How to get clients today! EP #363

G', day, guys. You're listening to the Den Lenny show, the podcast for established video business owners who want to scale smarter, not harder. We talk strategy systems and the scale method that turns busy founders into strategic CEOs. I've been listening to a lot of people saying that work's really tight out there. A lot of freelancers saying it's really hard. There's a lot of news around things being a bit lean and that's not necessarily the experience we're having in the community we are in, in the corporate video world. But I thought it was a great opportunity to address this. You know, if we put ourselves back in that position where we believe that there's not enough work out there and things are really leaning, clients aren't spending. What are some of the things you would be doing to generate opportunities for yourself in, in a time where things get lean?

I won't even just say would be doing. I have done this thing. One of the easiest and simplest ways to try and drive some more business is get on the phone. And I think, you know, if you've been lucky enough to work with some clients in the past, you've already got a bunch of people that as long as you didn't mess it up, would happily take a phone call from you, right? And so it's the easiest way to get on the phone go, hey, this is Matt. Den, how are you mate? What's been going on? And just like no sales, no like direct whatever. Just have a genuine conversation to check in on somebody. And then through that naturally, because the relationship has tended around working together, you will start talking about work, how's things that you know your business, what's been going on? Oh, cool, you're working on that. We've been just doing X, Y, Z. Look, I'd love to work with you again if there's any opportunity. And that's the, the worst case scenario, best case scenario, which has happened to me last week I called 34 people and I closed 20 grand. I had five meetings booked and have just had this trickling of people that I missed that I left voicemails for calling me back up. So sorry I missed you. How's things? And it's like it's, it's so powerful because if you come at it from a place of, of authenticity and genuine interest. How's your dog? How's your, how's your kids? I have. They started kinder yet. What's been going. I saw, you know the Celtics won the NBA championship. That's awesome. I know you're back like whatever it is. Right. Have a bit of personal connection and start that conversation naturally. Work conversation will come up and they'll just. If there's no opportunity directly there, you'll be top of mind because you made them feel, you know, important in your life. And so it moves the needle really, really quickly, but also fills your boots. And you start having these conversations that are positive that just kind of breed a bit more momentum. So I did that last week and it's just like, I think it's worth.

Mentioning here, you know, when you're facing 34 calls, like, I'd still be like, oh, 34 calls. The first one is the hardest.

Yeah.

But once you've broken the back of that. Which reminds me of back in Covid. Remember that, that, that. That situation where you are really in stuck and you're just like, do this.

Yeah. Like the three calls. Yeah, my fave. Um, before I drop that one. That's a superpower, right. Like people, you can be listening to that and going, oh, getting on the phone. To a lot of people, that sounds like a boring thing to do. If you can do that well, you will be that person's potentially that person's favorite moment of their day. And you know why? Because people.

I have this belief that everybody's favorite subject to talk about is themselves. And before you call bs, BS on that, the only reason it wouldn't be is if they're talking to someone they don't think cares.

Yeah.

And so if, if someone it, I would, I would say no matter who it is, I could have a great conversation with someone. And it's by asking them about themselves 100%. And it's by genuinely wanting to know. It's by going past that. Hey, how are you? Yeah, good, thanks. No, no, I want to know how are you?

Yeah.

Or what have you been up to? Not much. I don't believe you.

There's two things I want to add to that. One is we've worked with a finance broker, right. To get some loans to buy cameras and equipment and things. And he in his CRM has like birthdays of my family, like my kids birthdays. And we'll just call me and be like, hey, I just want to wish your son happy birthday.

Whoa.

Like, dude, that's so cool. And like, he's not thinking about it. But there's that follow up and you feel so good by it. It's like the greatest, warmest feeling.

Wow.

But I think the other thing you just said, that's that remind me I have to share. This is. It is a superpower, but it is also, you have to do a lot of mindset shifting in order to just commit to that. Right? Yeah, we talk a lot about mindset and kind of committing to the idea of being a business owner. And really, who do you need to become to see this scale and be successful? I had that list of 34 people I needed to call, and the first couple, I was like, the easy layups. I know this person is cool. I spoke to them last month. Whatever. You get to the last 10 that are like, oh, I haven't spoken to them in a year. And it's. Maybe it's. Maybe I just send them an email and just the mental gymnastics I'm going through. Well, like, it's just, I know that I need to do this and yet I'm still doing it. So just push through that barrier because the worst that happens is you have a. Hey, how's it going? Yeah, good. What's been up to? Oh, not much. Great. Blah, blah, blah, blah. All right, well, no, I'll see you later. And that's it.

