Good Marketing, Good Business

065: Getting The Same Clients To Buy From You Again, And Again

August 18, 2024 • Shannon Stone • Episode 65

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Let’s put an end to the endless search for new clients and let’s start keeping the great ones you do work with!

By listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:

  • How to turn project clients into ongoing clients
  • How to bundle your project-based services into longer-lasting packages
  • Six examples of ongoing services you could be offering your clients

Enjoy!

Links Mentioned:

→ Join the waitlist for the Service Business Boardroom here.

GMGB Podcast - Ep 9: Presenting Payment Plans The Right Way - listen here

Resources:


If you’d like to work together with me as your 1:1 business and marketing consultant, book a call here.

Shannon Stone:

H ey guys. Welcome to the podcast. Super excited to jump into this episode.

Shannon Stone:

Today we are talking about getting the same clients to buy from you again and again and again and forever. That's the way I like to do things. Now, if you want that, definitely have your pen and paper. Definitely take a lot of notes. We are going to be diving into this one and lots of great things that are going to be really specific and relatable to service-based businesses, so I've tried to really map it out, to make it make sense and be beneficial, no matter what kind of service-based business that you have.

Shannon Stone:

Now, what kind of magical world would it be if the same amazing clients that you worked with once or twice, or here and there, or ad hocly, as it sometimes can be. What if those same amazing clients just kept working with you over and over and over again? And not just that they will randomly reach back out to you, but where it's factual it's locked in. You know, whether you work under a project type of way, or you sell sessions or consulting or whatever it might be, you want them set in stone in some regard, working with you month on month, over and over again. So that's what we want to go through today. Now why do we want this? We want returning clients. We want those amazing clients that you have to work with you over and over again because one. Then you don't have to go looking for new clients over and over.

Shannon Stone:

There's so many positives for that, I think. Just headspace, stress levels, even your marketing budget as well. Even if you're not putting money into your marketing budget, but you're putting a lot of time and effort and resources into it in another way. Maybe your team are doing a lot of that business development. It's going to help you there as well. It's going to help you across the board. Big one is that you don't have to stress over cash flow as much as you probably do at the moment. So if your clients are not working with you in a very consistent and frequent manner, we definitely want to be changing that. Another great positive is that you don't have to see and this is probably my favorite one you don't have to see clients leave just after you've got to know them or their business or their project or their dog's names.

Shannon Stone:

That's the way that I like to do things, but sometimes it can be a bit of a shame. You put all this effort into working with someone, particularly for those project-based service businesses. You put all that time into understanding them, their way of doing things, their style, maybe their demographic, whatever it might be, their team, their communication style, so many different things. And then the project finishes and then it's like see you later, but it's kind of like I don't want you to go. So if you can work with those clients ongoing, I think that's a win-win for everyone. Now we were just talking about the wins for you as the business, and I see business as very two-sided. It's got to suit and benefit you as the business owner or the business, and it's also equally got to suit those clients that you're working with as well. So I see it is beneficial and we'll talk about how it benefits those clients as well to just get that ongoing help and support from you. So, instead of those ad hoc clients, what we can start to do if clients are working with you over and over again is that they can work with you for longer, that you can deliver more end-to-end solutions for them and you can help people more than just that one-off project or that one-off engagement or those ad hoc engagements.

Shannon Stone:

So in this episode, I'm going to share one approach, and I think this is kind of approach that serves many people. There are multiple ways that you can get clients to work with you over and over again, but this is almost like an all inclusive way. So have your pen and paper and let's definitely take some notes. So what I've got for us is turning project clients into ongoing clients. So many businesses they do work with project style services and packages. So it could be a website designers who create the website that's a project. It could be your accountant who does your taxes once a year that is a project.

