Hit a milestone this month - closed my 10th active client. Took me about 14 months. For anyone starting out, here's the breakdown: 1) Personal friend with a restaurant chain, 2) Referral from my CPA, 3-4) Cold calls to manufacturing plants, 5) Met at a BOMA meeting, 6) Referral from client 1, 7) Cold email to a hotel GM, 8-9) Property management company with two properties, 10) Referral from client 5. Pattern is clear - half from networking and referrals, half from direct outreach. You need both.
How I Landed My First 10 Clients
That's a great breakdown and pretty typical. My first 10 took closer to 2 years, but this was back in 2011 when nobody knew what utility bill auditing was. Your 14-month timeline is solid. Clients 3 and 4 from cold calling are impressive - most people give up after the first 50 rejections.
The CPA referral is interesting. How did you approach your CPA about it? I hadn't thought about accountants as a referral source.
I just told my CPA what I was doing and asked if he had any business clients who complained about high utility costs. He gave me three introductions, one of which turned into a client. CPAs, attorneys, commercial real estate agents, insurance brokers - anyone who serves business owners is a potential referral source. They're not competing with you and the introduction makes them look good to their client.
Great milestone Omar, congrats. The CPA referral channel is one of the most underutilized in our industry. I've been saying this for years at our meetups. Build relationships with 5-10 professionals who serve the same business owners you want to reach. Take them to lunch, explain what you do, and make it easy for them to refer you.