Like, well, you know, if, if I were to say to you, hey, I want to give you $20,000 and all you have to do is make 34 phone calls.

Yeah.

How many people would say yes to that? Everyone.

Nearly every.

And yet as videographers running businesses, we all have a client list. And it doesn't matter if they're last clients or recent clients or clients you didn't win deals with. You've got some kind of relationship and just making that first step. And you're absolutely right, do not do it via email. That is not a follow up. A follow up is getting on the phone. And if you can't get them on the phone right away, because sometimes people ignore numbers they don't know, ring again and ring again. And almost every time, someone will pick up on the third call because they'll think, oh, someone's really trying to get a hold of me. There must be an emergency.

Yeah, that's where I was going to that. But you've got to be. You've got to come in with, I have a reason to call. Right. The three call strategy is rocking and it challenges so many internal perceptions. Right, what's the three core strategy? Well, the three core strategy, as Dan outlined briefly, is you call them, they don't pick up. You know, chances are they looked at their phone and seen a call coming through and just put it down. Like that's, you know, most people will. Will See the call, you call them again and you know, it takes a little bit to go. I've called a month, I've done what I was supposed to do. I, I'll just move on to the next one. That's easy. It's harder to call again. But you call again and if they don't pick up that time, you call again. And that's like, that's like holy. As Jen was saying, you know, if someone's called you three times, they want quick success. They want to speak to you. Thinking, oh, what's going on? I have to pick up the phone. This person's called me three times in a row. It's urgent.

And you.

I've done this to multiple people and you do sometimes get the, what?

Cancer, What? But that's where you step in to go. I actually believe I could be the best part of someone's day. And you'd say, hey, it's Caleb here. I just really wanted to check in. How are you? Things a bit crazy out there at the moment. The example I use was back in Covid. Right. That was easy. Right. Because I could come in going, how crazy is this world? I just wanted to check in. I'm doing a ring around of all my past clients and I want to check in. How are you going? And the response after me asking a genuine question that sounds like I really care is often.

Caleb.

Wow.

Yeah.

It is going crazy. And you just have this conversation and unknowing, unwittingly, you've been their best part of their day. Right. Where they. You just get to have a human to human conversation with someone who cares.

Yeah. And what you're really doing there as well is you're fishing for problems.

Yeah.

You're just waiting for them to be like, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. And then we really want to launch his brand product. Da, da, da. You're like, brand, product, Good. Okay. Sally. So yeah, that's really interesting. Well, you know that brand product, we could actually probably help you guys out with that. I mean, is that something, you know. Good one. And then away you go.

Yeah. You say, oh man, it sounds like a really tough time. Did you know we actually solved that problem? Would you be interested in hearing how we do that?

So can I ask you then Covid, obviously makes sense. You check in. It's a crazy world. How do you do that today? Like, what's the, what's the reason you were calling them three times on a Wednesday afternoon?

Talk the weather in Bendigo.

How sunny is it outside?

No, No, I play into it. I go, who? Hey, look, no emergency. I know what you might be thinking. I've called you three times in a row. But I'm going through my past emails, past clients, and I really wanted to catch up with you and catch you before the day's out. I've got a simple question for you. How is life at the moment? How are you going? I want to check in. And it's good.

Because you, it can be the elephant in the room.

Right.

Someone's called you up and you know, if you sense like they're a bit annoyed, you can just. I call it out. I just go, have I caught you at a bad moment? I know I called you three times.

And that could.

That can be a bit crazy. Have I caught you at a bad time? Can I call you back? And they go, oh, well. Oh, no, no. All right, let's talk. Yeah, because.

Because what you're doing is you're showing that you care.

Yeah.

And I think there was a very famous marketer, his name escaped me, but he said you become interesting by being interested in people. And so if you lean in and really want to get a hold of someone, it stands out.

Yeah.