Shannon Stone:

There's so many project approaches or project style services that we often see and the downside of this, when you work under a project scope is you know, as that service provider, you can still help them after the fact. A tax accountant can still help a business after they've done their tax return. They can even help them before they've done their tax return. It's amazing. You can help them on either side. A website designer can help their clients long after they've created that website, whether it's helping them to maintain that website, maybe it's with other design collateral, there can be all sorts of different ways. So we want to turn these project clients where you can still do that project that they've engaged you for. But how can you do it in a way, or how can you still work with them in an ongoing manner?

Shannon Stone:

So after the project is often done is where you're, I find your services can really come to light and really shine even more so if you think about a website designer, for example, a website is nothing if there's no traffic. So if you create a website for someone and no traffic is going there, well, is that going to look a little bit flawed on your service? Yes and no, but this is where the opportunity lies. The next step for them, just as an example, is to generate that traffic or another stage of that project, if you want to look at it that way. So after you've completed a project, whatever scope of work or whatever genre of service that you provide, what happens next where you could actually help those clients?

Shannon Stone:

That's what I want you to think about, but think about it in the way where it still is in the zone of your expertise. You're not, say, being a website designer who goes off and learns SEO, for example. It's still got to be within that wheelhouse and I think that holds that credibility based on what you do. You don't have to go and learn different skills and sell services that you're not quite savvy about, especially compared to what people do really engage you for that core business. So still stay within your core business, but just make sure that you think about, okay, what could be that next step project that I helped them with and I've got some examples as we go on in this episode. So keep this in mind Now, where many businesses can go wrong, so say you know, okay, I will create this website for you, and I know that after this, I should really be helping you with maintaining that website and maybe that's kind of like and we're using a website designer or a website developer as the example a lot in this episode but say you already know that from the get go, so many businesses will go wrong by waiting to complete that project of doing the website. And then when that project is finished and they hand it over, then they might raise the fact that you know what I actually help people with maintaining their websites.

Shannon Stone:

It's it includes X Y help people with maintaining their websites. It includes X, y and Z. You need it for X, y and Z reasons. They'll kind of start to pitch it when I think you've kind of left it a little bit too late. So I'm a big fan of transparency, so why don't we have this conversation right at the start? So when someone reaches out to you and says, hey, I would love some help with your services or I'd love some help on this project, I'd love for you to create this website for me this is what I want you to say and switch it out so it makes sense for you. But if you are the website designer, you say to your potential clients the way that I work with people is different to most website designers. I don't just have a website for you. I want you to make sure that you get traffic to your website so that it grows. So then you can go on and talk about the maintenance and things that you will and would like to offer to them. But you want to have that conversation right at the start, when those people reach out to engage you for your services.

Shannon Stone:

Don't leave it until that project is complete. Say it from the get-go, right at the start. So you want to bundle your ongoing services with your project services and you want to do that right at the front. When you're talking to that lead, you're having that sales conversation rather than leaving it to the end of the project, because sometimes a window of opportunity can kind of slip away and we don't want that to happen. The other thing on this as well if you leave it to the end of a project before pitching those ongoing services, your conversion rates are definitely going to be much lower than had you pitched it at the start. The window of opportunity isn't missed completely. You can definitely still pitch it, but you're going to find that the likelihood that they say yes is not as high as if you said it in the beginning.

Shannon Stone:

And where this can go wrong for the client is. You can be doing your clients a disservice by leaving them to their own devices after the project. So say, you create someone's website and you hand it over to them and maybe you did pitch them about doing those ongoing maintenance services that you offer. If they say no, and that's okay as well, but it can be a disservice if you leave them to their own devices. They're probably not someone like. They're probably too busy, right? If they're business owners and they've got a website done, they're too busy to be updating their website every month or they probably don't have the skills or the knowledge or the know-how to do it. They have the intentions to do it, but this is where it starts to create a disservice for them.

