How to Tap Your Network to Find Clients

Emily Merrell and Lexie Smith explore how you can tap your existing network to find clients. They discuss a variety of strategies coaches can deploy to reconnect with people from their past, how to move past common mindset hurdles of feeling judged, and how to authentically and effectively approach your network with your new business and offerings.

Here’s what you’ll learn: 

• Em & Lex discuss how to tap your existing network to find clients
• The “fly your flag” approach to engaging and promoting your business on social media networks
• The steps Lex had to take to feel comfortable promoting her business on social media when she first started
• The mindset reframe Em has on selling to friends and those you know
• Actionable steps and authentic ways you can reengage with past connections
• What to say when you approach your existing network with your new business or coaching offerings
• People in Em & Lex’s networks who they were surprised became clients
• Homework on how to take one step forward today on tapping your existing network to find clients

Follow Em & Lex on Instagram at @readysetcoachprogram

Learn more about the Ready Set Coach Program at Readysetcoachprogram.com

Snag 5 Numbers to Know to Launch a Coaching Business here.

Learn more about Six Degrees Society and THEPRBAR inc.

Transcript

Episode: How to Tap Your Network to Find Clients Podcast Transcript   

Speakers: Lexie Smith, Emily Merrell

Lexie Smith  

Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi, how are you?

Emily Merrell  

Hi, hi. Hi. Hi, I'm good. How are you?

Lexie Smith  

I'm good. Just got back from Labor Day weekend which I always mix up with Memorial Day after how many years of life don't know why packed my daughter and entire patriotic outfit to go away with us and my husband kindly reminded me that it wasn't memorial day it was Labor Day. Anyways played a bit of catch up. How are you?

Emily Merrell  

Kind of feel like you could still like I wear a white like I feel like it's one of those holidays. You're supposed to wear some sort of color or there's rules around it. I think though no white after Labor Day is like the biggest one but I Yeah, hamburgers and

Lexie Smith  

that okay, labor days and American holiday. Oh, well, shit.

Emily Merrell  

No, I think Canada has it off too.

Lexie Smith  

Is it on the same day? Okay, well, he fell for it. The blue jumpsuit with red stars and the bright red bow now made sense.

Emily Merrell  

I think it's adorable. And you can always just use those pictures and be like, this is Fourth of July.

Lexie Smith  

This is what we did. Right Fourth of July. So anyways, that's how I'm doing. I'm just we went to Paso Robles, CJ Ashlynn and I to celebrate our CJ nice fourth year wedding anniversary, and it was 110 degrees. But despite that, we had a phenomenal time and chose winery with air condition. That was like my main criteria. And really, Ashley was a rock star. It was really, really great trip.

Emily Merrell  

She writer, a white wine lover.

Lexie Smith  

She's a bottle lover. We had a lot of pump into before that trip to prep for that. So it was funny. I think I posted it on my Instagram. But it was one point where CJ was bottle feeding her and we're in the middle of a tasting. So I was feeding CJ from a wineglass while he was feeding her from the bottle. It was like a feeding train judge if you will, but also it works. So

Emily Merrell  

I think wineries are a great place with kids and it's open it's outdoors. It's specious enough you know you're not usually bothering someone. So I'm very pro bringing your child to a winery and a brewery and a restaurant. Child will travel travel will

Lexie Smith  

travel What do you guys do?

Emily Merrell  

So we labored on Labor Day. Like a lot my sister just moved in you'll appreciate this lecture she moved in across the street and one street over I guess you've been there I forgot you saw it. I have to give you the tour of her house but we unpacked a lot of boxes for her we have Greg who is not very handy Sorry babe but he's not. And he like he did really handy things like he did like a TV mount and he hung cameras and installed things so I think it's been challenged by the right person he can be a handy person.

Lexie Smith  

The person I think the coolest part about your to give everyone in visual visual her sister's house is there's almost like a speakeasy door in it. You know the one right on there.

Emily Merrell  

There's like a secret passageway basically that leads to her bedroom, which I'm sure like she was a teenage girl.

Lexie Smith  

That's your kids one day that room. But yeah, laboring.

Emily Merrell  

Oh, my gosh, here we go. All right.

Lexie Smith  

If you listen to the show, you know, it's about to come. Laboring. You know, it also can be a lot of work sometimes growing your network. But the good news is, is that to make it a little easier, you can tap into the network you already have. So instead of always thinking you need to expand and labor on making new connections. Think about and tap into your existing network. That was rough. But we're going to talk today about your existing network purpose. So new clients

Emily Merrell  

likes how do we add sound effects? Where it's like wah wah ball? Yeah,

Lexie Smith  

I know. Right? I wish there is a button. You'd probably be pressing it a lot for me though.

