EP 7: Boost Your Client Bookings: Mastering Lead Management for Creative Entrepreneurs

Unlock the secrets to transforming your lead management process and watch your client bookings soar. Ever wondered how a simple, structured approach can prevent valuable leads from slipping through the cracks? Join me, Amy Gould, on the Systems for Creatives podcast as I unravel effective strategies for creative entrepreneurs to streamline their operations.

Discover the power of having a written roadmap, crafting personalized client experiences through templated emails, and setting up a seamless follow-up system. I'll guide you through creating a lead management system that helps you covert more prospects to clients and I'll tell you how to automate it so you can spend less time on admin tasks and more time living your life!

Dive into actionable insights that reshape your client experience and automate repetitive tasks, ensuring no lead is left to collect dust. I’ll share five key strategies to enhance engagement, focusing on personalized communication that makes each client feel valued.

If you'd like me to help you design and implement systems in your business so you can stop spending so much time on admin work, schedule a free discovery call with me at www.amysgould.com/book-a-call. Together, we'll explore your business needs and determine if it's the right fit for you. Prepare to revolutionize your lead management and elevate your creative business to new heights.

💠 Links Mentioned In This Episode:
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💠 Looking for More on This Topic? Listen to these episodes:

Episode 4: Unlock the Full Potential of Your Creative Business with a CRM

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2201982/episodes/15703728

Episode 3: Not Automating Your Business is Costing You More Than You Think

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2201982/episodes/15658898

EP: 5 Effective Onboarding: Strategies That'll Save You Hours Every Week

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2201982/episodes/15817255

Stay in Touch with Us

Book a Free 15 Minute Discovery Call to Learn How I Can Help You Work Less, Make More & WOW Clients: www.amysgould.com/book-a-call

Website: www.amysgould.com

Watch me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SystemsforCreatives

Share your take-aways by email: amy@amysgould.com

Connect with us on Instagram: amysgould_

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

Hey there, welcome to the Systems for Creatives podcast, where we help creative entrepreneurs work smarter, not harder. I'm your host, amy Gould, and today we're talking about the five things you can do to streamline your lead management and book more clients. Let's get started. If you've ever felt like your creative process is all over the place or like you're missing opportunities to wow potential clients, this episode is for you. We're going to cover the steps you need to take to create a seamless client experience that not only saves you time, but also makes sure no leads fall through the cracks. I've got every step of the process for managing your leads covered, so you don't miss a beat and you can book more clients. By the end of this episode, you'll have actionable insights to fine-tune your client experience and start automating those repetitive tasks that are eating up your time. So grab a pen and a notebook, because we're about to dive in and get your systems working for you. Let's get started. The very first thing I want to implore you to do is to write out your process. I know I say it all the time, but if you don't start with a good plan, you're going to plan to fail. So take a pen and paper and just go to town writing all of your notes down for your leads process and maybe you want to listen to this whole podcast first before diving in and writing it out but this is going to give you kind of the map to follow as you build your leads. If you don't have a written out leads process, you're not going to know what steps to follow and in which order. It's going to require brainpower for you to think through what needs to happen next every single time, and I don't know about you, but I don't have brainpower to waste. So step one is write out your process, and you can do that in a notebook, in a note on your phone, a document on your computer, whatever works for you. I know I love some sticky notes and a wall and you can just write the steps on the sticky note and rearrange them until they make sense for you. Do do what works for you, but make sure you have a well thought out and written down process.

Speaker 1: 3:07

Next up, I'm going to go through the steps of the process. There are a couple variations here that you can do, but most businesses are going to do something along these lines. The very first thing I want to encourage you to do is put a lead capture form on your website. Now you know I love Dubsado. Dubsado makes it really easy to do this. I also love that you can map the fields in the form so the information goes into your Dubsado account and you have it all there right at your fingertips. It's all organized and in one place and you don't have to do the data entry. Your client's going to do that for you. So, first of all, get a lead capture form.