Because most people are like, how are you? I'm fine. And so you actually go a bit deeper. And if you kind of, you're leading from the heart, really, you're saying, I really care about you and I want to know how you are.

Yeah.

And if the conversation goes towards, we can solve a problem for you. Great. But that's not why I called. And you have this intent and I think that intent counts more than skill in any sales conversation. Yeah, most sales conversations, videographers particularly are like, got any work? And that's often what happens. Whereas if you go, hey, I'm just calling to see how you are because I not checked in in a while. How are you?

Yeah, we'll feel that.

So what, what are some ideas? And so say, for example, I take on your guys advice. I run through that list. I have four people I call and that's the extent of my contact list. And I have four great conversations, but nothing comes out of those four.

And then I still am at a point where I'm looking for work. What are some ideas that you guys could give me that will fast track my client acquisition?

I got two. You can go back to them and send them an email. Just say, hey, great to catch up with you earlier today. Andy loved our chat. Great to hear about, you know, how well, your kids, whatever it is, I'm A little bit light on at work for the moment, and we had a great opportunity or great time working together. Is there anybody you could recommend me to that would really benefit from what I. Referrals.

Right.

Because you've already had a conversation. They've got a good, positive vibe about you all of a sudden. About. God. Yeah, I'd love to refer Andy to somebody else. Bang, bang, bang. And then that's just a nice, organic, really warm lead off the back of that. The other one is. Is essentially doing the same thing with. Yeah. Essentially cold outreach. If you're in the mode of it. Right.

Yep.

Like, if you're already kind of feeling good about getting on the phone and you've already broken through that barrier, then what are some of those. You know, maybe you've got connections with people on LinkedIn that you've not had a conversation with. Find the office number, give them a buzz, go. Hey, it's Andy here. I just want to say g' day and, you know, have a chat to Janet. You know, is Janet around? Great, Janet. We've been connected on LinkedIn. I just want to check and say hey, because I really love what you post on LinkedIn boa. So maybe just capitalize on that momentum and start doing the outreach beyond that. Because I think, like we've all said, once you break through that first phone call or the third phone call, you're. You're in a space where you like. Right. The band aid is ripped off. We're ready to go. So what else can you do with that energy and that momentum while you're in the zone?

Yep. I tell you, if you get on the phone, you will drum up work.

That.

It's just as simple as that. It just depends how, how many calls you're willing to make. You will.

Yeah.

Finish with work if you just keep calling people. And I love that. That was going to be my one, like, year. You'll look through your. Your dream client list or your niche you're trying to get into and you're just like, all right, here's 10 numbers, here's 20 numbers. And the people I want to speak to, my goal is always try and catch up for coffee.

Right.

Try and get what you're trying to do. In any scenario, really, when you're trying to drum up work is have a high value conversation. Trying to find a high value conversation. And it's about problem solving and it's always about finding the people that are most likely to have the problems that you can solve. And so you go, hey, I've been admiring. I love what you guys do. I know your times are premium, but I was wondering if I could buy you a coffee because I want to. I'm doing a bunch of research in your, your industry and you know, whatever you want to spend it. I would love to learn more about your business and how I can help you, but first let's, let's have a coffee.

Well, also I want to go back to a real life example where, you know, typically, you know, we teach a lot of the LinkedIn strategy, which is about connecting with people every day. It's a longer term strategy, you know, 60 to 90 days, build relationships, create content. But I've seen it work very quickly as well. And Samuel, one of our colleagues, won a 50 grand deal last week. He said 100% through a LinkedIn connection that was nurtured over time. Grant has another colleague of ours done lots of business through LinkedIn. But Alana, I remember distinctly last January was like, I've got nothing. It's dry. What do I do? She asked this exact question on an up level call. I said, just go to LinkedIn. She smashed out 20 connections a day, every day for a week. And she won. I think it was about $12,000 worth of work because she just happened to connect with someone at the right time with a message that says, hey, can I help you with any video projects? So as much as the longer term strategy with LinkedIn is one of like pace and gently kind of easing yourself in, Nick Nolan, who's an up level, has also trimmed that and just gone. And I think he's the charm of the Irish, right? He's like, ah. Then I just, you know, I just asked him if they want any video work, is there any opportunities, you know, and God, Nick's in the. I know, right? But he, he basically just goes straight in with, hey, how are you? I see you do X and Y. We produce videos in that space, just inquiring if there's any mutually beneficial arrangements we could look at. And he just finds it super successful because Nick is a videographer. He just wants to be a videographer, gets booked to do videography jobs. So he's not really interested in scaling a business. So that works really well for him. So I would say if you are a videographer right now struggling for work, I would hit LinkedIn with a more direct message that said something like, hey. And the algorithm suggested we connect. I do, I make videos for companies like yours. I just want to explore whether or not there was any synergies. And it Works, Yeah. So if you're looking for immediate food, you know, go to the low hanging fruit and that means just reach out to people on LinkedIn and what will happen with that as well is I think it will, it will kind of condition you to reach out to people cold.