Shannon Stone:

So at the start, when I said business has to definitely benefit you, but it's also got to benefit your clients as well. So when I frame it as we want your clients to work with you over and over and over again, time and time again, it's also to help them as well. It's not because only trying to make your business money, we're also trying to help people as well. So win, win, win all around, okay. So I did say that it would be ideal if you bundled your project service into your ongoing service. Now, to me and I'm a little bit biased I think that is the best way to go. But it's your business and you have free range to make all the decisions. It is entirely up to you if you bundle it together or if you give people the option up to you, the option for them to buy those two things separately from you, so they may still buy the website from you and the maintenance service and they might buy it at two different times. That's okay if you choose that, but you also don't have to. You can say no. The only way I work with people is if we do the project and you build it all in, it's one end-to-end complete package and service for them. So that is for you to decide.

Shannon Stone:

Now say you do get to the end of the project and, for whatever reason, your ongoing service is not attached. That they didn't take that up to begin with. Now, at the end of the project, is just your next best chance to still have that chat with them At this point. They are your trusted client. They've gone through this project with you. We're imagining that they're really happy with what you've created for them. Still have that chat because I think otherwise another missed opportunity. We don't want that one to slip by. And same goes for clients after the fact. So maybe this is the first time you've heard about pitching ongoing services to your clients. Go back to all your previous clients and say, hey, I did this with you and I would love to have a chat about how I can help you. Ongoing, because it builds in really nicely to that project I did with you. So as a way to really help them. So no opportunity is ever a missed opportunity. Even though there is that window of time, we can really maximize things when you pinpoint it at the right time. But, for whatever reason, if you didn't kind of capitalize on that at that time, that is okay. Next best times are good too. All right.

Shannon Stone:

As we start to wrap things up, there are some different types of ongoing services that I'd love to share that can be really beneficial for all kinds of different service-based businesses. So whatever project that you do so I've got here maintenance could be an ongoing, and I'll kind of talk about this. Maintenance could be an ongoing service. Training could be an ongoing service, regular revisions and integration period, optimizations or new projects. These are not the only ones. There's definitely more, but sometimes the different language and terminology is beneficial to different services and service providers. So, just to kind of get your brain thinking about your business and what it is that you provide, some of these might stick. They might make more sense to your business than others. So we've talked about maintenance packages. Or website developer. They could offer those ongoing website updates. A training is another ongoing service. So maybe a sales consultant who goes into a business overhauls their sales processes. They might offer ongoing training to the team based on those improvements to the sales process. Regular revisions is another ongoing service. So a graphic designer who did your branding. They may have an ongoing service where they update your collateral every season. So maybe the hero image on your website, any kind of banners, email signatures, social media graphics, all those kinds of things. So that could be something a graphic designer could provide.

Shannon Stone:

An integration period is one that I love. So an integration period. So say you are a systems expert or a system strategist and what your business does. Maybe you design and create project management systems for businesses. So it could be things like Asana, clickup, trello Notion, all those kinds of things. For example, say you go into a business. You set all of that up. Now it takes a minute for people to start to adopt these type of things, this new software in this case. So maybe offering that integration period could be a really good ongoing service. Now remember, all these ongoing services could be bundled in with that initial project. So, say, this systems expert who sets up, say, notion, for example. I don't know, maybe it's five grand to set up Notion for a business, but maybe you want to have this integration period and you want to continue working with them for the next, say, three months. Maybe it ends up being a $10,000 package because there is this integration period. Whatever you kind of end up pricing it at, however you kind of position it. Maybe a good episode to probably think about when you are starting to think about ongoing services is the episode about payments and payment plans. It just kind of gives you some ideas around how you can structure how people pay, because that starts to come into effect when we kind of package up our services like this. So I think that is episode nine. So integration period is a good one.

Shannon Stone:

Another one is optimizations. So this could be a really good ongoing service for, say, an ad strategist, so maybe you get Facebook ads or Google ads set up. Typically they often do package this in anyway. But if it makes sense for your business, where you do offer optimizations on an ongoing basis, that would be brilliant to offer, great one, because we never want to do a disservice to our clients. We don't want to set something up for them and hope and pray and train them to do the thing, but then they don't do it and then things just go away. And then that whole project that you help them to set up and even that training that you put into them, it just didn't work. That's probably why you need an optimization service on an ongoing basis to really help and support them. Now you might even have multiple of these.

