How to find your first OBM client

E21 How to find your first OBM client

 [00:00:00] hello! Welcome to another episode of The Audacious [00:01:00] OBM. I am Leanne Woff, your host, and today we are talking all things how to find your first OBM client. I know this is something that a lot of people struggle with. I get messages on Instagram about it, I get students in OBM Academy asking me about it, but how do you find those clients?

And then the second phase is how do you find the really good clients? So I thought it would be good to talk about it on the podcast and hopefully give you some things to try. I’ve got 12 things. They’re not exhaustive, but they’re all things you can do right now. I hope that they help you. The first thing is Clarity Is King.

What I mean by that is OBM is still a bit of an elusive term. People don’t fully get it. Yeah, a lot of OBMs don’t get it. And then there are a lot of people who are OBMs that don’t even realize they’re OBMs. [00:02:00] What it means is, in any kind of marketing, we need to be clear about what it is we do and who it is we do it for.

Two things. Learn how to say it. And I don’t care if you say it in two sentences or five or ten. As long as you’re clear and you’re confident when you’re talking about it, that’s all that matters. But that piece is really crucial. If you’re trying to find clients, they want someone who’s confident. They want someone that they know can solve their problem.

And if you want to get referrals from anyone else, they need to know what it is that you do and what you do well to be able to go, Oh yeah, that’s Leanne. So get super clear. That’s number one. Number two is to make friends. And talk a lot. What I mean by that is I [00:03:00] literally built Audacious Empires by networking.

I built it from the ground up and a lot of it was peopling because I like people. Now you might think, oh that’s easy for her because she’s an extrovert. What you don’t know is that I’m an extrovert who very much cares about what people think of her. And also, used to find it very stressful going to events with lots of people there, especially if I didn’t know anybody.

And I would go, I’d be nervous, I wouldn’t really talk to that many people because I wouldn’t know what the rules were, and I wouldn’t know what to do, and I wouldn’t know what to say. And then, one time I was talking to somebody, and they were relieved. Because I just went up and I started talking to them because I felt awkward and felt like I needed to talk to someone, otherwise I’d just be standing there like a wallflower.

And they were just chatting and somehow, [00:04:00] they came across and they were like, I’m so glad you came and spoke to me because these things make me so nervous. And I thought, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This has made it so much easier, from then on, I changed the way I saw it. Because… Now, I could do something that would be helpful, and another thing about me is that I’m a very helpful human.

I genuinely, naturally help people in all different ways. And the second that it became not about me, it became easy. So too, I can push my comfort zone if it’s for someone else. And so I decided that when I went into these networking events, I would pretend that all of these people, A, already liked me and were just happy to have a chat, and B, just needed someone to [00:05:00] take the edge off so they could be who they were.

And it made it so different. I walked in with the attitude of these are already my friends. And so I didn’t have to do the formal introduction. See you later. They already know who I am. I could just have a genuine conversation with a human being. And ask them how they were, and ask them how their day was.

And find out little bits of information, and ask a lot of questions. Here is a key for networking. Ask questions. Because when you ask someone a question, it’s heaps easier for them to give you an answer than if it’s just open ended and everybody’s trying to work out what you’re talking about. And then you start a conversation.

They’ll ask you a question, you ask them a question, and you let the conversation naturally just be a conversation. It does not have to be a push, push, push style. Because people will remember you if you acknowledge them, [00:06:00] if you really see them. And I was always really helpful, because in conversations, if I found out, Oh, this person has been struggling with blah, and I knew how to fix that thing, I was gonna give them suggestions and say, Have you tried this?

Have you tried that? And they were always so happy just to have somebody to throw ideas around with, and also a little bit blown away because people don’t usually do that. They’re not thinking about another person and helping another person. They’re standing there thinking about them. So it made it easy for me to do and it made other people feel good.

So make friends and talk a lot. Number three, don’t be shy. Make sure people know you’re looking for opportunities. So people will not know that you have capacity or that you’ve even opened an OBM business. [00:07:00] Unless you talk about it all the time. Hey guys, I’m looking for someone who needs help with ActiveCampaign because I really love automations and I’m wanting to push my skills further.

Or, it’s been a while since I’ve played with this tool and I’m super keen. Or there’s a new, there’s a new tool out and I want to see how I can get the best output out of it. Does anyone know someone that’s using this? Start saying, hey, I have capacity, I’m looking for new clients, or I’ve got you know those social posts that you see that then have hey, we have an opening.

