the difference between quitting because you failed and quitting because it’s hard. There is a big difference. Quitting because your findings suggest that it won’t work if you continue the business is a good sign to get out as soon as possible.
That happened to me with Amazon FBA. I cut my losses and moved on with my life. I wish I failed fast with that business. However, I learned from my mistakes.
2. Create an X Account
Tools to use:
X (formerly Twitter)
I landed my first 2 ghostwriting clients using X.
X is great if your niche is related to an online product/service. Obviously X isn’t a great option for certain types of niches. However, if you are doing anything that involves writing in any way, X has a lot of potential for you.
Creating an X account is free, but you can also purchase X Premium for $16.00 per month in the USA. This gives you more credibility because it shows you are invested into the X platform.
In the beginning, the free version is just fine. But when you realize you want to take X seriously, making the investment of $16.00 per month is worth it because you can reach out to people and get noticed easier.
Having the premium version will make networking and building a trustworthy community a better experience for you.
3. Optimize Your Profile
Tools to use:
- YouTube Tutorials
Profile optimization is important. Like REALLY important. Your X profile serves as a landing page.
Your X profile shows the audience:
- Who you are
- What you offer
- How credible you are
A bad profile is a major turnoff. Just for the record, I am constantly tweaking my profile. A minor adjustment here or there can make a big different in the long-run.
Start with the basics:
- Creative banner
- Confident profile picture
- Clear bio telling people what you do
Your banner and profile picture should have a matching theme. This adds to the professionalism. In your bio, emphasize the transformation you can do for a potential client.
4. Create Your Offer
Tools to use:
- Notion
Start creating the product/service you want to sell. You won’t be advertising it anytime soon but it’s good to start creating the foundation so you get a better feel for the process.
I started using Notion not long ago and it has been a great way for me to stay organized. If you don’t have the time to learn a new software, you can simply open a Google document or a Microsoft Word document and start drafting an offer from there.
Whatever platform you use to create your draft, it’s important to understand:
- What you are selling
- Who you are selling to
- How much you are selling for
These three items are the foundation of your offer and should not be overlooked.
5. Set up a Payment System
Tools to use:
- Stripe
It’s critical to have a payment system set up and ready to go. You never know when someone is going to want to give you money for services. It’s best to always be prepared.
I recommend using Stripe for safe and secure payments, especially for service-based transactions. I have used Gumroad in the past and my experience with Gumroad did not end well.
I’ve heard nothing but great things from people in my network who use Stripe. Of course, I would do your own research on what payment system suits your needs the best.
6. Create a Place for Testimonials
Tools to use:
- Testimonial.to → Make an account and set up your landing page.
Imagine doing great work for a customer and they ask YOU if they can give you a testimonial. That’s great! However, what if you don’t have a place to receive testimonials?
Even if you have a client who WANTS to give you amazing feedback, you have no place to store that information.
The best time to set up a testimonial page is sooner rather than later. Set it up as soon as possible. Everyone starts with 0 testimonials. Swallow your pride and allow your future clients to have access to give you great feedback!
Bonus Tip: Do your best to receive VIDEO testimonials from clients. Video testimonials are 100x better compared to written ones. The reason is because the viewer is able to see a real person talking about great things related to your product/services.
Video testimonials add many additional layers of credibility and accelerate the trust-building process.
7. Cold Outreach
Tools to use:
- X DMs
Your biggest goal for being on X is most likely to land clients for your online business. However, starting out on X, your top priority needs to be:
Making Friends.
Making friends allows you to build relationships. It allows you to expand your network organically and using this method, you will naturally find and attract your target audience and target market.
When using DMs on X, it’s vital that you don’t even mention what you offer to clients until later. You want to reach out to people that you think would be a good fit for your product/services. But you don’t want them to feel like they’re being pushed.
Your goal is to build an organic relationship with them. There is a human on the other side of the DM and it’s important that you genuinely connect with them.
