The Simple Way to Get Clients Without Cold Outreach

Cold messaging strangers is probably the slowest way to get your first client. So, if you've sent the messages, watched the videos, taken the notes, and you still don't have a paying client, it's not your fault. Here's what nobody tells beginners. You get your first client by following a simple path that makes it easy for someone to say yes to working with you. I still remember sitting at my kitchen table on a Thursday morning back in 2013. I had a spreadsheet open with 200 names I'd cold messaged that week. Zero replies, not one. I remember thinking that something was wrong with me, or the market, or the script, or all three. Turns out, the problem wasn't any of that. I was just starting at the wrong end of the process. See, I've built three different seven-figure agencies, worked with over 1,500 small businesses, run thousands of campaigns, and today I do it all as a one-person agency with zero employees. And in this video, I'm going to walk you through the exact four-step method I call the handshake method. I'm going to give you everything. I'll show you the specific person to reach out to first, the exact words to send them, how to run the conversation when they reply, and the exact questions to ask that gets them to say yes. By the end of this video, you'll know exactly how to go from no clients to a paying client. And most people can do it within the week. So, let's dive in. First, let's talk about what most beginners actually do when they're trying to get their first agency client. They sit down, open up LinkedIn or Instagram, and they start sending messages to complete strangers. Message after message. "Hey, I help businesses like yours get more leads. Would you be open to a quick chat?" And the response rates on those messages? Here goes. Around 1 in 200, if you're lucky. Which means to get one conversation, you're sending 200 messages. But, not every conversation leads to a client, which means to get one client, you're probably sending 2,000 messages. That, my friend, is psychologically damaging and one of the few ways I know to hurt yourself with a spreadsheet. And here's the crazy part. Most agency beginners don't start with messaging strangers because it's a really good strategy. They start with messaging strangers because it feels safer than messaging people who actually know them. Think about that for a a It's easier, emotionally, to send 500 cold messages to complete strangers and get zero replies than it is to send just one message to a former co-worker who might actually say yes or be able to introduce you to someone who can. This is because the former co-worker knows you and if they say no, feels personal. So, beginners tend to hide in a crowd of strangers and then call it prospecting. But if we're being honest here, you and I both know that this is just an easy way to stay in a comfortable stuck position. See, most agency owners get this completely wrong. They think the path to their first client runs through strangers. It doesn't. It runs through people who already know you and more importantly, people that those people know. Your first client is probably one conversation away. You just haven't figured out who to talk to or what to say yet. So, that's what we're going to fix right now. So, here's the method. There's four parts and each one builds on the last and by the end you'll know exactly what to do to land your first paying client this week. Let's start with part one, the target. The target is about figuring out who you're going to message first and this is where most beginners immediately go wrong. They think targeting means picking a niche, like plumbers or dentists or landscapers, but that comes later. For your very first client, targeting means something much simpler. Ask yourself this, who do you already know who owns a business, runs a business, or makes decisions inside a business? That's the list. Your goal is 50 names and before you say you don't know 50 people, yes you do. You just haven't counted properly. So, here's how to build the list. Phone contacts, LinkedIn, Facebook, anyone who's ever replied to your content, former co-workers, neighbors, people from events, every single business that you've used or visited in the past 12 months including your dentist or people who cut your hair or that oil change place or the restaurant down the street with those amazing tacos. If you've got an extended family member or a friend or a friend of a friend who owns a business, they go on that list. All of those go on the list. So, add their names to the spreadsheet and don't overthink it. If in doubt, add the name. You can always skip them later. Now, the wrong way to handle this list is is keep it in your head or to scribble names down on a post-it note. Guaranteed within 3 days, you're going to forgotten at least half of them. The right way to do this is to get those names out of your head and onto something that remembers them better than you can. A spreadsheet works fine, but the software that I use to run my entire agency is called HighLevel, and it works even better for this because you can tag each person with how you know them. Former co-worker, college friend, neighbor, and then you can pull up the list anytime that you want to run outreach. Either way, the point is this list lives somewhere other than your memory. Okay. So, that's the target. You've got 50 warm names written down. You've got them tagged with how you know them. Now, onto part two, the reach. The reach is the first message you send, and this is where 99% of beginners mess it up so badly that they kill the deal before