How You Can Build An Incredible Client Base With Jen Berson

Key Takeaways Covered In The PodcastOne of the best ways to find new clients is to decide what kind of work you want to be known for. Once you have started to work for a couple of clients in this area, you will start to become known for ‘your thing’. Whilst taking everything that comes your way seems right to begin with, it can lead you down a path where you dislike the business you’re in. If you are all things to all people, you can not get in a state of flow. Finding new clients is all about consistency. Make sure you’re setting time aside each week to focus on outreach and business development, even if it is just five minutes a day. Your number one resource for new clients is your network. Although it may seem a little off putting, cold pitching is another great way to gain new clients. It’s all about making that personal connection from the start – you want to let them know you are familiar with their products or their values. Your first point of contact should be to get them to speak to you, so end with a strong call to action. When it comes to pitching competitors to your clients, you need to consider the agreement you have with the people you’re already working with. If you have agreed exclusivity, you need to honour that. Alternatively, it’s important not to pigeonhole yourself into only being able to work with one client. To help potential clients see that you’re the person they need to hire, you need to position yourself as an expert in the industry. You need to demonstrate the value you can bring.The one thing you need to remember above all else…One of the biggest fears people have when pitching new clients is that they’re worried about rejection. Whilst rejection isn’t a nice feeling, what is the worst thing that can happen? If they say no, move on. You may find that it takes 10, 20 or 100 emails before you get a yes.Highlights you Simply Can’t MissIntroducing Jen – 04:36Finding Your Flow – 10:30Now You Have Yor Flow, How Do You Find Clients? – 17:24Looking At Your Network And Cold Pitching - 22:30How To Pitch Competitors Of Your Clients - 29:05How To Show You’re The Right Person – 39:20Links to Resources Mentioned in Today’s EpisodeJen BersonJen Berson InstagramJen Berson TwitterTranscript below Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. How are you? You know what I’m really excited about this week’s episode. Last week, if you quarter I hope you did. If not please go back and listen to it. We talked all about selling and how you can sell better in your business with a feeling horrible and sleazy and also some of the things that got me clarity on how I could price my brain which I’m not going to lie, was quite difficult in the beginning. So if you haven’t listened to that episode, I highly recommend you do it was a really good on either is really good on fingers crossed you did too but this week follows on so lovely from it and you know what? It was a complete coincidence. It was not intentional. When I looked at who was on the following week because obviously my interviews are often scheduled much further on ahead. I then saw which it was and thought perfect. So this week I have the super lovely Jen Berson. Now Jen and I met at one of James Wedmore’s next level events which was great. She’s so lovely. You know you instantly hit it off for someone. We have such fun. We laughed lots and we’re also in quite similar industries because her agency does PR with some social media. So we were able to talk quite a lot about our businesses and how they sort of fitted quite well together. The other thing that Jen does amazingly which is why she’s on the podcast is she helps agencies and freelancers and other businesses get more clients. And this week’s episode is a great one because that’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about how can you get more clients in your business. And she gives us some really great proactive ways which I openly admit during the interview, that I am not proactive enough that we are very lucky and reactively we have had lots of things drip feed in which is nice. However we’ve not gone out there proactively to get clients. So for me this is a really interesting one. And also I think it’s going to be a great one for you to know we don’t just talk about getting clients. We talk about what it’s like to work in your flow in your zone of genius in the areas that you love. Now we’ve all got these clients where we think if I could have 10 of you, my world would be a dream and you know why? Because that’s are our flow. That’s our zone of genius. That’s the work or the industry that actually clicks and connects with us perfectly. That it’s easy that it’s not difficult. And Jen and I talk about this and she talks about getting clarity on those types of clients so that when you do either approach people you’re approaching the right people or when clients approach you you are fully aware of whether they’re going to fit in that or not and if they’re not that you know to say no to them because you know what it’s not going to work in the end. And we’d all like to be in a position I’m sure where we’re only dealing with the best type of clients that we want or the industry that we want. The other thing that was really funny that Jen and I talked about which is odd considering the industry Jen and I work in is how difficult it is sometimes to market yourselves. Obviously our jobs are to help other businesses market themselves. And therefore when it comes to marketing ourselves you’d think it was super easy because we know so much about it. I can promise you it’s not. So actually we talked a lot about how to market ourselves and put ourselves out there and she gave lots of great tips about how she could reach out to perfect clients how she almost had cold reaching out which scared me a bit but actually she gave some great advice about how she can reach out to get those clients and hey she’s now ended up with some amazing clients in her agency. So I hope you’re gonna love this one. Like I said it’s a great one to help me think about how to get new customers. If you’re not an agency or a freelancer Don’t worry there’s still lots of great information in there for you. So without further ado here is Jen. So I’m really excited today to welcome the lovely Jen Berson to the podcast. Welcome Jen. Hello lovely Teresa. Thank you for having me. Thank you for coming on. Now I’ve said in the intro that you and I met in Laguna Beach at Jane’s event which is radical and we instantly hit it off and had sort of great fun together all right. And I wanted to stay in touch because I knew that what you do not only would help me and some really interesting parts of me are my business but also lots of my podcast listeners. But before we jump into their and telling them how they can get more clients let’s just give them a bit of background as to who you are and how you got to do what you do now. Oh good. Okay. Well let’s see. “So I started actually started my career as a civil litigation attorney did a complete 180. I know it’s kind of like “What were you thinking?” But I guess I just decided one day that it did not match my personality to be a lawyer. I did not feel like it was a career. I felt like it was a job and I kind of just wanted to you know work in a service that built businesses up that helped businesses and entrepreneurs grow and rather than litigation where you’re just spending money and trying to exhaust resources. I wanted to do something that had a positive impact on a company. And I started doing PR on the side it just had an instinct for a certain brand. I reached out to them and I said, “Can you help me or can I help you? I’m willing to work for free. I just need a box of products like random girl that reaching out over the Internet send me a big box of free stuff. But they did and I was able to help this fragrance company get a bunch of media mentions and connect them with celebrities and I love that work so much. I love the almost immediate impact it had on the business and the tangible results. I could physically hold in my hands. You know back in the day when magazines were printed. Yeah. And I just said I want more of this. I want to I want to do more to build up companies. And I also want to be in business for myself. And so I just decided one day I am going to do this and I can always go back to law. Then I started my business and kind of worked for a reduced rate on some clients just to get the experience because I really had no experience no contacts no training whatsoever and I was able to kind of grow a business where I had an expertise in a couple nations and was able to kind of parlay that experience into a reputation in those fields where we’re now sought after I mean now it’s been 14 years but we’re sort we’re a sought after agency for our expertise in the baby and kids space and beauty and cosmetics and we’re able to charge premium prices. And I love the work so much. And I just feel so lucky to have my own business after all this time and now I’m a mom. I have two boys ages 6 and 8 and I have just like love having a business that gives me ultimate flexibility and freedom and I want to teach other women how to have the same thing. Yeah that’s amazing. I’m like I think lots of people starting off they...