You know what? Another, another really helpful tip on that. It's a, it's a volume game when you, when you're coming to that strategy, don't be spending two hours curating the list of five people you're going to reach out to on LinkedIn and trying to find out their kids names. And you know what I had for breakfast. You'll literally, you, you've set the parameters wide enough that your message is going to, you know, land in the right industry or the subject that you're talking about and do 20 connections a day for a week like and you, that it was a massive barrier for me because I'd be like, well what if, what if they come back and they're really keen but I don't want to work with them.

Well, Alan Dibb, in the one page marketing plan, he talks about the fact that in a, in a, in a kind of cross section of a hundred people, only three are ready to buy now, between seven and ten may be in a position to buy something in the near future. I think the other 20 odd percent might be in the market in the next six months and then there's 30% who are never going to buy from you and wouldn't take it if it was free. And then the final 30% have just no interest in you whatsoever. So if you think you're only reaching out to 20 people a month, it's going to take you four times, five times as long to get to that hundred, to get to three clients. And sometimes that, that really freaks us out. And you know, Ben Simkin, a mentor of mine, he said it's going to take you 10 times the effort that you think it will to get a client. And I've always adopted that. And it's like, yeah, you have to do 10 times the work you think you're going to have to do to get one client to trust you.

Yeah. For me, if I was to give somebody advice, right, and if you're looking for your next meal, I'm gonna consider that things are pretty serious, right. So you've gotta match your action to the, the circumstance. So for me, and I'm, I've always been interested in leverage. So when I think of business, I'm trying to create leverage. So it's like, I'm trying to find actions that I can do that I like.

It's.

I don't like, one plus one equals two. I like, how can we create one plus one equals 15? Like, what? How can we. How can we do that? That's the question to ask.

Yeah.

I love it. So it's like I'm looking for activities that I saved. I saved time and I win more clients. So for me, I've like, I did the door knocking thing. Cold calling is how I started niching into the construction industry. I just called a ton of builders. But I think as well, don't underestimate the power of ads. Like, you don't have to be a rocket scientist or like an ads guru to start generating inquiries. Like, it's like the market is. Is saturated with videographers. Everybody, everybody today is a videographer, Right? So you've got to ask yourself, how am I different to.

To.

To my competitors?

Right.

And if you're just going to rely on your skills and like, we can color grade better or, you know, done a short film back in film school, then that's. You're not working hard enough. Like, you've really got to think, how do I grab somebody's attention? And I grab them by the jugular and I create something so irresistible that they feel stupid walking away from me. That's the intensity you have to approach every client with. So it's like what I did. And this is what I would recommend in, you know, I'm following based off my previous experience, which was niching, but in the construction industry was I created an offer where they felt like, why is this guy giving it to us for six grand? My first offer was $6,000.

Wow.

I needed my next meal. To them, I was giving them like 40, 50 grand worth of value. And they said, wow, this guy's like, of course we're going to say yes. You know, And I'm like, wait, I got my next meal and I just accepted my fate. That the next three, four months I'm going to grind. Like, I'm going to work my ass off here and get my foot in the door. And I think there's like an ego thing with creators where it's like, well, if it's not at my rate, like, that's it. I'm not working for you. It's like, my man, you're like, still in struggle City, like, and learn the game.

But there's this beauty, but it is a game.

Yeah.

And it's fun.

Yeah.

