How Did I Get My First Client?

Our Firsts

Every one of us has his or her "firsts". First kiss, first birthday gift, first pay check, first child. One thing common in them is the adrenaline rush they all provide in our stomachs. But in venturesome entities like us, what do you think gives us this “butterfly effect”? Definitely, it is our first client. Let me tell you how did I get mine and the experiences I had.

Benefit of Meeting Old Acquaintances

I have a long time friend who served as my "shock absorber" every time we meet. With all the negativities I had in the past, he never turned his back on me when I would want to tell all my complaints in the world. And then one time, we talked about my passion and the things I would want to pursue in life. I told him that there is this side of me who wanted to be of service to others. That is my dream goal( though still in gestation) I’d like to spend my life with. He coincidentally has this project for a chocolate café in Baler from which he is the current on-site manager and trainer. Then voila! He offered me to be the Marketing consultant of Mumunsi Chocolate café. I am currently doing marketing plans and rough drafts for the e-magazine that they will be launching soon.

See, you really can’t tell when and where will that opportunity come? JayShetty, a renowned motivational speaker, had to send hundreds of emails to his old acquaintances just to land a job until one of his former classmate contacted him and gave him his first formal job after being a monk.

Perseverance Pays Off

It has to be re-instilled for the nth time that patience and perseverance are of two different things. Patience is the willingness to wait which makes it a passive character while perseverance gives us the drive to overcome difficulties even over a long period of time. That makes the latter an active one. But don’t get me wrong, those two are both vital in finding our first client.

Let us emulate, for instance, how tricycle(a vehicle similar to a bicycle, but having three wheels) drivers in my hometown do it. Despite the mundane equatorial atmosphere they feel while waiting, they would offer their services to every people passing by. Indeed, they are very eager to find one passenger to use their service. They would literally ask each person and say “Sakay na po” and “tricycle?”. That is their attitude I admire the most.

I also remember what my previous supervisor in a BPO industry would always remind us- to offer memberships or other products and services to every customer(even he or she is just calling for an inquiry or technical assistance).The account I have handled back then was a retention account and most often than not customers calling are irate wanting to cancel their credit memberships and few would call to inquire whereabouts of their credit scores. A sale is counted from those calls opting us to cancel the membership. For those customer-service related ones, it takes a skill for one to convert it to a sales call.

Our supervisor strongly believes it would give us a higher probability of getting a sale if we will follow her advice and apply it even in customer queries. I did follow her advice and I got recognized as a top performer who generated the greatest sales for a week. Definitely, a salesman who offered his or her product to 10 people would get higher chances of getting a customer than the one who offered his or hers to just 5 people. Perseverance teaches us how to be strong and determined in times of adversities. It tests our limitations and capabilities. You would not know how far you’ll get to if you won’t give it another shot.

Persevere. Get your first client.

Best luck!

Pleasure is mine if you’ll find time reading my stories and blogs and other business-related articles.If you wanted to rise up from the current status quo of your business, I would be willing to help you with it. Let’s build relationships .Let’s both make a change in our society. Let’s connect.