State Of Client Acquisition

In 2024, I've experienced firsthand the evolving landscape of cold email outreach in B2B lead generation. Despite naysayers claiming its demise, I've discovered that success lies in strategic adaptation. In this video, I share my transformative journey from dismal call booking rates to an impressive 5% success rate. Through trial and error, I've uncovered key principles that redefine cold emailing: genuine personalization, compelling offers, and valuable giveaways. By implementing these strategies, I've revolutionized my approach, bypassing common pitfalls and achieving sustainable results. Whether you're navigating lead generation, optimizing email marketing tactics, or refining appointment setting strategies, join me as I unveil the secrets to scaling B2B client acquisition effectively. 

This episode exposes the flaws of relying on referrals, networking, and content marketing to land clients for your B2B consulting business. It unveils a 6-tiered framework for predictable client acquisition, with "Cold Email" being a game-changer. Here's the key takeaway: Stop relying on chance: Referred clients are unpredictable. Build a system to attract a steady stream of high-value clients. Focus on cold outreach: Master "cold email" to convert complete strangers into paying clients. This is scalable and founder-independent. Content marketing is a bonus: Content attracts leads but conversion is slow and unreliable. Use it alongside a proven client acquisition system. Paid ads are the ultimate scaler: Once you have a proven system, invest in paid advertising to exponentially increase client acquisition. This video will equip you with a clear roadmap to ditch the referral rollercoaster and take control of your B2B consulting growth. Watch Tony's video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC_aHBHOBHE

Or let's say I don't care as much about it as I'm supposed to, according to most HR gurus out there. 

The main reason is: I don't want to attract and retain people who care about wellbeing, mental health and mindfulness provided by their employer.

I want to attract people who want to develop skills, make money, and who pride themselves in doing a great job. 

In this video, I show you why it's so important to have a niche as a B2B Consultant, why "SMEs" are not a niche, how to pick a niche and how to transition from generalist to niche specialist. It's a big one, strap in. Here's the Google Doc I walked you through https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SuRS_56dbPiTV07_bc8sXQXGqNwTz1KzJwIX5MB8GCI/edit Here's Dan Koe's argument against niching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6GdcCYxZUE And here's Jordan Peterson about Peter Pan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll2gdKHXOYc My main points

 SMEs are not a niche (despite what most 5-figure consultants will tell you)

 Why niching is essential to make it to multiple 6 or even 7 figures

 How to transition from non-niched to niched without panicking

 The two main reasons for niching down

 Where people who favor personal brand building over niching are wrong... and where they are right. 

 Demographic vs psychographic niches (and why this distinction matters)

 Your get-out-of-jail free card: You can still work with people outside your niche

 A full-scale 15 point checklist on picking the right niche

 When discriminating by sex or race ("we work with black female founders...") is a net negative for profits... and when it isn't. 

 And tons more.

In this episode, I show you how to stop depending on referrals in 2024 as a B2B consultant and rather grow your business through developing the product and brand. Of course, before you do that you still have to build good client acquisition systems and cold outreach or LinkedIn outreach approaches that get you more clients as a B2B consultant in 2024. After this video you'll know how to approach growing your consulting business in 2024.

Saying "mañana mañana" to building client acquisition systems will cost you dearly. How much? I calculated it in this episode.

But before we get there, we have to discuss: What does it look like to build client acquisition systems, what are the alternatives, and what is the one situation when you indeed shouldn't bother building them.

In this episode we get into how I adjusted Alex Hormozi's Value Formula to help me sell our coaching product.

How long does it take to build a first version of effective Client Acquisition Systems assuming you've had a few clients already and want to move from referral and network based client acquisition to a more predictable system that books you calls with strangers and that you can sustain indefinitely at 2-5 hours weekly input from you, the CEO? My answer: 250 hours, if you have guidance and support. In this video, I break down this number and show what to pay attention to and which rabbit holes to avoid.

Do this BEFORE you flood the world with Content and Cold Emails:

👉 Systematically leverage your existing network to find clients. 👈

Introducing: The Comprehensive Network Sweep.

Alex Hormozi's $100m Leads book provides a great framework for warm outreach.

BUT: It assumes a more B2C oriented offer, e.g. weight loss.

And that's why it treats everyone in your network the same.

The big difference in B2B is:

There are VAST, predictable differences between people & their power of referral.

For example, if your offer is directed at startups

...a good friend in a VC firm will have 100x the impact than 1,000 acquaintances working in big corporate combined.