If you embrace it as the game and you see it as fun and you don't attach that artistic ego to your value. $3,000 a day and I don't go out for less. And it's like, well, no one's working every day for $3,000 a day, not even the greatest DPs. So it's like a reality check. But I get it, you know, we've all been there where it's like, I feel hurt that someone's dared to offer me less than my value because we take it so personally. But you learn to, to not.

Yeah, I think if we come back to the LinkedIn stuff too, like, I think, yeah, coming in and going, this is what my, my next meal is like. Come in hard and grind is cool. But I think if you're, if you're doing some of the LinkedIn outreach and you kind of get out of that like living job to job, needing something to sustain you, and you kind of actively trying to generate some leads, don't lose what work you've done in those lead generation processes. So you might have a couple of conversations and they go, oh, cool, we're just working this thing now, but maybe in a couple months time we'll be ready to chat. Don't just forget that somewhere. Put it in calendar, put it in your project management system. Make a note to go, I've got to contact this person again in six months time. Make some notes of what that conversation was about. Because I guarantee you when you call them or send them a message in six months time, go, how is that event you ran? Or how was that thing you were doing? And they go, oh wow, you remembered. Just instantly you skyrocket to the top of their list because, you know, there's. They feel important. Yep. And so all of that compounds over time, it starts just adding more and more of those conversations in that network. And then eventually the numbers game. If you've gone from 20 a week to, you know, 100, sorry, 20 a day to 100 a week, that becomes 400amonth over a year. You've got, you know, a whole lot of new connections that those conversations, you just keep adding more and more to them, that eventually the tilling of the soil will just generate work because of that nurturing.

The other thing you can do as well is like we're talking about attracting new leads and new clients. Right. But the other thing, if you're in a position and you're, you know, trying to make bank, is look at your existing clients. They're your, they're your happiest. Your warmest leads, if you like. So it's like if you're already doing a profile video or you're doing a couple of social media ads or whatever it is you're doing for them, think a bit deeper. Well, what else can we add to this and just go, hey, Jack, I noticed that we're doing this for you. Like, everything's going good, but we just noticed as well that if we did this as well, it's gonna do this. Is that something you guys would be interested in? Oh, man. Thanks so much for think. Let's do it. Let's go.

That is such a good point. It reminds me of situation we had the other day. We got a roof painting client who's an absolute legendary, amazing client.

Bailey was on set with him, and he didn't realize that we did TV ads because we're doing his social ads. And. Well, I was like, hold the phone. I'm sorry, what?

Yes, we do TV ads. And he was getting his TV ads done somewhere else. Oh, yeah.

Wow.

And I didn't even know he did TV ads. I'm like, we're doing all this social media campaign stuff, and he's put us in this box, and he loves us in that box, but he doesn't know that we do other things. So, you know, you don't know what they have on the table that you could be picking up. Right. There's a whole bunch of other things that we. Once that kind of lock was unlocked, I was like, oh, my goodness. Oh, let me have a conversation with you, dude, and share what else we do.

And how many of your other clients don't realize you do X and Y. Amazing. Yeah, I've heard that story before. Someone. Someone in the VBA talked me that story. It's like, oh, we just thought you did the kind of the 5, 10 grand project. We give the 20 grand projects to someone else. We didn't realize you did them. It might have been you, actually. It's like, oh, no. We just didn't think you were at that level.

And you're like, we show you some. Yeah, yeah.

But sometimes some of you would just. We make assumptions about what people know about us.

Yeah.

Because we are. We're talking about it all day, every day, and we get bored of hearing our own voices saying the same things over and over again. But the person that it lands with, it might be the first time they've heard it, and they were busy and they caught a bit of it, and you've got to keep repeating it again. And Again and again. I was at an event filming a corporate in Sydney two years ago and this woman had been an advisor to Bill Clinton, President Bill Clinton. Her name was Jean, I forgot her surname, but she was fascinating. And she said, you know, Bill.

Bill, Bill was a brilliant communicator. He had his flaws. She said, like what?

Can't imagine what he tells.

Okay, but, but she said he was a brilliant orator.

Yeah, grew up.

Great communicator.

But he said it is really salient. He said, it doesn't matter, Gene. It doesn't matter what we're saying matters what they're hearing. And I'm like, that is brilliant.