Emily Merrell  

And or like put that one of those, it'd be back and forth between the two.

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, for Kaylee, who's editing these work on that, okay.

Emily Merrell  

She's gonna be like, Oh, God. Yeah. So I think this is a, I'm really excited to dive into this topic, this topic, just to clarify what Lex said, essentially, how do you tap your already existing network of individuals to become clients?

Lexie Smith  

People you already know, people, maybe you worked with once upon a time people that throughout the course of your life, you have made a connection with and I want to start with this category, because Emily is a lot better at this than I am. And that is friends. I'd love to hear just some of your thoughts on how to approach friends that you think could be potentially a good fit for a client?

Emily Merrell  

Oh, wow. That's a great question, the million dollar question. I think that first thing that I would say is you don't approach them, and you just, you have a conversation. So backing it up a little bit, you just quit your job, you decided to become an entrepreneur or coach full time. And I see so many individuals just psyching themselves out trying to build a new network trying to build a complete network from scratch. And Lex, you've heard me say this 1000 times, but I'm gonna say it again, build your network when you're not looking for something and then tap it when you are. So a big mistake a lot of people make is they seek out a network to sell to, or they seek out a network to be really transactional with Well, in reality, your network should be supportive of you through the high highs and the low lows of your life. And the cool thing about the generation that we live in, a lot of us have been cultivating and building a network. For the last 10 years or so. Between Facebook, LinkedIn, social media accounts, like Instagram, even tick tock, we've developed connections and relationships and like no interest for our personal brands that we've been accidentally cultivating or intentionally cultivating. So the first thing that I would do in terms of pitching friends or you know, approaching friends, would be letting my whole network know what the heck I'm doing. So that might be I like to call it My shout it from the rooftop email or shout it from the rooftop post. It's been like, the too long, don't read, kind of digest of what's happening, quit my corporate job, started a business, here's where you can support, here's how you can help. Bonus points, if you want to introduce me to people to solve for x. And letting them know generally, those emails, those, one of the ways that I'll do is I'll BCC people, either in with my super connectors, or the people in my my close network. The other thing I'll do is push it on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Instagram. And it is amazing how many people can come out of the woodwork and are intrigued about what you're doing or what you're building and want more information. So it as long as that's my first step.

Lexie Smith  

That's your first step. And something that gets brought up there that some of you might be thinking, because I know this was a big one for me when I transitioned into entrepreneurship was okay, cool. That sounds terrifying. I don't want everyone to judge me, right? What are my biggest hurdles, which sounds so trivial, but I think it's a very real thing. The more people we work with, the more I feel like this is a shared fear. Facebook was a big one for me. Telling my Facebook LinkedIn felt professional, like, that's fine talk about jobs. But when we get over to Instagram and Facebook, I have people from high school on there, I have friends, I have family, and those are people I typically care a little bit more about, you know what they think of me not that I should but that's, you know, there's a part of that that's human, and a huge hurdle for me. With Facebook was deciding to use Facebook as a means to talk about my business. What I ended up doing is and this might seem extreme, so for some of you, this won't be a problem for those of you who share this fear. Here's a suggestion. I had a coach at the time suggest this to me. I sat down I opened my Facebook friends list, I went through it and if there was anyone on that list, that was like, you know, a former connection of mine that truly I thought would trigger me or judge me. I asked a question why do I need to be Facebook friends now? This isn't to say unfriend all your aunts. You can by all mean family. But if there was like that one girl from high school that were kind of friends and and I saw her name pop up and I thought you know what, that would really trigger me i unfriended her And I had that for me. Once I cleaned that list, then it was just going for it. I just had to do it, I had to make a mindset shift that now Facebook is for business. Anyone? I don't know what about you

