Five Things That Impress Potential Clients and Help Seal the Deal

Running a business is hard, but making a sale is even harder. That’s why it’s helpful to have a few tricks up your sleeve to impress potential clients at every turn.

Think of your own experiences in buying. Have you ever come across a company whose products, branding, and website were great? And then you dig deeper and discover they also have a rocking blog, killer marketing collateral, and every testimonial makes you dance in anticipation of working with them? They’re clearly a business who has their life together.

So, how can you be more like them? How can you get people ready to hire you before they even have a conversation with you?

There’s no magic formula, but here are a couple things you can start with.

Set Up A Smart And Easy On-Boarding Process

When a potential client is looking for someone who provides your services, chances are they’ll inquire about your rates, openings, or process. This is an incredible opportunity for you to wow them, as they’re probably feeling a little nervous (but also excited) about your response.

Set up an automated system that sends them a welcome email immediately. People don’t want to wait to hear back from you, they want answers now. Invest the time and energy needed to make sure they get those answers as soon as they ask the question.

Also, be sure you’re giving them clear instructions on what the next step in the process is so they don’t disappear out of confusion.

Pro Tip: Fons makes this an incredibly easy thing to implement in your business with their simple scheduling and powerful invoicing features.

Offer Them A Clear And Helpful Introduction Packet

A packet like this serves two purposes. For one thing, when written and designed well, it’s an impressive piece of marketing collateral in and of itself. For another, it reiterates the information you need your potential clients to have.

It’s no secret that people tend to skim information on a website, which means your potential clients might have only read through half your content. Or even none, if we’re being honest.

The point is, an introduction packet is a second opportunity for you to share the information potential clients need to determine whether you’re a good fit to work together.

Useful Resource: This article on writing your ‘About’ content is a great place to start figuring out what to include in your intro packet!

Maintain A Blog With Tons of Value For Past, Present, And Future Clients

While there are a ton of blogs out there these days, many don’t maximize their potential to make an impression on potential clients.

By making sure your posts all help your clients (whether they’re just starting to work with you or have been part of your family for years), you can show future clients that you keep providing value to them even after their contract is up or your services have been completed.

Offering this level of value subconsciously impresses upon potential clients that your actual services can only be that much more impressive.

How To: You can easily start your own blog on a platform like Wix or Squarespace, and you can read more on all the benefits of a blog for your business in this article.

Show Testimonials With Real Results

The general public is wise to the ways of testimonials on a website. They’re no longer impressed by lackluster praise.

If you really want to impress potential clients, you need to show evidence of how your services have helped past clients. Cite results like percentage of increased sales or stats on improvement along with the gushy words of your successful clients. Then, put them in a place where you know potential clients go on your site. They do you no good if they aren’t front and center.

Bonus points if you also add them to your introduction packet.

Useful Resource: This article from Copyblogger explains exactly how to get those awesome testimonials you’re looking for.

Prove Your Skills With Case Studies

A case study is a great way to showcase the entire client experience in working with you. Use them as an opportunity to show off the before and after of whatever you do, and publish them to your blog, adding links to your services pages and intro packet.

You can also post these on social media to give your potential clients plenty of opportunity to find them.

Great Guide: This guide from Hubspot on how to write a compelling case study is the bomb (dot com).

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of ways to impress your potential clients, and depending on your industry, there might be others that would be better options that those listed above. But generally, service-based businesses see excellent results from adding these elements to their marketing deck and client experience.

If you have more ideas, we’d love to hear about them and the results they’ve given your business. Drop them in the comments below so we can all help each other grow.