For many thinking of starting their own businesses, the fear of finding clients can paralyze them enough to sabotage their efforts. Cold calling prospects can make some of us break out in a cold sweat. One of the things that I learned early on in my business start-up days is that there are other ways to find clients.
When you have worked in corporate America for your entire career, one of the skills you probably didn’t learn was how to network. As a business owner, networking is one of the most powerful growth tools you have. And today, adding social networking to the mix makes your ability to find business that much easier.
Instead of networking for immediate sales, embrace VCP Networking, a long-term approach built on Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability. When you focus on these three elements, networking stops feeling transactional and starts becoming a reliable source of referrals, partnerships, and opportunities. Learn about how you can use VCP networking to ensure you grow your business.
Learn How to Network in Person
One of the first things I did when I launched my business was to join BNI (Business Network International). Some people feel that it doesn’t work. But when you are starting a business, BNI gives you many benefits:
- Meeting new people
- Developing a support and sales organization
- Having a place to test your marketing message
These are really valuable to a startup business. And with it now being held virtually, you can work on your virtual meeting and presence as well.
The next thing I did was to take a course on networking. The course taught me the basic principle of growing your business, called the VCP networking model. Dr. Ivan Misner developed this three phase relationship development process to help business owners understand why networking works when it works and why it fails when it doesn’t.
- Visibility gets people to know you exist. If people don’t know who you are or what you do, they can’t refer you, hire you, or recommend you. This sounds obvious, yet many business owners show up inconsistently and expect consistent results.
- Credibility helps them trust you. People don’t refer clients to you because you asked. They refer clients to you because they believe you’ll make them look good.
- Profitability is the natural result when the first two are done consistently. When you lead with visibility and credibility, profitability becomes a natural byproduct.
VCP is a process, not a formula. Too many business owners skip straight to profitability and wonder why networking doesn’t pay off. VCP reminds us that trust and familiarity come before sales, especially in service-based businesses.
Works both Offline and Online
The principles of networking transcend to social networking. How does the VCP model work in social networking?
Building visibility and credibility using social media takes time but is worth it. It provides the venue from which you can create visibility and demonstrate your expertise. In many ways, it’s easier to develop this reputation online since the tools enable you to build your reputation on a daily basis. In person networking events happen frequently, but not 24×7.
Implement the VCP Process
Develop Your Content Strategy
First you must demonstrate your expertise. Create a blog and develop a content strategy that gives you content that you can share and promote. Content needs to be quality and relevant to your target customer. Content marketing can work for many types of service businesses including remodelers, roofers, landscaping, coaching, financial services and many more.
Further Reading:
Why Content Marketing is Important for Small Business Growth
Create Your Social Media Profiles
Choose the right platforms and create profiles on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and other social networks that relate to your area of expertise. If you aren’t sure where your audience exists, test it. Or better, ask your customers which social networks they prefer.
Link your blog to your profiles and look for other opportunities to get backlinks. And if you are a local business, be sure to claim and optimize your Google Business Profile.
One thing that you can do if you offer services to homeowners is to ask your customers if they have a neighborhood Facebook group or other type of neighborhood directory. If they do, have them recommend you to the group and provide your contact details.
Further Reading:
Optimize Your Google Business Profile for Local Visibility
Develop Your Local Marketing Plan
Developing a local marketing plan is important for small businesses looking to build a strong community presence and attract nearby customers.
- Start by understanding your target audience—who they are, what they need, and how they typically find businesses like yours.
- Research your local market, including competitors, to identify opportunities where you can stand out. This might include offering a unique product or service, focusing on exceptional customer service, or participating in local events.
With these insights, create a plan that outlines your goals, strategies, and tactics, such as leveraging local SEO, engaging on social media, and running targeted advertising to reach people in your area.
Your local marketing plan should also include ways to connect with your community in person. Sponsoring events, hosting workshops, or partnering with other local businesses can help you establish trust and familiarity with your audience.
Don’t underestimate the power of word-of-mouth marketing—encourage happy customers to leave reviews or share their experiences online. By combining digital strategies with in-person connections, you can create a well-rounded local marketing plan that drives awareness, builds relationships, and grows your business in your community.
Further Reading:
Local Marketing for Home Services: SEO, Reviews & Referrals
Get into Video and Podcasting if Comfortable
Create videos and presentations and upload to YouTube or Rumble. Create short videos for Instagram, YouTube or TikTok. If speaking is easier for you, create a podcast to share your knowledge and expertise. More people would rather listen and watch content than read. But in either case, put the content on your blog and summarize it in text. The content helps your visibility.
Further Reading:
Video Marketing: Increase Visibility, Trust & Sales
Why VCP Networking Works
It’s just a whole lot more fun to pick up the phone and have someone on the other end go on about all the great things they have read, seen and heard about your products and services.
Plus prospects that come to you by way of your information machine, that have logically progressed down a path of education, are probably ten times more likely to be your ideal client. They will equally be more likely to become customers than those that you try to convince to buy from you.
Your marketing system can be one of the greatest ways to qualify leads. If a lead won’t go down your education path, that might be a red flag that they won’t be an ideal customer either.