Emily Merrell  

was in this in a similar vein, and in addition to unfriending people, and it's funny, I actually was about to go and do a big clean out of people. And I'm really grateful I didn't because a lot of the people I thought that didn't matter. This was back when I was in corporate ended up being someone that I ended up having a connection with later on in life or ended up working at a company I was curious about or wanting to partner with. So what I would do was, first and foremost, use my Facebook like a search engine. And same thing with LinkedIn. And same thing for Instagram as well. But I would search people who were entrepreneurs, and I would reintroduce myself to them like hey, Lex, I see you, you've had your own business for three years, I'm just starting out, I would love to reconnect with you. And it was an opportunity to then approach this relationship with the person that I might not have had the good might have been in the same sorority but and I had nothing in common. But now we have this common ground that's really unique. And so I would set up a lot of calls and a lot of like reconnection time, and see how I could help support them or any intros that I could make for them. That was really my currency back then was just a strategic introduction, while also flying my flag of like what I was doing and what I was still doing. The other thing that was really cool, too, is having something that I could offer. In addition to the intros, I would usually be able to offer people like a free event code or something to invite them into my world and see me in a different light or stage than they had no knee from high school or college. And then the other last thing I'll add is, I traveled a lot when I first started my business and I was expanding to different markets. And I would whenever I went to a new market, or even if I went to a market just for no desire to expand, I would see what friends that I had in that market. And I would make an effort to reach out to them and re engage with them. And while a lot of those engagements didn't really get into anything, like substantial or financial, down the line, it did

Lexie Smith  

I think that's such a great strategy to rewind back. Here's my question for you. I'm on the fear side, because I know you're such a pro on mindset. Was there anything that allowed you to push past maybe that that fear initially or that fear of judgment? How were you able to see the opportunity to then begin executing that strategy?

Emily Merrell  

Oh, great question. I would, what I was able to do was disengage myself from my business. So for example, when I worked in corporate I was constantly doing the same thing. So just background if this is your first episode, I used to work in fashion and doing special events and marketing. And one of the primary goals we had in fashion was partnering with local organizations in our stores to bring in new eyeballs, new buyers, new consumers and introduce them to the brand. So I would be stalking That sounds terrible. I was searching for people. I was searching for people who could solve that problem. So for example, if we had a store in Portland, Oregon, I'd be like friends in Portland. And I'd see everyone who's a friend in Portland see this girl worked at the ER belong to the Junior League and then pitch her be like hey, would you want to tee up an introduction to the Junior League and we could do an in store shopping event with the Junior League at her Portland store. So that lesson was of course in the corporate world like I am representing a brand with an opportunity. So similarly when I am the brand, or my business is the brand I was able to separate the time. My myself from my business. Mind you, Lex I've messaged Gosh, I wish there was a way I could track how many messages I've sent hundreds 1000s of people and had crickets back or like thanks but no thanks back. But again, I'm doing it on behalf of my business. I'm not doing it to invite them to my birthday.

Lexie Smith  

Bingo. Okay, so a little pullback of the curtain for company numeral one, which is where this fear of transition came up for me. One of the reasons I started the PR bar and it didn't go with Lexie Smith was to help me at my current stage of mindset in that morning and not morning in that moment separate me from my business. At this point in time. I think there's There's strategy about whether you go under your name or you're not. But at that moment in my life, that's what I needed to move forward. I could have kept, you know, spiraling in my mindset and been fearful, but I didn't. So I love the separation. That's, that's huge. The other thing I did, just again, on that mindset scale where you're at, I told you Facebook was a big trigger for me. LinkedIn wasn't for me, LinkedIn felt professional. So that's where I started. Facebook came later. So I think here's a little reminder for baby steps, depending where you're at on your own journey and how you know, you may be listening to this and you're not afraid at all to fly the flag. But no, it's okay to start with like a little smaller flag, and then move up to a bigger flag. doing all the free trainings and working tirelessly as you attempt to differentiate yourself in a saturated market way to be

Lexie Smith  

So I started on LinkedIn. And this now is kind of transitioning into strategy strategies, which I had a very similar one to that, that you mentioned, em, and I don't maybe strategy is the wrong word, because that seems transactional. But I went through my network. And I looked for people all say, of relevance, meaning they have a business or there's something going on in their life. And I reached out to them in a genuine way, and said, I'd love to catch up and just connect. And how have you been. You know, I said it more like, hey, it's been forever, like I've seen are doing X, Y, and Z would love to have 20 minutes if you're down. And most people said yes. And here's the thing, guys, there's two ways I approach these calls. Number one, I genuinely caught up. I did not lead with my business. I asked them questions, I genuinely was interested in what's going on with their life. And at the very end of the call, I asked what is one way I can support you right now? Is there anything I can do? Okay, and that is the one question that usually then cues that question back. When they ask that back, you now have an opportunity to say, you know, I started a business, here's what I'm doing, if you know of anyone, let me know. And it can be that casual. It's a very socked, it's a genuine catching up, you're now reconnecting with this person. You're offering to help them in some way. That's why you're going to initiate that question. And then they're going to typically give you that question backwards or 

Emily Merrell  

Or they're definitely not had the question back before and you're like, okay, in the Rolodex, it is do not deposit more value. Just kidding. No, I love I love that technique. And I'm so in agreement with it. And it's a conversation I have a lot with my husband, where I think relationship building is a lot like putting deposits in the bank. And sometimes you're putting in deposit and you're saving for a rainy day. You don't need that deposit rate right now. But when the time comes that you are needing that quick intro or that quick connection with that person or you want to introduce them to one of your clients. They're ready to go because you've primed them you've you've warmed them up they like know and trust you enough and you've done enough good in their life, that they'll do anything for you.