Speaker 1: 3:53

Don't make it a super long novel. Nobody wants to answer a zillion questions before they've even decided to work with you. Keep it short and sweet and to the point. Even decided to work with you, keep it short and sweet and to the point. Ask only the questions you need to have answered to know who your client is, what their needs are and find out if they're a good fit to work with you. That's all you need to know. You can ask a lot of questions on your discovery call with them, so you don't need to ask them to write a novel before you even meet them. And then, depending on the person, you're going to get one of two things Either someone's going to give you really short answers or they're going to write you a long novel about the question that you're answering, but they might not actually answer the question you asked. So keep those questions short and just ask the questions. You need to understand your potential client before you get on a call with them.

Speaker 1: 4:48

Next up, I want to also invite you to add what I like to call the fast follow-up email. Now, I love to keep things customized in client experience, but this is one instance where I think a fast follow-up email is the way to go. It lets the person know that you've gotten their information and it gives them a little piece of information to consume while they're waiting for you to get back to them. Your next email can be super customized if you want, because this email is going to buy you the time to do that. So there are three things I think you should include in this email. The first is a greeting telling them how excited you are to work with them. I've also seen some people do some great videos here, and I think that's a great thing to do. It gives people kind of some insight into who you are and lets you say hi in a video format. I think that's very fun. Second, you want to let them know when you're going to be getting back in touch with them. It sets the expectation and ensures that you follow up and can build that relationship with them. Third, I love to include a piece of content that they can consume while they wait for you to get back to them. That could be something like an FAQ page, a blog post that you've written about hiring someone who does what you do, or anything that would be relevant to someone who's at that part of their customer journey with you.

Speaker 1: 6:18

Another thing you could consider adding at this point in your client experience is a nurture sequence. Now, depending on when your discovery call is or how you're laying out your lead process, this could look a little bit different for different processes, but basically you want to include some emails that go out and provide information to the prospect about your service, how you work, maybe an FAQ email or a case study of a client that has worked with you. There are lots of things that you could send out that just provide more information and allow someone to get on a call with all of the pieces of the puzzle. That way, you're not holding all the cards and kind of gatekeeping the information. They have pretty much everything they need to know before they get on the call with you and you're able to have a conversation about what their needs are, where they're at at this moment, what they're struggling with, and help them decide if you are the right fit for them, and also allow you to ask the questions that you need to ask on that call to decide if you want to work with them Because, let's face it, not everyone is a good fit for everyone.

Speaker 1: 7:42

Then, once you have the discovery call and you've sent over the proposal to work with you, I recommend following up frequently and you know you can decide how many times you want to follow up with someone. I definitely don't think it's a bad idea to follow up at least a couple times. I usually follow up until someone tells me they've changed their mind, they're not interested, or maybe they're pushing it off for a few months, and to follow up with them in three to six months. It's really no skin off my nose if someone doesn't want to work with me. I just want to make sure that the reason they don't end up working with me is because I didn't follow up and I just got pushed to the bottom of the pile of things that they're working on, so make sure to follow up frequently.

Speaker 1: 8:37

You can automate this, but I really think it's a good idea to put some customization in there, and Dubsado does have a couple of options in the workflow to allow you to do that.

Speaker 1: 8:49

So you can write custom messages in there to the client and that way, maybe you have a templated email that you send, but there are a few custom things that you put in there to make it personable and not have them feel like a number. So those are the five things that I'm recommending you add to your lead management process to help you book more clients and streamline your lead management system. If you'd like help mapping out your process, that is something that I offer as a standalone service in addition to my done for you and done with you Dubsado setup services. So you can head over to the show notes, grab the link to book a call and book a free discovery call with me. We will talk about your specific business and how you work and see if Dubsado is a good fit for you and if I'm the right person to work with you. I'd be happy to talk to you and help you make that decision. Until next week, have an awesome week and I look forward to talking to you soon.