How to Get New Clients When Your Business is in a Lull

So you’ve launched your sleep consulting business (or you’ve been rocking it for some time) when all of a sudden, it hits: the dreaded business lull.

Maybe you just came off your busiest month supporting families, and now it’s crickets. Or maybe it’s been months since you’ve had a discovery call and you’re a little worried (be sure to double check all of your links!). It doesn’t matter who you are – business will sometimes be slow.

It’s important to understand that there are ebbs and flows in all businesses, sleep consulting included. And really, instead of looking at your business month-to-month, as tempting as it may be, it’s best to look at it from year-to-year to really identify trends.

So what are you to do when you’re in a slow period? You have two options:

Rest and relax or find more clients!

If the lull in clients is a nice experience for you, enjoy it! When you’re ready to dive back in, you can start to market and gain more clients again.

But if you don’t want to take a break? We’ve got quite a few ideas for you. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to take action!

Serve Your Current Client Base

Whether you’ve served one family or one hundred families, going back to your current client base is one great option when you’re in a slow period.

Reach back out to everyone you’ve served and offer some sort of refresher, like a 30-minute call. Not only will this give your bank account a little bonus, but it will help you stay top-of-mind so that all of your families remember to refer you to their friends who are struggling with their child’s sleep.

Your Task: Send an email to all of your past clients checking in on them. Include an offer for a refresher, if they need one.

Grow Your List and Promote a Sale

Another option during a lull in business is to grow your email list. Email marketing is one of the top ways to serve potential clients, so gathering as many people on your list is a good strategy.

You can create a freebie that people sign up for, like an overview on setting up the nursery, and then promote it everywhere you are – Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest.

You can also consider hosting a free challenge on social media. Anytime I do a sale or discount on services, I try to do a free challenge beforehand to get more people on my email list so that I can be on their radar.

Once you’ve added to your email list, send an email to everyone promoting a sale or discount!

Your Task: Brainstorm 5 different ways to bring new people to your email list. Then, select one and do it!

Build Your Content

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Content is king”?

Well, content is pretty important.

The content that you create – blogs, podcasts, videos – is how new people will find you and how you can serve and nurture your current audience.

If you find yourself with a lot of time on your hands, use your time to build your content. Write more blogs that you can share in mom groups to get your name out there more.

If you’re stuck on topics to write about, look back through emails or messages from past clients or followers and identify the top questions that they’ve asked. Before you know it, you’ll have a long list of ideas for content.

Your Task: Decide which content format you want to focus on for the next few months (blogs, podcasts, videos). Then, set aside time each week to build your content. Add it to your calendar and block that time off!

Connect with Your Community

When you’re in a lull and not seeing much business, it can be easy to feel helpless and unsure of what to do. But getting out and interacting with others can have a long-term positive impact on your business.

There are many businesses who have similar clients as your ideal customer – chiropractors, pediatricians, doulas, birth centers, MOPS groups, or Fit4Mom communities.

You don’t have to go out of your way for this – look around at where you spend your time and who you already interact with.

Going to the pediatrician for your child’s check up? Tell your pediatrician what you do, and schedule a time to discuss more! You can also see if they’ll let you leave rack cards at the front desk for their customers.

If you’re not involved in many groups, get your typing fingers ready and send emails to different leaders and professionals introducing yourself and what you do. Always approach each situation with the mindset of, “How can I serve this community?”

Building relationships and connections can be a lifeline for your business long term.

Your Task: Bring out all of your confidence and reach out to a few different professionals that you can partner with. Don’t forget to include your ideas in the email with ways you can partner with them and serve their clients!

Change Your Format

Lastly, when you feel like your business is in a funk, think outside of the box and change up the way you support your clients.

If you normally offer 1:1 support, offer group coaching for a change. For some families, having a community to work on changes with can be the push they need.

You can also host a paid webinar about an all-encompassing topic, like toddler sleep, or a specific topic, like navigating daylight savings. If you’ve gotten a lot of specific questions that keep coming up in Q and As or in your emails, you can also host a webinar addressing those concerns.

Experimenting with different formats of serving families will only help you grow, as you’ll discover you either love the new approach or prefer the method you’d been doing.

Your Task: Get out a pen and paper and brainstorm different ways you can show up for families. Then commit! Pick a day to launch and start planning!

In Summary

Building and running a business can be intimidating, but you don’t have to do it alone!

We have sections within our course about building your business and getting new clients so that you’re not floundering on your own.

You can also find Facebook communities or groups like The Sleep Sorority that offer help, support, and new ideas. In fact, a 3-month membership to The Sleep Sorority is included in our Sleep Consultant Academy, because we are dedicated to your success.

Being in a lull is no fun, but with a little bit of creativity and action, your business will be thriving before you know it!