Yeah, that's good.

And we often go, well, we do X and Y and we're this and we're that and the next thing. But the client's hearing something different because they're sitting in their own. As you said at the beginning of this product, this episode, what happens if you're sitting there and you're like, you've got no work and you're. And you're worried about paying the rent? What do you do? It doesn't matter what we are saying because all they're hearing is, I'm starving, I need to do something, give me something, give. I don't care about the strategies, give me something I can do now. And all of it's uncomfortable.

Yeah.

But you never hunt better than when you're hungry.

Yeah.

And sometimes you just gotta pick up the phone.

Yep. Stay hungry, stay hungry.

Yeah.

Pretty hungry now actually.

Final tips if we're just to think about this. Try and dig more out of this episode for our listeners, our viewers. You're sitting there just now, your name's Andrew, okay? And you're a video production company. And you've had a few good months and then a few shitty months. Like, you know, you had a 20 grand job last year and now you're doing two grand jobs and you, you don't feel like you're some rookie, but you're stuck. And sometimes we all get stuck, right? We get stuck in a paradigm, we get stuck in a way maybe we haven't evolved as a business.

What do you do, Andrew? You've got to become top of mind to everybody you possibly can. So that's getting on the phone, talking to the people that know you. It's by connecting with new people on LinkedIn. It's by posting content, running ads, being as present and omnipotent as possible, so that whenever somebody thinks video, they think Andrew's videos. And it's it's simple as that. Be out there and be as, as touchable as possible.

Yep. Yeah, I'd say, Andrew, mate, if you're in a funk and you, you're hearing all this and you're like, I can't do any of that. I just, I don't know which way's up. Surround yourself with some other people that can speak into your life. Go, hey, mate, get around you and pull you out because it's, it's really hard. Business can be really isolating and you can feel like you're just drowning sometimes. So I would say don't go to your well meaning family that have never run a business or anything like that. Go find a crew that get you. There's a cool. Because there's a couple of cool places you can go for that, right?

Hmm.

I mean, I'm surrounded by you guys. Come onto this podcast, the spare seat here somewhere. No, but seriously, there's. We've got a free group, right? And so that is a place where people like you can get in there and it's no longer the echo chamber of your brain. You can see other people have similar problems and you can all rise together.

When I plucked that name, Andrew nowhere, I wasn't even thinking about Andy. I've never, I've never known you be called Andrew. That's what your mother says to you when you're in trouble.

I'm thinking, there's someone there that's like, it's going to be really freaky for them. There isn't Andrew Sweating bullet.

See through the podcast.

Yeah, that's massive. I think community is huge. Surrounding yourself with other people. I think for me, the thing I'll share with Andrew or anybody who's in that position is from my experience, when things are going south, the first thing that I check is myself. The first thing that I check is where is my head at? Where's my mindset? Don't underestimate the power of positivity. That sounds really loose. But in your mind, self belief is like key because if you believe that you will fail, you will fail. Even if I hand you the keys, you won't be able to start the car. So I was like, but if you believe in your mind, like this is my self belief. Any problem I encounter, I have the ability to solve it. Like it's a relentless, brutal mentality. But I have to have it and I to the core believe it. So I would say check yourself. Are you backing yourself? Do you believe that you can succeed and check that first? Once you've got that right, the answers will follow.

Yep.

Love it.

And the only thing that's guaranteed is if you don't change something, you will guaranteed get the same result you're getting. So if not now, when? You may as well give it a crack because what's the worst that can happen?

Yeah.

If you're tired of going it alone with your video business and could use mentorship, support and coaching, check out how you can work with us directly@thevideomentors.com or join our free community on the Free Resources tab. Our mission is to positively impact videographers.

Lives, helping you earn more and work.

Less to support us. Please follow, rate and review this podcast and share this episode with someone who could find it helpful.

This is the Den Lenny Show. If you've built a solid production business but feel stuck in the grind, it's time to think bigger. Over the past 14 years, I've helped 178 companies generate more than 52 million in documented growth using the Scale method and our elite mastermind. If you want to create predictable pipelines, attract higher value clients, and finally buy back your time, head to denleny.com that's where the next level begins.