I always tell people in business — if you want to get clients fast, offer them a cut rate to begin with. That way they will be likely to try you out. If you do a good job, they will be likely to keep you. But, what if you offered coupons?
What if you offer 50% off for your first project of 10-20 hours of labor? I have a better idea. Offer a groupon. That way if someone has a friend, they can try your service together at a cut rate. That way you are in a sense networking. Or, you could offer groupons to existing clients for specials, so they could drag their friends into being your client.
Groupons grew in popularity with American restaurants several years ago. Instead of offering a discount for a single person, restaurants saw they could get more clients — a lot more clients by getting groups to come in at cut rates. Your outsourcing BPO could do the same. Would it work? It doesn’t hurt to try, and it’s such a fun idea too.
Or you could offer coupons to people to try new services that you offer. If someone is hiring you to do Linked In outreach for them, you could offer them a coupon to try your email newsletter service or some other service.
Remember, with sign up specials, you always lose in the short run, but you might get a client that you keep for five or ten years which will much more than cover for your loss! Think big and think long term!