My agency Loud Rumor signed over 500 clients in 19 months with 3-month contracts, and this is how we did it:

PRACTICE DAILY

Sales isn’t something that you master overnight. Just like anything else in life that you want to get better at, it’s something that needs to be practiced and studied daily.

First, learn from the experts. Whether from books, podcasts, or online videos, take notes of the strategies they cover. There are tons of resources out there, so take advantage of them. Here are a few of my favorites:

But it’s not enough to just study experts – study yourself too. Record your phone calls and listen to them again later to figure out how to improve your sales pitches. What made Michael Jordan so great was that after every game, he’d take time to watch tapes of his games to learn how to improve. Do the same but with your calls.

As you learn new proven sales methods, it’s important that you practice them daily. Say your sales pitches out loud while you get ready in the morning or while you drive, so that when you actually talk to a lead, you’re completely prepared.

KNOW YOUR INDUSTRY

This sounds obvious, but too many business owners make the mistake of catering to everyone instead of focusing on a niche. When you create mastery within a certain field, you become an expert and are able to better help the people within your niche.

When my company niched in the fitness industry, the number of customers we work with skyrocketed. Fitness studio owners constantly choose us over other advertising agencies because they know that we know exactly what works in their industry. We’re the authorities.

Once you have a niche, partner with other businesses within your industry and work together. Their audience should be your ideal customers, and if they recommend you, people will be more likely to trust you and work with you.

DESIGNATE ROLES

As a business owner, it’s tempting to take on multiple roles within your company, but it’s important to designate tasks to your employees.

When you designate these tasks, be sure that your employees don’t take on multiple roles either. Have a salesperson whose job is to solely focus on sales. Spend sufficient time training them and give them resources to continuously develop their skills. This way, they become the best salesperson possible and drive great results for your business.

Let’s face it: if you want your social media posts to reach the right people, organic posts don’t cut it. Luckily, advertising on social media is cost-effective and allows you to get your content in front of the right audience – when done correctly.

First, produce content that provides a ton of value to your ideal customers – blog posts, podcasts, free guides, or educational videos. Then, write engaging ad copy to promote your content.

The great thing about advertising on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram is that they allow you to get really specific with targeting, and you can create retargeting and lookalike audiences as well. If you’re new to retargeting, here’s a quick video on how to set it up:

Be sure that you A/B test with different copy and images or video to figure out exactly what works and what doesn’t.

Your ads can have different purposes, like to build brand awareness and credibility, take them to a blog post on your website, or take them to a landing page where they can opt in to a free guide or demo with your sales team.

FILM VIDEO TESTIMONIALS

Video testimonials are a powerful way to gain the trust of your potential customers. They want social proof that it’s worth it to invest in your business, and testimonials with some of your best customers are great for this. Within the last year alone, we’ve filmed over 30 video testimonials from the fitness studios we work with.

When you sit down with your customer to film the testimonial, have a list of questions that will be helpful for potential customers. While people have the option to post online reviews on places like Google, your Facebook page, or Yelp, they might not necessarily touch on everything that you’d want them to. Video testimonials allow you to ask them exactly what you want them to cover to make the decision process easier for potential customers.

These are the strategies that helped my agency sign over 500 clients in 19 months, and they’ll help your business grow too. If you’d like to learn more about growing and scaling your advertising agency, register for my next free webinar training on “How to Ethically 3X Your Agency’s Sales & Profit Without Making A Single Cold Call or Offering Free Trials.”