Thoughts From Our CEO, Nico De Bruyn

You love what you do.

Sure it's not always perfect, but overall, you like running your business.

But in the back of your mind, there's a constant stressor: "Where is my next client going to come from?"

Traditionally they have come from your website, a referral from a current client, or one of your contacts on Linkedin.

You love when they come to you, but the problem is that it is inconstant. Some months you can't keep up with the flood of new business, yet others, your calendar has no discovered calls, and if one client leaves, you will be in trouble.

It's nerve-racking.

You know that you need to build some process, but you don't have the time, or the process doesn't work.

But nothing seems to work.... you've already tried automating your LinkedIn, working with commission-based teams, and if you get another "Remove me from your email list," you are going to scream.

So, what's the magical fix, or are you destined to live in this feast and famine world forever?

Maybe.... but maybe not?

I am no magician, just a fellow agency owner, and marketer that was sick and tired of hoping & wishing for new business.

That's how my client Victor felt; he was sick of reaching out to companies that seemed "perfect" on paper to find out that he was three months too late. Now he books three calls a week with leads that already know what they need - but don't have the team to make it happen.

Same with Jon, who was starting a new division and needed clients ASAP because he didn't have a repeatable process to find new clients. He just signed a massive deal with a fortune 1000, pretty good for the first 45 days.

"Good for them, but you still haven't told me how!"

The lightbulb moment came to me when I sent another massive batch of cold emails to agencies that I knew I could help if I could get a meeting with them!

I decided to skip all of that and only focus on clients who explicitly outlined their needs, budget, and timeline. That's right, if you don't have a need or budget - we shouldn't talk right now.

"Duh," you might be thinking, but seriously, that was the breakthrough for me, and the solution came in the form of contracts.

Contracts are nothing new, but I would always steer away from them because I thought that's only a way for big agencies to land deals...boy, was I wrong.

You see, there are multiple forms of contracts out there, some multimillion-dollar corporate branding projects (which would be way too big for me), but on the same note, there are small $5 projects that aren't worth my time.

Yet if you look under the surface, there are clients in the goldilocks zone, ideal in both budget and scope. Those are the one's gems that I and you want.

So I went after them on every platform I could, from Behance to LinkedIn.

And I failed...but I failed forward and within a few weeks was signing an additional client a week.

I was onto something.

Not only was I getting new clients, but I was signing them within 3-7 days of meeting them. By focusing on warm buyers, I was signing deals and getting paid in record time. I scaled this to clients, and 90% of them loved it.

So I doubled down and focused on building a system that can deliver meetings with businesses that already have contracts with defined budgets, need, and timelines.

I call this system RFCs or request for contracts.

Now RFC's aren't for all agencies, but they have become the backbone of our new client acquisition process, and they might be good for you (I mean, my writing is okay, but I think you'll be much happier reading an email from my team saying that you have another meeting booked).

If this sounds even remotely interesting, here is a video where I walk through the whole process, and if you are still interested, maybe we should jump on Zoom.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6831342751364345856/

Regardless, know that I am here for you, so do not be scared to email me or dm me.

Find me here: https://calendly.com/nicodebruyn/30min

I'm on a simple mission: destroy that fear of "where will my next client come from!" Bad idea to help you do that?:)