Low-Hanging Opportunities to Get More Best Clients
Turns out, I’m an apple grower!
In September, Jen and I moved into our new house in Sudbury. Love the house. It’s a 4‑bedroom back-split with a backyard that flows into a beautiful bush and yet we’re minutes away from everything. It checks all the boxes!
When we bought the house in June, we knew it had an apple tree. Thing is, in June, there were no apples. Turns out, it’s a prolific apple tree…100’s of apples! (Great for eating and baking). The tree had been left to grow untamed and it’s 3 stories tall
When September came and we moved in, there were already dozens of grounders. That’s when we realized we had unwittingly become apple growers.
What do you do with 100’s of apples? We ate a bunch. Many of our new neighbours got apple crisp! We made apple fritters. Apple pie. Gave a bunch away. A friend made batches of apple jam.
Picking the low-hanging fruit was easy. Getting a ladder, gave us access to a bunch more. However, many apples were still beyond our reach, and we had to wait for them to fall before we could do anything with them. Many had to be sent to the compost because of bruising and simply because we were overwhelmed with apples.
Next summer, we’ll be better prepared for our mega crop of apples. We’ll have an apple picker to reach the highest apples and a plan to use them.
The simple act of picking apples turned into a profound realization. With the strategic use of technology, all the apples are relatively easy to get. Beyond the low-hanging fruit, we could use a ladder to reach the next level. Beyond that, we’ll have an apple picking pole to get the high-hanging fruit. Simple, game-changing technology.
The same idea applies to your business…
There’ll always be some Best Clients that are low-hanging fruit; you don’t need to work hard to get them. But what if that’s not enough? (It’s never enough!) Do you settle for the bruised grounders?
That’s where the strategic use of technology allows you to reach higher up and get those otherwise elusive Best Clients.
8 Low-Hanging Opportunities To Get More Best Clients From Your Website
Most local business websites are ripe with low-hanging opportunities, quick and easy things that can be done to reach higher and get at the larger share of Best Clients:
- Improved Messaging. A simple rewrite of your home page to make your site instantly appealing to your Best Clients can have huge payoff. Most small business websites are full of jargon and boring “blah blah blah”. Meet your Clients where they’re at, make it easy for them to know they’re in the right place. (Bonus points for not leading with “Welcome”)
- Stronger Calls-to-Action (CTAs). You want results from your website, right? Well, what do you want people to do after they go there? Call you? Email you? Don’t leave it up to a passive contact us form. Give them a compelling reason to take action NOW. (Bonus points for creating a lead magnet to capture the name and email addresses of those who aren’t quite ready to talk to you)
- Localized SEO: Optimize your website for local searches by including local keywords, creating location-specific pages, and optimizing your Google My Business listing. We find that most local business websites have little to no local SEO on them. That means chances are good that with a little bit of TLC, your website can quickly rise in the Search Engine Results. (Bonus points for knowing what your “money keywords” are)
- Testimonials: Showcase genuine customer testimonials and reviews on your site to build trust and credibility. Put relevant testimonials on each of your core service pages. Be sure to include the city they’re from for a bit of local SEO boost. (Bonus points for getting headshots to go along with the testimonials; head shots 3X the impact of testimonials)
- Google Reviews. Increasingly people are looking at the number of stars and reviews you’ve got on Google when selecting a local business. It can be as simple as approaching Clients who know and love you and asking them to leave a review for you. (Bonus points for creating a hand-out to give them with simple step-by-step instructions on how. Ask us to see an example)
- Video Content: Create engaging video content explaining your services, products, or sharing customer testimonials. Videos are highly engaging and can significantly boost conversions. These don’t have to be studio produced and you don’t need to be a charismatic rock-star to do them. I’ve got a video on my home page that was taken with my laptop camera and even though my stutter comes across a bit, it’s been a significant net positive for us. (Bonus points for paying attention to your lighting and backdrop)
- Simplified Contact Forms: The more you ask people to fill out, the fewer the people who will bother! Streamline the contact forms on your website to ask for only the most essential information, e.g., name, email, phone, message. (Bonus points for sending people to a friendly thanks page after they fill out the form)
- Speed Optimization: These days, people don’t wait around for a site to load unless they have a good reason to wait. Quick ways to speed up your site are optimizing image sizes, removing unnecessary animations, and using a lightweight theme. (Bonus points for getting rid of sliders that no one hangs around to watch)
These eight strategies are like equipping yourself with the best apple-picking tech in an orchard. Sure, anyone can grab the low-hanging apples, but you get to reach the higher, juicier fruits that others can’t. Often, doing a little bit more than your competitors is all that’s needed to get your unfair share of Best Clients. Increase the Gravity of your website and turn it into a Best Clients magnet.
The Correct Use of AI For Competitive Advantage
Speaking of the strategic use of technology to reach those otherwise elusive Best Clients, I’ve been paying close attention to the rise of Artificial Intelligence. We’ve been investing time and money into adopting AI into our business and have ambitious plans for it.
Recently, we invested in an AI tool that can produce a WordPress website, complete with custom text and graphics in about 30 seconds. No kidding.
Sounds like we’re out of a job, right?
Well, not so fast. Firstly, it’s not ready for prime time (but will be). Secondly, beyond the dystopian headlines, the reality of AI is that it still needs us creative, strategic humans. You see, AI is only as good as the information you give it. (Garbage in, garbage out). Thirdly, at best, it’ll give us a draft website that needs to be tweaked and finished off. Maybe, it’ll cut 25% of the overall website creation time.
Without going too far down a rabbit hole, AI is as smart as a rock. Sure, it may seem almost human in what it comes up with but it’s just generating responses based on the entirety of the Internet. It’ll give you a great AVERAGE result. You see, AI is great at deductive reasoning but is incapable of inductive reasoning.
Deductive reasoning, forming conclusions from a set of data or statements, is stuff like “tell me who my top 20% Clients are by profit margin”, “Write me a limerick about a boy named Scott who loved marketing”.
Inductive reasoning, drawing conclusions by going from the specific to the general, is where things like strategic positioning, creative solutions, and making irresistible offers comes from.
Without creative, strategic input, the AI tool can pump out a website that superficially looks good, BUT—and this is a big BUT—it’ll be impotent. It won’t be able to perform in terms of delivering results. It’s missing the spark of life that comes from things like:
- messaging that uniquely answers the question “why you?”
- having a deep understanding of your Best Client so you can craft irresistible offers for your Calls to Action.
As with any tool, just having the tool doesn’t give you the skills to use it. Just because you have a wrench doesn’t mean you’re ready to replace the plumbing under your sink.
Know-how + great tools = Competitive Advantage.
But most will fall into the trap of using AI “as is” and end up with impotent results. Therein lies the opportunity for those of us who know better and focus on the strategic, creative thinking that wins the day, with or without AI.
Your website is a tool for getting Best Clients. As we head into 2024, does your Best Clients Magnet need some TLC? Look at that list of “8 Low-Hanging Opportunities. Are there things there that could be done to quickly and easily improve your results?
Happy Plucking!