Sometimes you see them, and if you go and look at the brand, they’ve got that every second week. But, unless you go that far, all people see is, oh yeah, they’ve got a spot, and it registers. So we just want to be making sure that people know [00:08:00] we’ve got room and that the people next to us who could potentially refer us, Hey guys, just want to let you know, I’ve got a few gaps now.

I need some clients. So just think of me if you find people that need one, two, three. It is about keeping the message going because it’s, one of those things where unless we hear it 30 times in the last five minutes, then we forget it two minutes later. Be, don’t be shy. Number four, be clear about what you do.

And how people can work with you. So we started with clarity being king and being able to communicate what it is we do and who it is we work for. Now we need to be clear about how people can work with us. Hey, I’ve got four different ways that people can work with me. I can come in and I can do the job for them.

They can book a power hour call and they can ask me anything they want. I can do an audit. , or I can just have a free chat. [00:09:00] Make it very clear on this is how you can book in with me in all different ways. Unless there is just one way that you work, in that case, that’s the one way. Be clear about how people take that action.

Hey guys, just click the link. It’ll take you to the call booking page and then at the scheduled time, I’ll see you then. Be clear. People need easy and specific instructions. Bye. Network online and offline and answer questions. There’s lots of different ways to network. And I know that I spoke about making friends before, but this is about networking with the sense of expanding your business on purpose.

So when you go to business events, even if it is, if it’s a conference, it doesn’t have to be a specific networking situation, but making [00:10:00] friends and connections and explaining your business and saying what you’re looking for and actually building business connections. So other people that have businesses and remembering them and what you can do for them.

So if you refer other people, they’re going to remember you. So when you’re going and you’re networking, see the person and the opportunity that there is. And advocate for them too. And a lot of that time, if you’re looking through, Facebook, and you’re in a whole bunch of Facebook groups, there are people there that are asking questions all the time.

And there’s two ways you can go, well, three ways you can go about it. You can ignore them, you can answer the question and put yourself forward for things that you’re interested in, or you can answer questions that you actually don’t have the answer to, [00:11:00] but recommend someone else who does. And that is all about networking.

You bring yourself this ability and you’re giving someone that you’ve met an opportunity. That’s what it’s all about. It doesn’t have to be this big complex thing, but recognize the people and give them opportunities. Make it a conscious thing to be networking. Six is join industry groups and job boards.

 One thing that I did when I started my business was… I remember the day that I worked out there has to be other people that do the same thing as me and there has to be somewhere where they go or someone who can teach them and I discovered, um, VA memberships and joined them. It was the best thing ever.

There’s people who got me, they had job boards, they had job leads and one thing I do know is people go for the [00:12:00] They go for the job leads, they stay for the community every time. And so if you can be in these groups, you will learn and accelerate, you will build more connections, you will get better at sales and marketing, plus they’ll have job leads that you can apply for.

And what you’ll notice is as you go through your business life, like you’ll rely less on things like job leads. At the start, you’ll probably apply for a lot, even if they’re not ideal because you just need some money in your pocket. But after a while, you won’t need them once your brand is established, but you’ll still want the community.

 That’s something else that I did. I joined those groups. Number seven is join partner programs and certification training. So a lot of different tools or methods have partner programs that you can join. And usually it’s free and you can get an affiliate link. And I always did it with. Mainly, that I really loved.[00:13:00]

And so if I was using a tool and I liked it, I would see if they had a partner program. They did. I would sign up. I do all the training to become a partner. Usually it’s free training on how to use the tool and different capabilities, which I liked anyway, which would then help me use it with clients. And I would be certified in that.

Then I would get an affiliate link. So anytime I was talking to a client and that tool was something I thought they need or a lead, I would say, I have a link that can get you this discount because usually they come with some kind of perk if you use your affiliate link. And. That would then give you a tiny piece of revenue.

But beyond that, most of these places have directories. And you’ll find that being certified in something and being in those directories gets you inquiries and leads too. And there is never one where you just get inundated [00:14:00] with hundreds of leads and you can’t possibly handle them all from one day to the next.

But the idea here is that we create opportunities in all different areas in our business so that we can have consistent leads coming from different places. So that’s another one that you can do is join those partner programs, get in those directories, learn those tools and that will help you. The next one, number eight, get on socials and make connections.