8. Give Free Value
A great way to build trust and make friends is to provide free value without expecting anything in return. The free value can even be considered the “pickup line” for the DM.
A great way to add lots of value in a short amount of time is a free consultation call.
Free consultation calls are a great way to actually meet the person you are talking to through a video call. This allows you to build trust with them very quickly AND you’re giving them free value, which is risk-free for them!
Bonus Tip: Don’t forget to ask the client for a video testimonial. If you did a good job, they will typically be more than happy to help you out.
9. Land the 1st Client
Finding your first client with any service business is difficult.
It can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
You have little:
- Credibility
- Experience
- Testimonials
How did I land my first client?
I joined a community called X Order and that allowed me to network with 49 other people within the community. We all have similar goals when it comes to growing our personal brand and monetizing our businesses on X.
This opened up many opportunities for me to meet new people. One person that I met had a bunch of work to do one day and needed a hand with a copywriting task for one of his clients.
He made a post in the community, and I responded immediately. He gave me a shot! I wasn’t going to let him down. This leads to step #10.
10. Overdeliver
This is the most important step in the entire process. You need to overdeliver to your clients. They need to be surprised and impressed with how good your services are.
You can do this by:
- Communicating clearly
- Being excited to work with the client
- Getting the work done quickly with outstanding quality
Clear Communication
Clear communication is huge. It shows professionalism. Give the client updates on how the work is coming along. The client will be happy to know that you are working on their project.
There is a fine line between clear communication and overcommunication. It’s critical to not bombard your client with too many updates or too much communication.
There is a balance that can’t be quantified. It’s all based on feel. The more practice and “reps” you get with clients, the better feeling you’ll get about how much you should be communicating with them.
Keep in mind that every client is different and sometimes more questions are required for some clients compared to others.
Showing Excitement
Show excitement to your client by saying something like “I look forward to working with you!” or “I am excited to begin your assignment.”
These are simple but effective lines that show the client you enjoy the work you are doing. It also gives the client a positive psychological experience, which is important.
Bonus Tip: It’s not only about the product/service you sell, but it’s about the experience the client gets throughout the process.
Quick Work with Great Quality
Getting the client’s work done much sooner than expected is a great sign to the client. It shows that you took charge and completed the task in an efficient manner.
It’s vital that you don’t sacrifice quality to deliver the finished product early. The whole point of overdelivering is to focus on quality. You do get extra brownie points if you get it done quickly though.
11. Ask for a Testimonial
Tools to use:
- Testimonial.to
Now that you’ve done an OUTSTANDING job for your client, it’s time to request a testimonial from them. I find it very useful to ask for a testimonial right after the client says great things about your work.
After you deliver the finished product and the client says something positive about your work, take that opportunity to ask for a video testimonial from them.
It’s important to be confident when asking. However, if they say no, respect their decision and thank them for the opportunity to work with them.
If you do an amazing job for a client, they will typically be more than willing to leave you a great testimonial for your work. It all starts with overdelivering on your services.
12. Keep up the Momentum
Tools to use:
- Consistency
Cook while the oven is hot. Build on your momentum! Use previous testimonials to show potential clients who are on the fence. Show them you are the real deal!
It’s important to stay consistent with your work. Don’t be the person that lands one or two clients and then takes one or two weeks off. Use those one or two testimonials to keep landing more clients!
But don’t forget to continue to overdeliver…
Recap:
- Find Your Niche
- Create Your Offer
- Create a Place for Testimonials
- Set up a Payment System
- Create an X Account
- Optimize Your Profile
- Cold Outreach
- Give Free Value
- Land the 1st Client
- Overdeliver
- Ask for a Testimonial
- Keep up the Momentum
The most important step of all is to overdeliver. When you overdeliver to your clients, you build trust and you also create many opportunities for yourself down the road.
These opportunities will start to present themselves and you’ll be eternally grateful that you put in the additional effort up front.
If you liked this guide, here’s an article I wrote about X (formerly Twitter):
