If you’ve read the first three parts of this series, you already know that getting clients is more than just a single tactic.
In part one, we laid the foundation with mission, vision, and proactive outreach. In part two, we talked about building visibility and credibility. In part three, we focused on authority and brand pull.
This final installment is different. This is about direct relationships and sales activation. This is where conversations move forward because you made them move.
Early in my journey, I believed growth would come from marketing alone. Write enough content. Run enough ads. Show up enough times. What I learned building multiple agencies, now closing in on a $10 million run rate, is that marketing creates opportunity, but relationships close deals. The agencies that grow fastest do not rely and hope for inbound leads. They intentionally create proximity to clients to generate demand.
Outside sales still works
Going to conferences. Getting in the car. Walking into offices. Shaking hands. Seeing how a prospect actually operates. It is labor intensive, hand to hand combat, and sometimes uncomfortable. Which is exactly why so few people do it well. When you sit across from someone and understand their world firsthand, the sales conversation accelerates.
Outbound and cold calling are similar
They require discipline and volume. Most agency owners try either for a week and quit. The goal is not perfection. The goal is activity. A consistent cadence of outreach creates predictable conversations. When you combine that with clarity of positioning, response rates increase.
Gifting is another lever
Thoughtful, relevant gifts create reciprocity. Not bribes. Not gimmicks. Real gestures that show attention. In my experience, small, strategic gifts open doors and restart stalled conversations faster than long email threads ever will.
Using their product
Using a prospect’s product is one of the most overlooked tactics. Buy it. Experience it. Talk about it. Give feedback. When you show up as a customer first, the conversation shifts from vendor to partner who understands them better. You gain insight and credibility immediately.
Hosting events
Hold grand openings. Client appreciation nights. Informal unwind gatherings. When you are the connector, you control the room. Starting meetups or participating in them, including mastermind-style groups, builds consistent touch points. Repetition builds trust.
Participate in organizations
Professional organizations like PMI, EO, YPO, HRIC, and CBDX are powerful because trust already exists inside the group. Showing up consistently, contributing value, and building real relationships inside these communities produces warmer opportunities than any ad campaign.
What this group of tactics does is simple.
It moves deals forward through proximity to your ideal clients, creates reciprocity, and results in direct interaction. These require more effort, but they produce faster and more predictable results. When combined with everything from the previous three parts, they create a machine instead of random wins.
If you want more depth on how I’ve applied these principles in real scenarios, check out my book. The examples are there because I lived them. None of this is theory … it’s the way a business is built from the ground up.
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I hope that helps and gives you something to think about.
~ Erik