Reader Q&A: Managing client relationships, forecasting revenue, and finding new leads
Plus, my Q1 recap and how I'm bringing 100 fresh leads into my pipeline in May.
Happy Friday, friends!
I can’t believe it’s already late April! For me, Q1 was busy with travel, client transitions, and focusing on mid- and lower-funnel leads. Now that things are calming down a bit, I’m turning my focus back to filling my upper funnel, and am challenging myself to reach out to 100 new leads over the next six weeks. I’ll be sharing updates - from how I’m approaching outreach to the results I see - with paid subscribers each week. I’d love to have you join me! You’ll find a sign-up link towards the bottom of today’s newsletter.
Also - heads-up that there are a few early bird spots still available in my pricing and revenue planning workshop on May 15, so if you’re thinking of joining, snag one soon! I’d love to see you there. (If you’re a paid subscriber, find a little extra discount at the bottom of this email!)
Now - let’s get into some Q&A.
🤝 Most of my clients come from my network - is that sustainable?
Good for you! It took me years before I started talking about my business with people in my network, and it was such a big miss. When I finally did start sharing what I was up to, my network became a major source of revenue for my business…for a while. Since then, it’s ebbed and flowed, and because I like to feel in control of my pipeline, I don’t rely on my network to fill it for me.
Some things to consider if it’s time to start casting a wider net:
→ How can you grow your network to create more opportunities in the future?
→ How can you supplement those efforts by getting your business in front of more people?
→ How can you build trust with that new audience along the way?
(If you want to go deeper on this, my self-paced Build Your Pipeline Workshop will take you through the framework I use to create a more predictable pipeline and help you apply it to your own business.)
⚓ I’m onboarding a new anchor client - how should I communicate this to my current clients?
Let’s first talk about “anchor clients.” In 2020 and 2021, my business was structured with one anchor client that represented a large chunk of my time and revenue, plus a couple of smaller clients on the side. I love to go deep with clients, so from that perspective, having one large client where I was deeply involved was great. But on the flip side, replacing a large client can be a challenge. This is a large part of why I no longer commit more than 15 hours per week to any one client (the other part is that allocating more than 15 hours/week to a single client often seems to result in “always on” expectations).
That said, I cap my total retainer hours at 25 per week, so a client that’s at 15 hours per week does take up a solid chunk of my total billable hours. However - I do not communicate to existing clients when I am bringing on a new client. As a fractional leader or consultant, the expectation is that I have multiple clients. So as long as there’s no change to what or how I’m delivering for the current client, I don’t see a need to communicate that I’m bringing in a new client.
If I’m adding the new client to my LinkedIn profile (find my take on that here), I uncheck the “share this update with my network” box so that the new role just appears quietly on my profile vs. getting announced in the LinkedIn feed. This isn’t about obscuring it from other clients, though - it’s just what feels right for my own LinkedIn presence.
➕ How can I move my retainer client to a higher level of support?
In my experience, this is pretty typical - a client starts with a low tier of support, then as I get into the work and start adding value, they’re eager to have me get more involved. Here’s how I navigate these situations:
→ In initial conversations (before we get to a contract), I often share two or three options for fractional support (when I don’t, it’s because I’m sharing a fractional option along with a project and/or advisory option). With each of those, I list out what types of work are typically included as well as a sample timeline for the first couple months of work - I’ve found this helpful in showing the accelerated pace of work with heavier engagements.
→ In my fractional contracts, I include an hourly rate for any hours worked (per week) above and beyond whatever tier of support we’ve aligned on, and note that additional hours are subject to my availability and require written approval from the client.
→ Once I’m on board, I’m very proactive about flagging A) if it looks like I may max out on hours within a given week and B) prioritization/trade-offs in terms of what can get done within the hours we’ve contracted. I’ve found that this is helpful for the client in terms of understanding constraints associated with the current level of support, and can be a good starting point for conversations about shifting to a higher support tier.
→ In other instances, I build out a more formal marketing roadmap (this varies based on the client - it makes more sense for some than others). This can be a great opening for a conversation around how much of my time is needed to bring the roadmap to life.
🔮 How can I start to forecast my revenue?
Getting your business to the point where it’s so consistent that you can reliably forecast your income is the dream, right? Here are a few things that I’ve found helpful:
→ Shifting my business to be primarily retainer-based. This got me off the hamster wheel of constantly needing to find new clients, and helped me lock in revenue for months at a time. Setting a three-month minimum (I’m too much of a commitment-phobe to do six months) and having retainers auto-renew, with 30 days’ notice (prior to the end of any term) required to terminate was also very helpful on this front. And as I gained more experience with my retainer model, I was able to see that engagements typically lasted 9 to 18 months, which helped me start to forecast further out.
→ Building a business development engine that I could stay consistent with. As I started to learn what worked for me and track results, I started to be better able to predict that if I do X, I’m going to see Y results. I talk more about how to build this engine in a way works for you in my Build Your Pipeline Workshop.
→ Having a set of (fairly) standardized offers. This helped me better understand my capacity and model out different ways I could hit my monthly, quarterly, and annual revenue targets - combined with building that business development engine, this helped me feel SO much more in control of my business. In my Nail Your Pricing Workshop on May 15, each attendee will walk away with their own model, using the exact tool I rely on to set rates, plan revenue, and get clear on what I actually need to sell.
💡 On a related note…
👀 Behind the Scenes
Here’s what I’m sharing with paid subscribers today:
→ What Q1 looked like for my business
→ How I’m setting myself up for success in my six-week cold outreach challenge, including a behind-the-scenes video of how I built my target list
→ A little extra discount on my upcoming pricing & revenue planning workshop
Let’s dive in!