I was reading an article recently about someone whose business was totally killing it. When asked about why his business had grown so quickly, his answer was that he prospects 80% of his time, and delegates the rest to his team.

Wow.

I loved that answer, because so often I come up against people who are so insanely busy with their work that they don’t have time to prospect. This is a myopic way to run a company, because, as we all know, if you don’t seek out new business, eventually you’ll ground yourself out. Game over.

But in today’s day and age, when we have to be doing so many things and wear so many hats, how do you find the time?

I have some ideas.

How to Prospect Like a Boss

Prospecting and getting new business takes a lot of time. At any given point in time, I’m following up with between 10-20 potential new clients. Some will convert quickly, whereas others take a lot more time, a lot more touches and a lot more love and convincing.

Some people believe that prospecting is just getting the new leads. While that’s the first step, it’s certainly not the last. You have to keep following up with those people, sometimes for a loooong time, to get them to convert. Check out my blog here on follow up and why it’s so important. (/2015/12/the-follow-up-disaster/)

Here are the 3 steps of prospecting, and how you can do it right:

1. Getting the leads

Referrals and Repeats

I will not lie: this is the key part of the process. You’ll get a lot of your clients through referrals and repeats, which is awesome. Never be afraid to ask for the referral. The worst they can say is “no.” Go back to past clients and see if you can help them (this works well in high-transaction industries like real estate). The more you stay top of mind with your past clients, the greater the chance they’ll think of you when they’re having a conversation with someone else.

Use Social Media

You can use both your personal profiles AND business profiles to get new leads. On the personal side, post really great content. Let people know that you’re the expert. Give your information away for FREE! People want information, and they’ll engage with you for your business when they want a customized solution. If you can deliver that, your business is sound.

Then use social media advertising. Facebook currently has the widest audience and cheapest ads, so learn how to do it properly, using the right image, text and target audience. Then tweak and adjust the ads once they’re running to constantly optimize them for maximum performance. Drive the leads to a landing page that offers the visitors information that is super useful and actionable, and for which they have to hand over their name and email address to get. If it’s worth it for them, they’ll overcome their fear of giving you their info in exchange for YOUR info. Match made in (online) heaven!

Use traditional methods

I know you hate cold calling, or door knocking, or whatever seemingly archaic type of marketing is deemed “traditional” in your industry. But don’t count them out. There are creative ways to do some of these. For instance, when door knocking, have some useful information to hand to the people you meet, and use it to start a conversation. Leave something behind that gets their attention – a mini car, mega blocks Lego with your logo on it, sachets of flower petals (by the way, I’ve seen ALL of these used to generate an insane number of leads).

The WORST thing you could do

Be creative and think about what people need from you – and deliver it multiple ways. The WORST thing you can do is to only do one of these things. I’ve had clients who think the social media lead gen stuff I do for them is the be all and end all – it’s the ONLY thing they are doing. This will never work. You have to stump for your business. You have to be hungry for it.

Outsource if you need to in order to ensure you are spending at LEAST 50% of your time prospecting for new clients. There are lots of freelancers and part-time help available to you, virtual assistants and more. If you need names, I have a bunch, across many business needs.

Listen guys, I’m not a huge fan of prospecting either, but I’ve automated most of my system, and I do presentations, email marketing, events and more so that I’m constantly getting new people into my business. I have a super awesome team that assists me in the parts of the process I hate, but I DO manage most of it myself.

Prospecting like a boss means you take ownership of the process, and push it forward every day. Gary Vaynerchuck calls it “the hustle” and I love it.

So hustle out there, and prospect like a boss. Your bank account will thank you.

Rebecca