BLOG

Client Acquisition: 5 Ways to Close New Deals

Customer/client acquisition is the lifeline of every business. If you don’t know how to attract and close new deals, then your business can’t survive, let alone grow. There are various client acquisition strategies you can try. You might find that some work better for your company than others. In this blog, I’ll share a few common methods and tips for how you can find success with them.

5 Client Acquisition Methods to Close New Business

Keep in mind that finding the best approach for you and your business might take a little trial and error. That’s okay! Double down on what brings you results, and shelve the rest. This list isn’t exhaustive, but these ideas should help you get started.

1. Inbound Sales

I’m putting this first because I’ve found it to be the most effective. This is one of my favorite client acquisition methods because instead of chasing down leads, they come to you. That’s what “inbound” means.

For example, let’s say someone calls your office because they have questions that need to be answered before they’ll feel comfortable working with your company. They’re already a warm lead. They know who you are, and they’re at least somewhat interested in working together.

Sales rep taking inbound calls

Your job, then, is to simply continue nurturing this relationship from there. The phone is an incredibly powerful medium because it helps build trust and authority, and it removes some of the mystery surrounding you and your business. This is an excellent way to build new relationships, and that’s why making sales from incoming phone calls is one of the most reliable ways to close new deals, as long as you have the right strategy.

If you want to work toward an 80% conversion rate with phone sales, learn more about the High Converting Call Class.

2. Cold Emailing

In the previous client acquisition method, we talked about inbound sales — meaning the lead comes to you. On the other hand, we have outbound sales, which means you go to them. Cold emailing is one example of outbound sales.

Woman sitting at desk sending cold emails

“Cold” means that the recipient doesn’t yet know you and you have no relationship. The email is the first time they’ll be hearing from you. When you send a cold email, you’re introducing yourself and planting a seed — telling them who you are and what you have to offer. And if they’re interested in communicating further, then you can continue corresponding via email or, better, try to set up a call.

Cold emailing is definitely more of a numbers game. It can be hard to even find the right email addresses in the first place, and if you do happen to land in the right inbox, there’s a good chance you’ll be ignored.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is something to keep in mind. If you want to take this approach, be ready to source a lot of leads and send a lot of cold emails.

3. Cold Calling

Another type of outbound sales is cold calling. Again, cold means that you and the lead don’t yet have a relationship. In this case, as opposed to sending an email, you’re making a phone call.

Cold calling used to be a lot more common (which makes sense — talking on the phone used to be a lot more common, too). While many industries consider it an outdated client acquisition method, some industries still rely on it quite heavily, like automotive sales.

Cold calling can be effective because, like I said earlier, talking on the phone is a great way to build relationships. However, you might run into similar hurdles that you would with cold emailing. 

  • It can be hard to track down the right phone number.
  • People don’t always pick up the phone for unknown callers.
  • You might face rejection more frequently.
  • Some leads find phone calls to be disruptive to their day — especially when you’re calling to try to sell them something.

4. Paid Ads

You probably already know that you can spend money to run ads on Google or the various social media platforms — including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.

Even better is that most platforms offer ad formats specifically designed to collect leads.

Running paid ads to attract new clients/customers can be effective, but note that there are a lot of moving parts.

  • You have to know how to target the right users, or the ads won’t be effective.
  • Depending on your industry and how competitive it is, running ads can be expensive.
  • You have to know how to run retargeting ads so that you keep showing up in front of the same people. (There need to be multiple touchpoints!)
  • You’ll need to test a number of variables and be comfortable with trial and error. For example, you’ll have to run ads with different images, headlines, captions, links, and so on. That’s the only way to determine what works best.
  • Analytics matter. You need to know how to monitor your metrics in order to determine what ads work the best. What’s most important to you — views? Comments? Link clicks? 

5. Door-to-Door Sales

Similar to cold calling, this used to be a lot more common. Some salespeople still find success with it today because, since not many people are doing it, there’s less competition. Plus, your leads might be pleasantly surprised to find that you took the time to come see them in person.

Two men shaking hands

However, this approach is a lot more resource- and time-intensive, and that translates to spending more money. It’s harder to scale, too, since it’s so hands-on.

If you’re going to try this strategy, find a nearby area that’s already saturated with a lot of businesses so that you can ideally visit a lot of companies in one trip.

As I mentioned earlier, you won’t know which client acquisition method is more effective for you until you try them! However, my go-to approach, hands down, is focusing on converting inbound calls into paying customers. With the right strategy, this method can be cost-effective, yield amazing results, and you can more feasibly scale it. Learn more how about I do it.

Jonathan Baktari MD Pro Shot

Join My Mailing List for Access to Exclusive Medical Insights

Share This Post
Related Posts
Jonathan Baktari MD Pro Shot

Connect with
Jonathan Baktari MD

Jonathan Baktari, MD brings over 20 years of clinical, administrative and entrepreneurial experience to lead the current e7 Health team. He has been a triple board-certified physician with specialties in internal medicine, pulmonary and critical care medicine. He has been the Medical Director of The Valley Health Systems, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Culinary Health Fund and currently is the CEO of two healthcare companies.
Jonathan Baktari MD Pro Shot

Fill in your details for

instant access to the exclusive mailing list

Jonathan Baktari MD Head Shot

BAKTARI MD NEWSLETTER

Sign up for my free newsletter to get exclusive access to CEO insights and receive my FREE e-Book.