So we have to treat people differently

👉 Dedicate WAY more time to reach out to the high potentials

👉 Reach out to the low potentials at scale

👉 And ignore the unlikely ones.

In this video, I

✅ break down the whole B2B Warm Outreach process into 9 discrete steps

✅ outline the criteria for placing people into different buckets

✅ provide text and email templates to use for outreach

Following this process, you can systematically reach out to your existing network in 2-6 weeks.

And this is not only for beginners - even if you've been in business for a while, you can remind your network what you do & harvest new clients.

Oh, and in the episode I promised a link to a LinkedIn Profile Optimization video: Here it is: https://youtu.be/II-tYHKfQAU

This is the State of Client Acquisition Podcast - where we dissect the art and science of client acquisition for consultants, B2B coaches, and agency owners.

Cash is King. It's important that you know how much King you have and will have now and in the foreseeable future. I often encounter Solopreneurs and small B2B business owners who don't have a full grip on their finances - outflows and inflows, cash forecasts, how much money will there be 6 months from now etc.

I have built a tool for that I wanted to share with you today.

Endlessly creative as I am, I call it the Cash Forecast Tool.

Using this tool, you will be able to flexibly insert upcoming expenses, account for new revenue coming in, and be able to reliably predict how much money will be in the bank 3,6,12 months from now.

And you can use it for both your business, as well as for your personal finances.

How to use it?

1. Go here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1602mjKmToYZijvHqbOWL7VGNVf5mj00SXtzN2tNRFyM/edit#gid=1460396484

2. Click File and Make a Copy

And voilà, you have your own version.

Then, watch the video so you know how to use it.

Even successful consultants who have grown their business into multiple 6 figures struggle with self discipline.

I have put together 12 frameworks that helped me become gradually better at Self Discipline, to the point where I barely recognize my 5 year younger self.

These frameworks are

1) Taking good care of yourself (without practicing "self-care")

2) Imagining your future millionaire self as your boss. What kind of performance review would (s)he give you?

3) Hormozi's Ignorance Tax

4) Externalizing the dark force

5) Sacrifice well - the story of Cain and Abel

6) Everything must rise at the same time

7) Not putting anything on a pedestal

8) Shift from output to input goals

9) Playing the infinite game

10) Removing temptations from your environment

11) Gamifying self discipline

We'd like to think that clients take us on to follow our advice. But sometimes, they won't. Here's how you can react to it so that

a) they aren't put off

b) no one ends up resenting anyone

4 Mindset patterns that keep you below $10k/month

Little insidious mind viruses that masquerade as

🎭 humility

🎭 ambition

🎭 responsibility

🎭 healthy self-critique

Other mindset patterns keep you from starting in the first place.

But these ones specifically keep you below $10k

(which means you're not building wealth)

Here they are:

1) “What am I doing wrong?”

It SOUNDS good because - at least - you’re assuming responsibility.

But below it is a dark, ugly truth

2) “I’m not good at what I do and will get found out”

Classic impostor syndrome.

But most people just let it linger and learn to live with it. Bad idea.

3) “I don’t want to be salesy”

Thought experiment: If you invented the cure for cancer

…would you also want to not be salesy?

4) “I want to work with big corporate. They pay more than SMEs.”

Sounds reasonable, right?

Well, also here, there could be an unsavory truth hiding in plain sight.

Every uplevelling requires an overhaul of how we work. When you move from employee to entrepreneur, it's a massive change in how you spend your day. It's the same when you have to go from 30 to 100k/month. It'll become a totally new business. In today's episode, I share the 5 changes I need to make in my business to get there.

Networking as a client acquisition tactic... is deadly It's the equivalent of the horse and buggy in a world of supersonic jets. In this video I provide conceptual and mathematical proof for this, but more importantly I share what you can do if so far networking has been your main or only way of getting clients for your B2B consulting business

Relevant links: I refer to the video about the Critical Density Test: --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Uqce4U7Bk

There are 3 main business models in the area of selling your knowledge online. * The Agency (Done For You) Model * The High-Ticket Coaching Model * The Low Ticket Product Model Blur the distinctions between them at your peril. Each of them has its own rules and optimal sales and marketing mix, and if you want to succeed fast, it's best to follow the rules. In the video I reference the Critical Density Test Video: https://youtu.be/g5Uqce4U7Bk

Procrastination isn't necessarily about Netflix or excessive tidying. There are much more insidious forms of procrastination that consultants and solopreneurs struggle with. They are much tougher to overcome because they're masquerading as worthwhile activities to grow your business. They are 😐 Networking 😐 Going to Conferences 😐 Getting into Partnerships and Alliances 😐 Getting hung up about Relationships and having a big Ego 😐 Doing anything other than prospecting and selling

Eliminate these, focus on prospecting and sales - and you'll never worry about revenue in your life.

