151 - Are we leaking clients?

Discussion - Are we leaking clients?

This episode is the second in the little mini series that we're running. A couple of weeks ago we did an episode called 'Marketing funnels don't exist', in which we tried to explain what this series is all about. So you might like to have a listen to that, but this episode certainly can stand alone and you can just plough right on!

This episode is really about keeping the WordPress clients that you already have. What's the old phrase? Don't leave money on the table? Well, that's certainly the case.

The easiest people to find who can give you new work are the people who you already work with - right? They know you, you know them, and hopefully you have respect for one another. You already understand their business and what they do. You built their WordPress website for them and thought long and hard about the business that they run. They can talk to you and you 'get it' right off the bat.

The problem might be that you've never really got into a conversation about the services that you offer that they might need. Quite often the process stops when the WordPress website is built. They pay their final bill and you say thanks and don't really speak to them much after that. The next project becomes your focus and the cycle continues.

The book that we keep referring back to in these episodes is called 'Watertight Marketing' by Bryony Thomas. And she makes the point that if you really spend time getting to know what your client's businesses do, you'll be in great shape to offer new opportunities to them as and when they occur to you.

David has read through the book and has decided to implement some of the things that are suggested...

• Facebook group just for his clients. It will need time and it's not suited to all, but it could have a high emotional connection. This is advertised on all client WP Admin dashboards using WP Admin Pages Pro.
• Client reports. This is not all that exciting, but at least it makes clients aware that you are still performing updates on their sites. We could do so much better with this. What about making them more personal - add a picture of you, use up to date content and not just a template that you never, ever update. We both use MainWP to do this.
• Could we do more with WooCommerce automated emails that we send out?
• Jim Galiano is big on sending out video messages. I've found this to be enormously successful and powerful. Clients always seem to like the fact that you've made a little, tiny bit of effort to make something just for them. I use Loom, CloudApp and Dubb to create these images. Sure, you need to be comfortable creating videos, but if you can get over that, this seems like a no brainer to me.
• What about incentivising referrals? Maybe this is not for all clients, but the ones that you really get along well with... it might be worth trying to get them onboard. I've given bottles of wine in the past, but David is more ambitious, setting a scheme up to offer cash rewards to people who successfully refer him business.
• I think there’s something to learn from the likes of Elementor who manage to create a state of excitement though content all the time.
• David monitors who is logging into their site to get a picture of clients. (again MainWP, but there is also Stream, and Login Notifier).
• David is also going to be offering certain services for free (AccuRanker, Heat Mapping Google reports). He'll teach them a skill that he thinks that they'll need, and just give it to them for nothing.
• What about exit interviews. A way to find out why they're leaving... what did you do wrong?

There's a lot of ground covered in this episode, some of it fairly innovative and some tried and tested, but it's a great listen either way, and hopefully might offer you some ways to interact more with your WordPress website clients and find new ways to generate more business.

Mentioned in this episode:

Watertight Marketing by Bryony Thomas.
WP Admin Pages Pro
Main WP
Loom
CloudApp
Dubb