Shannon Stone:

Maybe you go from a project scenario, then maybe there's that integration period just really helping them, supporting them, getting them set up, and then maybe you kind of teeter off into that optimization phase of your service and maybe it's not as frequent. As you know, when you were doing more of that integration period, you've got to make it make sense to your business and what you offer. But you might offer, you know, a few of these, depending on what it is that you do and how you want to help people. The last ongoing service that I've got here and I said these are not the only ones, there's definitely plenty more kind of spoiled for choice, but it is new projects so any service provider who has done one project for their client or one project for a particular business, then you could pinpoint what's the next project you're going to work with, especially if maybe you do a lot of intricate type things for businesses.

Shannon Stone:

I think systems people are really good at this or this is really relevant to them. You might improve one particular system in a business. Then you go on to improve another particular system in a business, or maybe it's team training or coaching, for example. You might do it on one area and then you move on to the next area. So don't be afraid that you know you can offer new projects once the current one has finished. And remember, rewind right to the start.

Shannon Stone:

So when people reach out to work with you, if you know that there is scope to work with them ongoing now, think of this first before you jump onto your next sales call. But think about, okay, the people that I work with, the way that I really help people. Could I help them even more. Maybe it is that I should plan out multiple projects I can help my ideal clients with. So when I talk to them next, I can say it from the get go. I can bundle my services together.

Shannon Stone:

So, as you're finding, there are countless ways and reasons that your clients could buy from you again and again. But I think what is really important is it is up to you, as the service provider, to make these suggestions to them. People are not going to come to you and say I just want to buy from you again and again and again. Like those words are rarely going to come out of someone's mouth, you need to present it to people. You need to show people how you can help them, and I think all of these ways are really positioned in the way that you are helping them. You're not doing any disservice by doing a one and done thing and leaving them alone.

Shannon Stone:

You're really seeing how you can bring your expertise, your wheelhouse, your knowledge to help them in an ongoing basis. Bring your expertise, your wheelhouse, your knowledge to help them in an ongoing basis and sometimes and I think a lot of the time the more we can work with people, the more we even help them. So it's like if you work with them for a project one time back in the day, are you still helping them today? I don't know, it would depend on your services, but if you kept helping them ongoing, ongoing in a beautiful way, like some of the ways we described that training, the regular revisions, the integration period, all of these things they can really help your services to really excel. And, kind of coming back to the start, I think it really helps to strengthen your business. It helps it to grow your business. You can either work with fewer clients but more amazing clients in a longer capacity, or you could do that but increase the number of clients. So it's like every client that you work with, you work with them for longer and you can work with even more clients. So hopefully that helps you for today.

Shannon Stone:

Action step for today is if you found this useful, helpful and you're a service-based business, I would encourage you to come join the waitlist for the Service Business Boardroom. So it's something that I've created that is kicking off soon. So we've only got the waitlist open for it at the moment, which you can join. It's a one-of-a-kind business program that helps businesses under 2 million in revenue go from scattered and stagnant to profitable and sustainable. So if you would like some help with that, there is a link to join the waitlist. Otherwise, pop me a message on LinkedIn and I'll send you the link to join that one.

Shannon Stone:

I hope you found this episode useful. It's another good deep dive. If you have any questions, always reach out. But I hope you have an amazing week and I'll talk to you soon. Hey, thanks for listening. If you found this episode useful, I'd love for you to send it to a friend. The best podcasts I have found have all been recommended to me. If you can spread the word by sharing this episode, I can spend more time helping you by creating episodes just like this one. Send it, text it, tell somebody about it, whatever you need to do. The more you spread the word, the more I can focus on creating needle moving episodes to help you and your friends.

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