All my work has been word of mouth, how do I find work on my own?

This is a great question because I’m all about doubling down on what’s working.

Making word of mouth more predictable though is key here. You want to create opportunities that make word of mouth easy for those spreading the word.

Even though this was a question that came from my newsletter, I wanted to share it here, because I’m sure that word of mouth is your #1 lead generator.

I’m going to share with you 2 specific strategies to help you make your word of mouth more predictable.

Follow up sequence

When you are getting word of mouth, you are building your trust by proxy. That’s the warmest of leads because they are getting a personal recommendation from someone they already trust.

The next step for you is to get them sold by presenting your solution.

In order to access that trust by proxy, then once someone becomes a past client, put them into a queue for a follow-up sequence.

This can be super simple and not complicated at all.

• 30 days after offboarding
• 60 days after offboarding
• 90 days after offboarding
• 120 days after offboarding

Each time you send them an email you are sharing with them something else they could be doing with what you gave them. Share with them how much you enjoyed the project and ultimately asking for that referral.

“If you know anyone who may be interested in solving this problem like yourself, feel free to forward this email to them or introduce us and I can take it from there.”

They should also be in your evergreen newsletter sequence as well, so that’s plenty of touchpoints.

Create a memorable experience

Do something special to create a memorable moment that’s remarkable.

Remarkable is key here. You want to this is as simple as possible but something someone talks about.

Laura Elizabeth, a designer who was on Live In The Feast back in Season 1, shared that she would send her clients a gift card for Starbucks right from the start.

She did this with a note saying, “grab a coffee on me so that you can go ahead and put together the content for the website.”

Chris Bintliff, owner of Not Really Rocket Science, shared that once he has a sales call with a lead, he’s gathered up enough data on a lead to send them a link to a custom built landing page of resources.

Both of these are brilliant ideas.

Think about what you can do that is remarkable and creates a great experience for your customers.