it even starts. Here's what most people do, and it's wrong. They send something like this. "Hey Sarah, I noticed you own a business. I help companies like yours generate more leads using proven marketing systems. Would you be open for a quick 15-minute call to see if we're a fit?" Read that out loud if you want. Does it sound like a friend talking to a friend, or does it sound like a sleazy salesperson going after a target? That's right. It's a sales pitch wearing a fake mustache, and the person on the other end, they read this, and they instantly feel sold to, which is not what we're after. So, here's what you send instead. "Hey, name. I've been working on a project helping local businesses get more clients using some new AI tools. You're one of the smartest business people I know. I'd love to get your advice on something. Do you have 5 or 10 minutes?" Now, read that out loud if you want. Sounds like a completely different person. Sounds like a real person, somebody that you might actually want to talk to. Now, here's why this works psychologically. You're not asking them to buy. You're asking them for advice, and when you ask someone for advice, a few useful things happen. First, they feel flattered. You said they were smart. I mean, who doesn't want to help someone who thinks they're smart? Second, there's no pressure. They've got nothing to defend against. There's no pitch coming. Plus, one more thing happens. Once they start sharing their opinion with you, they actually want to keep talking to you, which makes step three, the grip, way easier. Okay, so you've sent the messages. Some of them are going to reply. Now we move to part three, the grip. The grip is the actual call that you have with someone. When someone says, "Yeah, sure, happy to chat." and then you get on the phone together. Now here's where beginners get nervous and start pitching. How it typically goes is they hop on a call, they exchange 30 seconds of pleasantries, and then they launch into their full services menu. So, I do X and Y and Z, and here's my packages and my pricing and all of this stuff. But that is the exact moment that they stop trusting you because the second that they feel a pitch coming, they feel tricked. Now they don't trust you. So instead, what you actually do is ask questions for the first five minutes. Say this. So, before I get into what I'm working on, I'm curious, what's your biggest headache in your business right now? Like if you could wave a magic wand and fix one thing about how you get clients, what would it be? Ask that question and then stop talking. Let them talk. Your job is to take notes, ask follow-up questions, and get curious. Usually within about five minutes, they're going to tell you exactly what they would pay to have solved. One of the most common things I hear from local business owners is something like this. How do I get more Google reviews? I know I need them, but I never remember to ask. But you might also hear things like, we don't know how to get more customers from social media or our website is getting a lot of clicks, but doesn't seem to be converting into any phone calls. Those are buying signals in full sentences, so write them down exactly as they say them because now you know the exact problem that they would pay you to solve, and you didn't even have to pitch. Now one of the next questions that usually comes up at this point, and maybe you're thinking this too, is what if they say yes and then I have to actually deliver results? I don't even know how to set half this stuff up. Fair question, but this is the part that most people over complicate and mostly in their own head. The reviews problem is probably one of the easiest things in the world to solve. All you have to do is set up an automated text message that fires after every customer visit with a direct link to that business's Google review page. The customer taps the link, they leave a review, and you're done. Business owner doesn't have to remember anything. They just watch their review count climb. Setup takes maybe half an hour inside of a client management tool like HighLevel. You connect their Google Business Profile, you copy and paste a text template, turn it on. If they've got other problems, too, like they can't get to their phone when a lead calls, or they don't follow up with leads, well, those have plug-and-play solutions, too. AI receptionist for the phone, automated follow-up for the leads, same idea, templates already exist. All you have to do is customize them for each business and go live. So, the delivery isn't the scary part. The pitching typically is. That's the awkward part, but now you've got the hard part out of the way. So, right before the advice call ends, you ask them for a second meeting. You say, "Hey, this was super helpful. I actually have an idea that could fix the reviews thing for you. Do you have 20 minutes next week to let me show you?" Then, you send them a link to your calendar, right there in the chat, or by text, or while you're on the call. They pick a time, and from that moment on, the software handles everything. They'll get a confirmation email when they book, they'll get a reminder the day before, a text message the hour of. That's the right way to do things. Hand them a link before you hang up and let them pick a time. This way, you're not losing momentum to calendar nonsense. The meeting gets on the calendar while they're still warm. The wrong way, though, is to say something like, "I'll email you something," and then spend a week going back and forth trying to find a time. Okay, so you've had the first conversation, you've identified