Getting Leads but Not Getting Clients? What to Check Before You Change Anything
Someone asks for a proposal. You spend the time putting it together, send it over, and then... nothing. Not even a polite “Thanks, we’ll get back to you.”
So the guessing starts.
Maybe it was too expensive, maybe they didn’t understand what they were paying for, or maybe they gave the job to a relative (yes, that happens too, and apparently being someone’s cousin is a serious competitive advantage). But did they actually tell you that? No. You don’t know what happened, yet you’re already thinking about lowering your prices, changing your website or rethinking your whole marketing strategy, all because someone didn’t answer an email.
Before you change anything, figure out where you’re actually losing potential clients.
Why do potential clients disappear after receiving a proposal?
Often they simply don’t make a decision, and that doesn’t automatically mean your price was too high.
In The JOLT Effect, Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna analyzed 2.5 million sales calls and found that 40% to 60% of deals are lost to “no decision.” The customer didn’t choose a competitor. They just didn’t buy. Their research is mostly about B2B sales, not independent consultants, so I wouldn’t apply the percentages to your business, but the situation will sound familiar.
We read silence as rejection when sometimes the person just hasn’t decided.
Sometimes they did choose someone else, sometimes they couldn’t afford it, and sometimes their priorities changed between Monday’s enthusiastic call and Thursday’s disappearance. The point is that you can’t fix a problem you’ve invented an explanation for.
Is it a leads problem or a conversion problem?
There’s a difference between not getting enough people interested in your business and getting people interested who never hire you. If you don’t know which one you have, you can spend months fixing the wrong thing.
If nobody is showing interest, look at how you’re promoting your services and who you’re speaking to. Say you’re an interior designer and everyone asks for decorating advice when you want renovation projects. The enquiries are coming, just not for what you’re selling.
If people are interested but not hiring you, look at what happens during those conversations. A proposal should build on a conversation, not replace one.
If you’re getting clients, just not enough of them, look at whether you’re meeting enough of the right people.
All three look exactly the same when you check your bank account, but they’re not the same problem.
Why aren’t referrals and networking bringing you enough clients?
I love referrals, and they can be fantastic, but you can’t order three for next Tuesday like you’re shopping on Amazon. Or McDonald’s, depending on the week you’re having. Another networking event doesn’t guarantee you’ll meet someone who needs what you do. I wrote about what happens even when the referral arrives in Why Referrals Don’t Turn Into Clients.
If most of your business has always come through word of mouth, you may never have needed another way to find clients, until things get quiet. Then you might discover the problem isn’t that people won’t hire you. You’re simply not meeting enough people who need what you sell.
What if you’ve already tried advertising or reaching out?
This is one of my favorites. You suggest something and someone immediately says, “Oh, I tried that. It doesn’t work.”
Okay. When?
“Last year.”
Right...And what did you actually try?
Because one ad, a bunch of emails or two networking events can’t tell you whether a whole method works. It tells you what happened when you tried it that way. Advertising everything you do to everyone is very different from promoting one specific service to people likely to need it, and fifty identical introductions are very different from contacting a business because you spotted something specific where you could help.
I’m not telling you to keep spending money on something that’s clearly going nowhere. I’m asking what you were offering, who you were talking to, what you were saying and what’s changed since. Maybe your services are different now, maybe you understand your clients better, maybe you’re approaching completely different businesses.
So why assume the result would be the same?
More marketing won’t fix a problem you haven’t identified
Call me boring, but marketing brings leads, leads can become sales, and sales are what pay the bills. I’ve said this in so many different ways on Branding Momentum, and I’m going to keep saying it. Your marketing has to work when you’re busy with clients and when you’re not.
So before you decide you need more leads, take a closer look at what happened to the ones you already had. You don’t have to change everything because a few potential clients disappeared. You need to know what actually needs changing, because spending three weeks redesigning your website when the problem is in your sales conversations is a rather elaborate way of avoiding the real issue.
Prefer listening? Listen to the episode below.
I’m Veronica Di Polo, a marketing consultant based in Moraira, Spain, and host of Branding Momentum, a marketing and messaging podcast for experienced service business owners and consultants.
If you’re tired of only thinking about where your next client is coming from when business slows down, because you’re too busy with the clients you already have, my free 3-day email sprint is for you.
Listen to the full episode: Spotify | Apple Podcasts
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