How To Find New Clients With A Book

by | Dec 19, 2023 | Business Development

Research has proven there is a better way to find right-fit clients. There is a proven process for marketing with integrity and getting an up to 400 percent to 2,000 percent return on your marketing investment.

I invented the Marketing With A Book Model, and many successful agencies use it to get more right-fit clients than they can handle. Some have made millions of dollars in the process.

I will never forget the day I met agency owner Lisa Apolinski. She got me to agree to meet her for coffee for thirty minutes, and I stayed for three hours. (Lisa later confided she “stalked me” all the way from Phoenix to San Diego and called to say, “she just happened to be in town.” I call this the “I just happen to be in Kalamazoo strategy,” which was taught to me by an agency owner and author who used the strategy to grow his firm into the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing privately held firms. I have used the strategy many times for my company.)

Lisa was a refugee from an international corporation who left when they would not listen to her ideas. She had side hustle clients who did listen, and they started making serious money. So, she quit corporate life to form her own digital advertising agency, 3 Dog Write.

When we met for coffee, I found out she had already done the challenging work of getting her house in order, and now she wanted to have more impact and influence. “I want to double my revenues in three years and only work with Fortune 500 companies,” she told me. At the time she had zero Fortune 500 clients.

“You can do that Lisa, but it is not going to be easy,” I told her. “You need to become a thought leader, and that means typing and talking. You need to gain credibility by writing books and speaking to important audiences.”

Lisa was not sure how, and I told her if she supplied great insights for Fortune 500 companies, I would help her with the how.

Lisa went on to author three books in four years on digital marketing: Weathering The Digital Storm (2019), Persuade with a Digital Content Story! (2020), and Gain Market Share during a Zombie Apocalypse (2022). She is working on a fourth.

She put the books in the hands of Fortune 500 marketing execs and CEOs, plus people who could publicize the book. As a result, she was written up in Forbes.com and invited to speak at prestigious places like a bank conference for HSBC Holdings, numerous podcasts, conferences, and even live on Australian television.

But she did not double her revenues in three years. She tripled her revenues and now works with household name brands such as one of the top five banks, one of the top five wealth management and financial services firms, and a billion-dollar Japanese electronics organization.

Lisa gained more credibility, more impact, and more right-fit clients by typing and talking like a thought leader.

Henry DeVries

Henry DeVries is the editor of Agency Owner News and the CEO of Indie Books International. He is the host of the Agency Rainmaker TV Show, editor of the Agency Rainmaker Newsletter, and the author of 20 books including Marketing With A Book For Agency Owners.