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, totally. And another baby step two that just came to mind if a call feels too ambitious for you start small with just actually interacting on, you know, whatever platform of choice and engaging with their content in a real way. If you're following them on Instagram, and they're posting that they're pregnant, you know, respond to one of their stories and say, oh my gosh, it's been forever, but just wanted to say congrats. Like just being human. Yeah, most,

Emily Merrell  

most importantly, be a human. But even, you know, you were just pregnant too. You could be like, Hi, I just went through this, if you need anything, use me as a resource, let them know that you're available to them. And again, if this is maybe someone who works at your dream company, B, you can approach it as a friend first, and then it evolves into something else. That's, that's okay.

Lexie Smith  

Think a steam here that's coming out in you know how to tap your existing network is make the reengagement about them. You know, how can I help you? Or can I learn more about what you're doing? I want to catch up with you. Don't reach out just to out of the gate. Talk to them about what you're doing. Right? Make Natalie thing about them. I did want to share this is nothing I've done prior but it just happened to me and I actually don't think the individual at all has any she's a friend. I don't think she has any. She even knows that this was brilliant. But she texted me yesterday. Note to Lexi text her back. Terrible texter. From fact, she texted me and said, Hey, I just like went out on my own. And I'm looking for book recommendations on how to start a business. Do you have any recommendations? Let me tell you why this is so smart and could be a tactic. A lot of people reach out and say, Hey, can I can I have a call to pick your brain? And that's a whole bunch of red flags. Because now you're crossing over into will technically this is my career. What she did was she let me know that she's going to be entering the business world and asked me for something really low pressure. And I actually then went back to her, she's again a friend and said, if you actually I will fund back. I'm like, I don't read business books. I listen to business podcasts, and I read fiction. So I don't have any recommendations for you, really. But, girl, if you want to hop on a call, I'm more than happy. So from her end, right? That was such a, I felt acknowledged that she was coming to me. And she had a really low, like, smart ask, I guess I don't think that was her intention. But

Emily Merrell  

yeah, I like that words, you can get back to her on your own time. It's not time sensitive. And I we've talked about this a lot like boundaries. Boundaries are always a learning they're learning for, for me, they're learning for most people out there. But when someone can acknowledge your time, and so if you're on the I want to pick people's brains side of things, or if you've just started out, make it really sweet for them. And here's how I mean, like, if you invite someone to coffee, get to coffee before that person and treat them to coffee. Yeah. Do you know how many times I've driven out of my way to someone for coffee. They've arrived late, and I'm picking up their coffee. And they're not cognizant of the time, like it grows resentment, whether it's meant to or they're cognizant of or not. It's the individuals that are like, Oh, watching the time, I know you have 30 minutes. I really appreciate you taking this time. What do you what's your coffee of choice, it makes me feel special. It makes me feel valued. And I am ready to like dump everything I know, to help you.

Lexie Smith  

Yeah. Yeah. And I think the other little thing I'll say before we transition to some homework. It's also okay to acknowledge that it's been a minute. And the reason I say that is I had an article come out yesterday, and someone reached out to me. And he basically like put it out because like, it's literally been years since we talked, this is awesome. I like caught up to speed on what you're doing. Like I'd love to reconnect. And I really appreciated that it didn't just come out of the woodwork and not acknowledge that it's been years like he acknowledged that it's been it's been a minute, and we used to be close at one point in time and we did lose contact and he'd like to do something about that. Like it felt very genuine in the way he did it. So I think too, depending on your style, it's okay to be human right and say human things like I know I you know, maybe you dropped the ball once upon a time and you open that LinkedIn message and you realize they messaged you six months ago and you never responded, acknowledge that be like, well, I dropped the ball on that one. I'm so sorry. Seeing this now. I would love to catch up. Right.