So when, what I mean by this is I could have given you a social media marketing strategy on here. Yes, I know how to do that, but. I don’t want you to do that. I don’t want you to put all of your time and your energy into socials. Especially if what you need is a client. Because socials is a long game. It really is, especially just posting.

And socials change all the time. It can be really, really hard and it’s that constant up and down of the algorithm likes me today, it doesn’t.[00:15:00] Get on socials, but make connections. Use them specifically for specific things. Learn who it is that you need to connect with or following up from networking events.

Have DM conversations. Start tagging people in different things. Look at other people’s posts and feeds and comment on them. Use socials, but just be really clever about how you’re going to use it. Don’t waste all your time trying to come up with amazing posts all the time. Number nine, track what you’re doing and follow up.

Keep the conversations going. In everything that you do, you’re investing time. And what you don’t want to do is invest all this time up front and then just let things die off. And the world is fast paced. We want to be checking back in with people. We want to be having that conversation. Hey, how are you going?

It does not have to be a sales pitch. It can be a conversation. And it’s reaffirming your brand. And it’s [00:16:00] reminding them that you’re a person they had a conversation with, a real human. And oh yeah, she’s that OBM. And I tell you what, the more that that happens and the more that they connect the two things, when someone’s looking for an OBM, it’s you that they’re going to remember.

 Make sure you’re tracking it and you’re keeping up with people, especially so you can see what works and what actually turns into a job because you’ll want to do more of those things. Number 10. Create mutually beneficial collaborations. If you know… Hey! I am an OBM who works with marketing agencies and there’s my friend over here who’s a branding coach who also works with marketing agencies.

Maybe we can do something together and we can then create something for marketing agencies. It gives those agencies two things for one, and then we can leverage each other’s [00:17:00] audiences because maybe some of the clients of the branding person needs an OBM. And maybe some of the OBM, some of the clients of the OBM need a branding coach.

And you start creating things that can be fun, and they don’t have to be big. They can be little. You can do joint lives. It can be whatever you want it to be. But it’s another way to start helping people in an outside the box manner. Number 11. If you need quick cash, subcontract. So, subcontracting, you’re working at a lower rate, but you’re not paying for the marketing and the sales and the business running and all of those things.

, if you’re in these groups, find other OBMs and say, Hey, I’m new, or hey, all my clients quit, or whatever it is. I’m available for some subby work and it will get you money on the [00:18:00] table for now. It’ll also teach you a lot, like I’ve subbed for other people at the beginning and I always learnt so much.

It’s great. , I don’t want it to be seen as something that’s not going to make me big money, so I’m not going to even try it. It’s like for right now, if you need food and cash in your pocket, put that hand up because you’ll learn so much, you’ll make more friends, you’ll get support and connections. And it doesn’t matter if the rate is a little bit lower than what your external client rate is because it’s meeting a need right now.

And then number 12 is don’t be spammy. There is nothing worse than people who just sell, sell, sell, sell, sell and they keep all the good bits to themselves. Like I’m a big advocate for be a person first and I want people who want to work with me. And people who are ready to trust me, not just anyone on the face of the planet.

And [00:19:00] I don’t want to be even working with someone that only decided to work with me to shut me up because I emailed them 27 times. Like we don’t want that. We want to build relationships. We want to build connections. We want to solve real problems and we want people to see who we really are. That’s how you’re going to find clients.

Be being you in the right places at the right time. And the only way to do it is to start and try some things. The final thing that I want to leave you with is it will happen. It can feel like when you start any business that it’s going to take forever. And every day feels like a year, and every minute feels like an hour, until it finally does happen.

And I remember the day when I thought, hang on a second, surely if I just stick around long enough, this has to work because more people will know about me. And they’ll know about me and they’ll know [00:20:00] about me and I’ll be around and they’ll be like, Oh, this chick’s been here forever. She must know what she’s doing just because she’s been here so long.

And then that gave me such relief because it meant that all I had to do was be patient. I can do that. And then it was easier. I wasn’t so stressed about when that first client was coming, if it was going to work ever. It became a, yeah, it’s going to work. I just have to wait and do what I can until it does.

So I just wanted to give you that little bit of hope, reassurance. Just do one thing at a time and expand your opportunities and it’ll be okay. There you go. There are 12 things that will help you get your first OBM client. Have a great day everybody. Thanks for joining me.

Leanne Woff: And I’ll see you next week. Bye!

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