their biggest headache, you've booked a second meeting to show them a solution. Now, we're at part four, the shake. The shake is the second meeting. This is where you get the yes, and here's the rule that changes everything. You don't pitch, you show. Here's what that looks like. You hop on the call and say, "Hey, you told me last week you were struggling to get more Google reviews. So, I put together a quick look at what a fix for that actually looks like. Want me to walk you through it?" And of course, they say yes, because previously they told you the exact problem, so now they want to see the solution to the problem that they said. So, you show them this. This is an automated review capturing system that automatically sends a Google review request to every customer after a job is complete or a purchase is made. We can adjust the timing, so it's perfect for your business as well as the message so it sounds natural and conversational. Once a job is marked as complete, an automated text message goes out to their phone with a direct Google review link that allows the customer to tap the link and then leave a review. We also follow up an hour later with the same link, but we send it to their email as well just to make sure we're covered. When they see it, it's typically the part of the conversation where their face changes as they can actually see it working. This isn't some theoretical service that they can't really wrap their head around. It's right there directly in front of them right now. So, here's what you say now. So, tell me how this sounds. I can get this fully set up for you by the end of this week for $197 a month. That covers the setup, the software, and me managing it ongoing. Does that work? That's the ask. Not a pitch, just a simple question about what happens next. Sometimes they say yes right there on the call. Sometimes they want a day to think about it. Either way, the hard work is already done. As soon as they say yes, you send them a link. You create a subscription invoice for $197 a month, set it to recurring, and send the payment link while you're still on the call. They click the link, enter their credit card details, and congratulations, now they're your client. The wrong way to do this is to mess around with Stripe separately or send them some random PayPal invoice. Worst of all, tell them that you'll send something over later. Speaking from experience here, telling them you'll send something over later is one of the most surefire ways to never get paid. So, get the invoice ready ahead of time, super simple to do, and ensures that the money will actually end up in your account. Now, here's the part that makes this whole thing a real business with real recurring revenue coming in every single month and not just a one-time paycheck. Once that first client is on at $197 a month for reviews, you don't leave them there. In month two, you offer to add an AI receptionist that answers their missed calls for another $397 a month. In month three, you build them a revenue website for another $497 a month. That same client is now paying you $1,091 a month. Here's why they stick around long-term and don't just cancel after a month or two. If a client only has one service running and something breaks, they can cancel and find someone else pretty easily. But, when they have three services stacked together and running together, switching isn't just a simple email. It's a full-time project and most business owners don't wake up excited to create brand new projects for themselves. So, that's the retention side. Now, let's talk about what it actually means for your bank account. 10 clients at 197 a month gives you 1970 bucks a month. That is a great starting point. Nice little side income, a little extra cash coming in every month, enough to prove that the model works. But, when you stack services, so each client is worth $1,091 a month instead of just 197, now 10 clients is $10,910 a month. That's not a side hustle anymore. That's a real income from just 10 client relationships. Same number of clients, but completely different life. And don't worry, you don't have to build any of this yourself. I've already built everything for you inside of my Agency OS, which runs on HighLevel. Link's in the description if you want to grab it. A few quick warnings before you go do this. Warning one, don't skip the target and jump straight to the reach. If you message 50 strangers instead of 50 warm contacts, your conversion rate drops 10 times or more. So, start warm. Warning two, don't turn the grip into a pitch. The second that you mention price or packages in the first conversation, you've killed that second meeting. Questions only, no selling. Warning three, don't delay the shake. If you book the second meeting for like 3 weeks out, they're going to forget about the problem. You want to book it within the same week if you can and ideally within two or three days. That's going to be best. Now, look, everything I just showed you, the warm list, the outreach templates, the booking calendar, the review automation, the payment links, all of it runs inside of one piece of software called HighLevel. Link's in the description below this video with an extended free trial plus all of my pre-built templates and scripts and workflows, so you're not starting from scratch. And if you want to see the complete playbook for building this entire agency, how to pick your niche, what to charge, how to get clients, the mistakes to avoid, the whole thing, well, I put together a free masterclass linked up right here, so feel free to tap or click that now. I'll see you in there in just a second.