It's not always possible to close a deal on the first call. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, especially when the prospect seems ready. Now I routinely close deals on the call and strangers who are talking to me for the first time wire me a high four-figure amount on the call. There are five tweaks I have applied to my sales approach that allows me to do that. 1) I study the prospect beforehand and make a few assumptions about them (yes, assumptions, oh the horror). 2) In the first few minutes of the call, I frame the conversation as one where we will be making the decision today. 3) I respect the 30-10-20 structure of the call (30 min for investigation, 10 for the pitch, and 20 for Objection Handling). 4) During the investigation phase, I look for reasons why they shouldn't work with me. 5) I objection-handle persistently. I am discussing these adjustments in more detail in this episode, I hope you like it!

Not all B2B Consulting Value Propositions are Scalable. Some of them are so unique to their target audience that the density of prospective clients in the market is too low to run any meaningful outbound client acquisition. But it's not only about density. Based on my work with consultants, I have identified 7 factors that are part of what I call the Critical Density Test. If your score is below 100,000, you may be at risk that your offer is not scalable. And if that is the case, I have a recommendation for you how to pivot. In the video, I mentioned how you can get someone in your target market on the phone to do customer discovery with them. Here's the video about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCDtyU9b1VM And here's how you can calculate your own CDT. Click on the link below, and then File -- Make a Copy https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/171VGKpxzh4Y_zvImztUXWQEtWItBBnoupM8LTQBOUx0/edit#gid=0 ____

There were 4 mistakes I was making that kept me from getting to $20k / month. They were 1) Have an unclearly defined Avatar / serving multiple avatars 2) My service offering was all over the place 3) I spent way too much time delivering to clients 4) I spent my non-client delivery time wrong

And now that I fixed these problems, I'm easily making that (and more).

Hope it's going to be useful for your own business.

This is the State of Client Acquisition Podcast - where we dissect the art and science of client acquisition for consultants, B2B coaches, and agency owners.

Follow me on

I have started about 2,000 conversations with prospective clients.

And there's a common theme that has proven to be right over and over again:

Those who focus on the identity of their audience or on a virtuous cause...

...do worse in their business.

Examples: Those who...

✅ Coach female / black entrepreneurs

✅ Do Marketing for vegan solopreneurs

✅ Do Operations Consulting for "ethical businesses"

✅ Are focused on social impact

Their revenue is invariably lower than that of companies who focus on solving a difficult problem FIRST. 

Now, Coaching, Marketing, Operations Consulting... those are difficult problems. But it's the primacy of the focus that makes a difference. If the focus is on the identity of the target client -- bad. If the focus is on the problem -- good. 

_____

From charting the music to charting LinkedIn, in this episode, all round creative genius and serial entrepreneur Sam Browne shares his LinkedIn exploits that lead to him becoming a LinkedIn rockstar a mere 2 months into being properly active on the platform.

We discuss our different content sharing methods where Sam proves to be more of a renegade with his unplanned and unscheduled methods that are also quite impactful. As well as the importance of centering the reading experience and creating aesthetically pleasing posts. 

What sets him apart is his cheeky creative flair that shines through his post segment conception and optimization. 

I broke down Sam's magic after our call in this LinkedIn post: https://bit.ly/3umdbzk

Time Stamps:

00:04 Intro & Sam Browne Rockstar Backstory 

08:00 How Sam Went from Rockstar to LinkedIn Prodigy 

15:16 Sam’s (Past) Business Success

17:25 What are Sidecar Posts?

25:43 Sam’s Content Recipe

28:17 Where/How Sam Learned Copywriting 

31:09 Content Posting Formula 

34:38 Q&A: Schedule Structure 

40:13 My Content Lessons (What Are You Optimizing For?)

45:06 Q&A: Does Not Being Scheduled Help Reach a Different Audience?

48:00 The Story Behind The Emojis

51:36 Sam’s Post Mini-Discussion 

57:09 Q&A: Writing Business Specific Content Or Connecting With Ideal Client Base

1:01:53 Summary & More Pointers 

1:09:58 Wrapup

Find Sam Browne on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-browne 

View Black River Drive’s Lead Single Here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VwNj3BRdzw