Emily Merrell  

I think that that is so that's so truthful and It's interesting because sometimes you'll also want something immediately from a person. So even to do that extra bit of research and be like hi person that I'm now reaching out to maybe this gentleman said to you, like I saw you go to family or I saw you relocated to this particular area of town. And that fact that it shows that they've invested in and investigated a little bit about your life before just haphazardly pray. I think it's like a spray and pray kind of tactic otherwise.

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, I totally agree. So what is the homework on this topic of tapping your existing network for potential new clients that we want to Debbie out today?

Emily Merrell  

Oh, well, before we give homework, can I ask you a question? Wax? Okay. Yeah. What has been a person that you've connected with? That has turned into business in some capacity? That has surprised you? Oh,

Lexie Smith  

that's a good question. Okay. Yeah, I have a, my best friend's cousin was a friend of mine. Non business has become a client, actually, of both of ours. So, you know, I didn't approach her, she approached me. But guys, that's because she saw what I was doing. And she saw what I was doing. After learning more about she approached me from the PR side, after learning more about her specific problem. I then actually said, you know, what, I think ReadySet coach would be more more beneficial for you at this point in time, the only reason she was able to approach me was because I was flying that flag. Hmm.

Emily Merrell  

Okay, so she was someone who had a problem. And when looking around for resources and how to solve the problem she saw, she saw your Instagram your content to your presence on respective markets?

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, I mean, I'm going to ask that question back to you now.

Emily Merrell  

Okay, that question back to me. So I will say, I've had a, I've been surprised by how many people from my past actually have ended up being a part of my future. But I'll start with probably the person that gave me permission to make six degrees are real business. And that's a big shout out to Lindsey Howard. I had posted a career profile of Carolyn Stein on Facebook, and I interviewed her because I thought it my friends really sucked at bragging about themselves. And I wanted to be able to share their awesomeness with the world. And so for me, that was just asking them questions and letting them elaborate more on like the coolness of their life. And Lindsay saw on Facebook that I had posted this article, and it led her to dig digging deeper on my website for six degrees. And she asked me, and it's different from college, she asked me how she could help me bring my company to Chicago. So backing up there, this was not a problem. I had, this was an idea I had in terms of even expanding six degrees down to New York City at the time. And yet her message to me and her recognition of what I was building in my company, was like the permission slip, I needed to leave corporate and to try pursuing it. Beyond New York City. It was the like, Aha moment I had needed. And she helped me and introduced me and was like my, my wing girl for launching in Chicago. That same problem, then allowed me I was able to be more strategic about posting about where I wanted to expand to. And people started coming out of the woodwork and asking if they could help me do it in LA, or New Orleans and Atlanta. So she was the college friend. And I would say, Lindsey,

Lexie Smith  

Lindsey, so there's multiple themes in this episode so far, but this one is going to translate into your homework. And your homework is to fly one flag. By that it's gonna depend where you're at, right? Find that one flag could be sitting down and figuring out what platform you're comfortable to even update your LinkedIn or update your bio on, why not one flag could be coming out 20 minutes to look through your existing network to see if there's even one person you want to reconnect with and then reconnecting fly up flat. Your flag could be big, it could be small.

Emily Merrell  

And I Yeah, to piggyback on that, I think being more intentional about like what that flag is, and people love solving problems on these platforms. So if the problem is I'm looking for a web designer, it's also an opportunity for people to connect them connect you with people in their sphere who fit that that niche. So if you I always love turning to those those platforms, kind of like my Ask Jeeves or my like Google search, but in a bigger capacity. So like, Hey guys, I'm looking for a PR expert. Do you know anyone and then those people in your Network construct tagging that people that they know the only thing I'd not do or if you want to do be cognizant of don't ask people from actress recommendations. I got like 100 of those a little overwhelming.

Lexie Smith  

Okay, for anyone in California who knows that your mattress is free Okay, well okay, there's a very famous thing in Southern California your mattress is free. It's like an ad if you're live or were born in Southern California, you know what I'm talking about? Fine. The point being free mattress. The mattress King was in my my wedding. That's a family friend of ours. So anyways, I was gonna do ask him for my mattress for a small segment of our listeners will understand what I'm saying and appreciate it. Everyone else. Sorry. Moving on. So your homework is fly a flag. We gave you a bunch of different examples of the types of flags that you can fly. But we want you to fly a flag that will get you one step closer to tapping your existing network.

Emily Merrell  

Amen, sister. All right, guys,

Lexie Smith  

that's what we got for you today. So until next time on the ReadySet coach podcast if you're enjoying

Emily Merrell  

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