How to find clients

This guide is for freelancers, agencies and small B2B services: web design, bookkeeping, marketing, IT support, photography, consulting. It covers seven ways to find clients that work without a big budget, how to choose the two or three that fit your service, and how to run them each week with OpenReach so the work does not depend on luck or on remembering.

Start with who you help and what changes for them

Every channel below works better when you can say in one sentence who your client is and what you change for them. “I build websites for plumbers who only have a Facebook page” finds clients. “I do web design” does not, because it gives you nowhere to look and gives the client no reason to answer.

Write down your ideal customer profile: the type of business, its size, where it is, and the sign that it needs you. That last part matters most, because a sign you can see from outside is what turns a vague market into a lead list:

• A business with no website, or one that has not been updated in years.
• A business with few reviews, or a low rating, in a trade where reviews decide who gets the call.
• A founder asking in a community how to do the thing you do for a living.
• A company hiring for a role you could cover part-time or as a project.

Seven ways to find clients

1. Local businesses on Google Maps

Google Maps lists almost every local business with its category, address, phone, website, rating and number of reviews. That makes it the best source for anyone who sells to local trades, because the sign that a business needs you is often right there in the listing: no website, few reviews, a low rating, or hours that were never filled in.

Search one type of business in one place, such as dentist in Leeds, and filter for your sign. The lead finder does this with rules you can combine (rating under 4.0, fewer than 20 reviews, no website) and keeps the matches as a list. For web designers the businesses without websites tool has the filter ready.

2. Communities where people ask for help

Every day, people post in Reddit, Quora, Indie Hackers and industry forums asking for exactly what freelancers and agencies sell: “can anyone recommend a bookkeeper who knows Shopify”, “how do I get my site to show up on Google”, “looking for someone to fix our WordPress site”. A helpful, specific answer from someone who clearly knows the work is the best introduction there is.

The rule is to answer the question first. Explain what to do, and mention that you do this for a living only when it is relevant and the community allows it. The customer finder finds these posts and ranks them by buying intent; the Reddit customer tutorial covers how to reply.

3. Referrals from past clients

A happy client is the warmest lead source you have, but most people only refer when asked. Ask at the moment the client is happiest: when the project launches, when they thank you, when a result comes in. Make it specific: “Do you know another salon owner who has the same problem with bookings?” is easier to answer than “let me know if you know anyone”. A short case study or testimonial from the same project gives the next client a reason to trust you.

4. Partners who serve the same clients

Someone already works with your future clients and does not do what you do. A web designer and a copywriter, a bookkeeper and a business lawyer, a photographer and a wedding planner. Find two or three such partners and refer work to each other. It is slow to set up and then keeps bringing clients for years.

5. Content that answers buyer questions

Write or record the answers to the questions your clients ask before they hire someone: what it costs, how long it takes, what to look out for. It takes months to work, but it brings clients who already trust you. The questions people post in communities are the best list of topics: they are real, and they are phrased the way buyers search.

6. Your existing network

Former colleagues, past employers and friends who run businesses. When you start out, tell them clearly what you do now and who for. One message per person, personal, with no pressure, is enough; many first clients come from here.

7. Job boards and project marketplaces

They bring work quickly, but you compete with many others on price, and the platform owns the relationship. Use them to fill gaps between clients, not as the plan.

How to choose your channels

Pick two or three channels and run them every week, rather than trying all seven once. A useful split is one fast channel (Google Maps or communities), one slow one that compounds (referrals, partners or content), and your network while you start. Track each lead in a list with where it came from, so after a month you know which channel is worth your time.

Find clients with OpenReach, step by step

1. Create a project for your service

   In the app, create a project with your service, the clients you want and the place you work. The project keeps your leads, the conversations you found and your notes together.

2. Build a local lead list

   Open Leads, run a Quick search for your type of client in your city and apply your filter. When the filter looks right, start a Lead search across several towns or a whole city. The lead list tutorial covers this in detail.

3. Find people asking for your service

   Open the customer finder, describe the problems you solve the way a client would write them (need a new website for my bakery, bookkeeper for small business), and keep the posts with the highest intent. Set up a conversation monitor so new ones reach you.

4. Reach out yourself

   OpenReach finds the businesses and the conversations and shows their public contacts; it never sends messages for you. Write each first message yourself and keep it short and specific. The cold email templates are a starting point, and cold email explains the rules that apply.

5. Follow up and keep score

   Set each lead’s status as you go (to contact, contacted, replied, won), keep notes, and send one or two polite follow-ups. Export the list as CSV whenever you want it in a spreadsheet or a CRM.

Mistakes that cost clients

• Sending the same message to everyone. A message that could go to any business gets ignored by all of them. Mention something you saw: their listing, their site, their post.
• Pitching in communities. Posting your offer where people asked for help gets removed and can get you banned. Answer the question; let them ask about you.
• Giving up after one message. Many replies come after the second or third. Follow up politely, then stop.
• Buying lists. Bought lists are out of date, often break the law where you send them, and hurt your email deliverability. Build your own from public listings and real requests.