I just started my agency. How should I go about getting my first five clients?
I would take a two-pronged approach: internet lead sites and direct relationships with referral partners.
Consider Internet lead sites includes sites like Caring.com and A Place For Mom or others like it. These sites require you to contact the leads quickly (because the sites typically pass leads to multiple agencies) and the quicker you contact them the more effective you'll be in closing them. However, if you're just starting your agency you probably have an advantage in being able to focus your time and energy on these leads at a level that a more established agency might not.
An advantage of internet lead sites is that they could work quickly. If you're a startup, you want to get out of the red as quickly as possible. You have all these expenses and you might not even have office space yet. So while they come with an obvious cost and can be lower-converting than leads from direct referral sources, internet leads can be a great way to get some actual revenue coming in rapidly.
If you have the resources, I'd also invest in a pay-per-click search ads campaign on Google, SEO, or Facebook ads. . . but with the right company that actually knows what they're doing.
Referral partnerships typically take a little bit of time, but it's very possible that you can get several referral sources sending you referrals within 30-60 days. Some sources, like hospitals, sometimes look for a partner with a little more experience, but you'd be surprised how often a new agency can win business from big referral partners if they're highly organized, present/position themselves well, have a strong proven sales process, and make it clear that they're prioritizing the needs of the partner/addressing what's in it for them.
When I ran my agency it took me three weeks to get my first client, and the lead came from the internet, but I was able to scale my business with more consistent referrals through direct referral relationships with online marketing as a supplement.
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