Stop Looking for Clients in the Wrong Places

0:00Hello, this is Mark Satterfield, and welcome to the Velvet Rope Playbook. Tonight's chapter, Stop Looking for Clients in the Wrong Places. Daniel Whitmore was 47 and owned a boutique custom home building company outside of Charleston, South Carolina. He hadn't started in construction. He spent 12 years in commercial banking, wearing a suit every day and financing other people's projects until he finally realized he was far more interested in what his clients were building than in lending them the money to build it. So Daniel quit. His father thought he'd lost his mind, and his wife Carolyn was supportive, but did ask one fairly important question, do you actually know how to build a house?

0:44Daniel didn't, but he understood numbers, complicated projects, and successful people. He partnered with an experienced superintendent and gradually built a very good business. By his late 40s, Daniel was building four or five homes a year, usually in the two million to four million range. But he wanted the$6 million,$8 million, and occasional$10 million projects going up in the best neighborhoods, so he decided he needed to get serious about marketing. He improved his website, became more active on Instagram, posted beautiful photographs of finished homes, wrote articles, and experimented with advertising.

1:22Some of it worked. He got more followers and more website visitors, but almost none of it produced the kind of client Daniel actually wanted. And that brings me to a question I get asked all the time. Where should I actually be looking for new clients? If you're selling an expensive service to affluent people, the obvious answer isn't always the best one. One afternoon, Daniel got a call from Margaret Ellison, a 62-year-old partner in a small estate planning firm. Margaret had spent almost 35 years advising successful families. She wasn't a big networker and rarely posted on social media, but she had something considerably more valuable.

2:04People trusted her. A few nights earlier, Margaret had been at a dinner with a longtime client who mentioned that he and his wife were thinking about building a new home. Margaret simply said, you should talk to Daniel Whitmore. The couple met with Daniel and several months later hired him for a project worth a little over$7 million. Now think about that. Daniel had spent thousands of dollars trying to reach people exactly like them. Margaret reached them with one sentence. Daniel had been asking, where can I find wealthy people who might need a builder? But there was a much better question. Who already has relationships with wealthy people who might need a builder?

2:44Those are two completely different marketing strategies. Affluent people certainly use Google, Instagram, and LinkedIn. in. But when the decision is important enough, they frequently do something else. They ask people they trust, who do you know? Who did you use? Is there someone you would recommend? That means the person you really need to reach isn't always the prospective client. It may be someone sitting one relationship away from them. Suppose you're a financial advisor who wants successful business owners as clients. Who already talks to those business owners? There's CPAs, attorneys, commercial bankers, M &A advisors, and other business owners.

3:26Those people are already sitting in conversations that you would love to be a part of. The same principle applies to almost any high-end service. If you're an architect, who knows the people building expensive homes? If you're a consultant, who advises the CEOs you want to reach? If you sell luxury real estate, who regularly interacts with people buying second and third homes. Instead of asking only where are my prospects, start asking who already has their attention and trust. So here's what I do this week. Take out a piece of paper and write down the names of 10 actual people who regularly interact with the kinds of clients you'd like to attract.

4:07Don't write estate planning attorneys or wealth advisors. Write actual names. That's what turns this from an interesting idea into something that you can actually use. Then pick two people from that list, then ask yourself one question. How could I be useful to this person? Don't contact them asking for referrals or suggesting you quote-unquote explore synergies. Give the relationship a legitimate reason to exist. Invite them onto your podcast. Feature them in your content. Introduce them to someone they should know. Send them something useful. Invite them to a small dinner with a few interesting people.

4:46Do something that makes knowing you valuable before you ever ask them to do anything for you. That's eventually what Daniel started doing. He didn't abandon Instagram or his website because those things still matter. When someone recommended him, prospects almost always checked him out before calling, and his online presence helps confirm that the recommendation was justified. But he stopped expecting social media to do all the heavy lifting. Instead, he deliberately developed relationships with architects, estate attorneys, wealth advisors, luxury real estates, and private bankers. He made introductions, invited people to small gatherings, and became somebody useful to know.

5:29Eventually, his name started appearing in conversations he wasn't in, and that's really the position you want to create. because the ultimate form of marketing isn't having to convince an affluent prospect how good you are. It's having someone they already trust tell them for you. So if you're wondering where you should actually be looking for new clients, don't automatically start searching for another platform or another place to post content. Find the people who already have relationships with the clients you want. Make your list of 10, pick two, and give those two people a reason to know you.

6:04Sometimes the shortest route to your next great client isn't going directly to the client at all. It's going through someone they already trust. If you'd like more practical ideas for attracting affluent clients, go to getwealthyclients.com and that's where you'll find information about all my books, programs, resources, and the different ways that you can work with me personally. That's getwealthyclients.com. And before you go, if you're finding these ideas useful, subscribe to the Velvet Rope Playbook so you don't miss the next episode. And if you know someone who's trying to attract more affluent clients and would benefit from what we're talking about here, please pass this episode along to them.

6:44That's one of the best ways you can help me grow the podcast and, more importantly, help someone else get better at attracting the kinds of clients they really want. This is Mark Satterfield. I'll be back at you soon with something new. But until then, bye for now.