How to Find Clients After Your Small Business Launch Falls Short: 5 Proven Strategies

Congratulations on launching your new small business! 🎉 If your anticipated clients and sales aren’t rolling in as expected, you’re not alone. Whether you’re staring at an empty storefront or checking your Shopify site with no purchases, it’s easy to feel discouraged.

If your launch hasn’t gone as planned, don’t worry—you haven’t failed. It’s possible you overestimated your ability to attract clients without a comprehensive marketing strategy. And no, I’m not talking about just posting more on Instagram or tagging friends and family on Facebook. Your clients are out there; you just need a strategic approach to find them. Here are five proven methods to help you attract clients and boost your business.

1. Outline Your Sales Funnels

Are you relying on a single method of finding clients (ex. posting on social media, or hoping your friends and family will be repeat purchasers)? 

If the answer is yes, the great news is that there’s so much more you can do. 

On their own, “selling to friends and family” or “posting to Instagram” are not strategies. If you’re relying solely on building an organic social media following or you’ve built your cousin’s 6th repeat purchase into your pro forma, it’s time to build a strategic marketing plan with defined sales funnels. Here are some you can use:

• Lead Magnet Funnel: Offer a valuable free resource (e.g., an e-book or other download ) in exchange for contact information, which you can then use to build an email list (see below)

  Email Funnel: Build the aforementioned email list and use automated emails to nurture leads into customers.

• Tripwire Funnel: Use low-cost offers or free trials to build trust and create upsell opportunities.

• Webinar Funnel: Host a free webinar to showcase your expertise and promote your products or services.

• Product Launch Funnel: Generate excitement and demand with targeted content and pre-launch offers.

2. Build Your Network

Networking isn’t just about collecting business cards. It’s about building genuine connections with people who can help you grow. Focus on power partners—individuals in adjacent industries who can offer strategic collaboration and referrals. To find them, attend professional associations, workshops, seminars, and local chamber of commerce events. If in-person networking isn’t feasible, leverage online platforms like LinkedIn, industry-specific Facebook groups, Instagram hashtags, and even TikTok to connect with potential partners and clients.

3. Consider Strategic Freebies

Offering complimentary products or services in exchange for reviews and referrals can build trust and enhance your online presence. Be clear about your expectations from the outset and ensure you manage this carefully to avoid undervaluing your offerings. Positive reviews can boost your SEO and attract more clients.

4. Benchmark Your Competitors

Please note: I did NOT say copy. Your offering should be your own and so should your marketing plan. Copying will not get you anywhere but behind the brands in the lead. And you want to lead, not chase! Rather, the goal is to learn from them. Analyze where successful competitors are advertising, how they are messaging their brand, and what they’re offering. Use this information to refine your marketing approach and differentiate your business.

5. Seek Feedback

Feedback is a valuable tool for improvement. Ask customers what went right and what could be better. If customer feedback isn’t readily available, reach out to family and friends for their honest opinions on your product, service, and marketing efforts. Use their insights to make necessary adjustments.

BONUS: Ask for Reviews
Yes, asking for reviews can be uncomfortable, but it’s worth it. Positive reviews offer social proof and can significantly enhance your website’s SEO.

Whenever I encounter an unexpected lull in my business, my first step is always to review my marketing strategies and make some quick adjustments. It’s amazing how a few tweaks can get things back on track. Challenge yourself to implement one or two of these strategies over the next week and see how they impact your business. Let me know how it goes!

The Perfect Time to Start A Business

You have a great idea, a unique product, or a long-term dream. Your friends or family insist if you sold it they’d buy it. Or you’ve seen it work in other places and you’re eager to monetize the concept close to home. (Also possibly you hate your boss and never want to attend another mandatory office happy hour or smell your co-worker’s lunch again. Just guessing). 

How do you decide it’s the perfect time to become a business owner? And more importantly, how do you know you won’t fail?

Please don’t wad up your business plan and throw it at me when I answer that there’s no such thing as the perfect time and that there are, so very unfortunately, no guarantees that you will succeed.

But wait! 

Even for the extraordinarily risk averse (raising both my hands) there’s plenty to consider to help you decide when and if it’s time to hit the starting line. And a few more considerations for how you can set yourself up for success. 

So the better answer to “how do I know it’s the right time to start my business?” or “am I actually ready to become a business owner?” lies within the responses to these three questions:

1. Do you have a clear idea?

2. Do you have a solid plan?

3. Do you have the resources to execute it? 

What differentiates an “idea,” which obviously you have from a “clear idea?” A good way to know is if you can explain it in an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a clear, persuasive idea that you can convey to others in the time that it takes to complete an elevator ride - usually less than a minute. In other words, when you bring it up with family and friends, are there areas that feel vague or undefined? Or do you have a concrete vision, ideally combined with a purpose? If the answer is more the latter than the former, you get a gold readiness check mark for Question 1. 

Equally as important as the clarity of your idea is your plan to execute it. This is where most aspiring business owners will create a business plan. It’s not only necessary if you plan to seek funding but a guidebook for how you plan to start and run your business. Key components include goals, market research, financials, operational planning, performance benchmarking and risk management. Completing a well-thought-out business plan is one way to hedge against failure because it identifies potential risks and details contingency plans. Once your business plan is in place you’re ready to consider question number three, which is how you will fund it. 

Gulp. Money? How much of your own are you comfortable investing? Or - uh - how do you get your hands on someone else’s because - well - your big dreams and your bank balance aren’t vibing. How to find funding is beyond the scope of this guide but, needless to say, if you’re going to be looking at loans, grants, or possibly investment (angel, venture capital, etc) you will definitely need that business plan we just talked about spit-shined and polished. 

If everything outlined in the answers to these questions aligns, it's a good moment to move forward.

“But how do I know I won’t fail?” Well. Again. I’m so very sorry. You don’t. Because as prepared as you are, there are always unforeseen obstacles or factors out of your control that can affect your success. (Anyone who operated a business in 2020 might have a story or two for you). 

But this is where not only that pesky business plan I keep harping on, along with a solid marketing plan can ease your anxiety around how to position yourself for success. 

And finally, as trite as it sounds, when your plans are as strategically sound as they’re ever going to be (and somehow your funding is in place), you have to believe in what you’ve got to offer and make the jump. 

I’ve done it three times - never perfectly ready but always prepared. Neither of my brick-and-mortars were as evolved as they later became when I first opened my doors, but time was of the essence and it was time to hit go.  

I just rolled out my official consulting website and my punch list for getting it perfectly buttoned up and SEO-ready remains long.

But at some point it’s important not to let perfection be the enemy of progress or you’ll truly never make the leap. Personally I like to follow an 80% rule when deciding whether or not it’s time. I go in 80% set, with 10% left to perfect, and another 10% to discover along the way. 

To quote a meme I recently shared on my Instagram, attributed to Abel Morales, “When it feels scary to jump that’s exactly when you jump. Otherwise you end up staying in the same place your whole life.” 

The only way to get started is to get started. You can officially mark “research what it takes” off your checklist. You’re on your way!