Elusive First Client

[reformsol]

I need some help because I feel if I continue to bang my head against this brick wall either the wall will be gone so I can no longer bang my head against it or my head will be mush.

We are a learning and development consultancy. We have a range of products and services that are affordably priced and are the type of products business are looking for.

Unlike most L+D specialists we pride ourselves that we specialists in Employee Wellbeing, Productivity and Growth. We use techniques to improve employee wellbeing and welfare to help them re-connect with the employee thus driving productivity, profitability and growth.

Been been a B2B business we are not having any luck connecting with the right people. - We are Yorkshire based.

Anyone any tips or advice? How do we go about networking with the right people?

 

[ctrlbrk]

Do you have a marketing strategy, or have you consulted with marketing specialists?

 

[Mark T Jones]

Have you identified - exactly - who the right people are?

There is nothing in your post that stands out as unique or special, which doesn't matter too much in itself - what does matter a lot is that you have a message that resonates with your trget audience.

If you don't know who they are, that's impossible to achieve.

 

[fisicx]

After looking at your website I’m unclear about what you offer. I expect you know exactly how you can provide benefit but you aren’t marketing it very well.

How are you marketing your services? How are you measuring the success of that marketing? Have you had a critical review of your website?

 

[MBE2017]

To add another simple but pertinent question, have you asked your potential clients why they are not buying your range of products and services, despite them being in demand?

 

[NickGrogan]

I took a look at your website and it gave me a headache - maybe look at the colour scheme.

Unlike most L+D specialists we pride ourselves that we specialists in Employee Wellbeing, Productivity and Growth. We use techniques to improve employee wellbeing and welfare to help them re-connect with the employee thus driving productivity, profitability and growth.

Isn't this exactly what every other Learning and development company does? How do you think you're different.

Biggest problem is I dont know what you actually do, its no clear from your site at all. What is G- Life?

I saw you do first aid training, this is something I booked for a company last year.

We found a local guy, an ex-firefighter, fully certificated, and trained onsite. His site was only 2 or 3 pages, all about first aid training, him, his experience, and the courses he did. Prices and a booking form on the front page.

Called him to check the details, booked, and paid in 2 minutes.

I see that you mention first aid training on your site, but I dont know what you charge, where you do the courses, who does them, or anything else.

 

[WaveJumper]

Unfortunately I have to agree with above the website does nothing for your business, needs a re-think. Putting up a website and hoping business will come just does not work. If you have existing customers can they offer referrals, how did they find you, have you put yourself out there ie local business groups / meetings etc

 

[MBE2017]

FWIW, I would suggest going old school, pick up the phone, start calling people, make contacts, start a conversation, find out what they want and need, find out why you are not being used, find out what you need to do to get orders.

It is a skill set you most definitely seem to be lacking, so learn it ASAP, without sales you are not in business for very long.

 

[reformsol]

Thank you for your reply's they are really helpful.

I think I need to do 3 things right away.
1. get more work done on the website asap.
2. get some traditional cold calling to business to see if we can engage any directly and (3) do more research in to where we are failing.

To answer some of the questions directly.

My first aider is a former battlefield medic, who has worked in education for over 10 years as a first aider.

I am a mental health first aider with 15 years experiences working with young people in mental health crisis...

 

[fisicx]

Don’t do anything with the website. First thing you need to sort out is a marketing plan. Then market research. Then customer profiling. Then develop your marketing material (including the website content). Then fix the long list of issues with the website.

Pay for marketing advice if this isn’t your forte.

And nobody cares about your background. All a business cares about is fixing what ever problem they have. Your background only become important if there are a number of suppliers. If you get your marketing plan sorted there won’t be any competition.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Thank you for your reply's they are really helpful.

I think I need to do 3 things right away.
1. get more work done on the website asap.
2. get some traditional cold calling to business to see if we can engage any directly and (3) do more research in to where we are failing.

To answer some of the questions directly.

My first aider is a former battlefield medic, who has worked in education for over 10 years as a first aider.

I am a mental health first aider with 15 years experiences working with young people in mental health crisis...

To re-iterate @fisicx, you are looking for quick fixes and simple answers.

The real work you need to do involves defining who your target customer is and why they want/need to use you (either vs doing nothing or vs competitors).

Once you've done that - which will take some time and effort - the rest will start to fall into place.

Start cold-calling now, you will be blanked repeatedly, and you will believe the myth that cold calling doesn't work.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Before you started the business and was writing your business plan:

• Did you define your target customer?
• Did you look at what the competition was doing?
• What was your sales and marketing strategy?

Re the website, like others, I wasn't impressed - I thought I was back in the naughties!

 

[MBE2017]

My first aider is a former battlefield medic, who has worked in education for over 10 years as a first aider.

I am a mental health first aider with 15 years experiences working with young people in mental health crisis...

These statements show part of your problem, as indicated by others. It’s all about you, potential clients want to know what is in it for them. Look at the two statements above, and add the words “which means ........ for you” at the end of them.

You are making the classic feature benefit mistake, listing your features, forgetting to explain the benefits for the client. Clients are not interested in features, they are interested in the benefit to themselves.

Have a long hard think, write down “your benefits” to prospective clients, and try to talk about those, rather than yourselves. Use both to your advantage, but it’s about the benefits.

 

[brandvine]

Seconding all the advice above.

Pick and focus on one area.

Which area do you know the best? Which area do you have the most existing clients in?

Focus there, and become an expert in that one specific area to the exclusion of all else. Then expand once you have clients coming through the door,

Your business is suffering from the "market to everyone and you market to no one" effect. You have spread yourself too thin with such a wide offering, consequently, no one has a clue what you are offering.

If you want to acquire clients online, it needs to be clear in 2 seconds flat how you can make life easier for the person looking at your business.

Also, don't waste money on cold calling. You need a refined proposition and sales funnel before you even think about going there.

 

[harryseo]

Echoing the comments above - I definitely think niching down is the way to go.

If it is hard to pinpoint exactly what your customer looks like, I think that's when you have got problems (especially when it comes to B2B marketing).

Experiment with different marketing channels as well, whether that's SEO, Google Ads, Email Marketing, Social, and so on.

You tend to find one works better than the others.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

Great advice already here, but I think you need to think about this:

We have a range of products and services that are affordably priced and are the type of products business are looking for.

On what basis?

Are they looking for them and buying from an established competitor?
Or are they looking but not buying?
Or have you assumed that they're looking and wanting to buy?

 

[fantheflames]

Spot on advice from the comments in this thread.

You definitely need to overhaul your website, but first, you need to create a clear marketing strategy that's aligned with B2B - including what you're offering and who you're offering it to.

I think you could start by creating a market research poll on LinkedIn.

Many businesses are interested in L&D.