How To Find Clients For Drop Servicing? | 10 Steps: Freelance Marketplaces, Social Media, & Cold Email

Find clients for drop servicing through:

1. Freelance marketplaces
2. Social media
3. Google Maps
4. Cold email
5. Cold calling
6. Craigslist
7. Paid advertising
8. SEO
9. Reddit
10. Partnerships

You can get clients for drop servicing through LinkedIn, Google Ads, blogging, and more. Freelance marketplaces like Upwork are good for finding drop servicing clients across a wide range of niches and services. On the other hand, social media channels like Instagram are better for finding drop service clients with more specific visual content needs, such as video editing or graphic design. How you find your drop servicing clients is highly dependent on the services you offer.

A drop servicer on Reddit mentions building their own AI cold email software to help them get clients. They also got one of their clients while hanging out in a bar.

Another drop service business owner says LinkedIn and cold email work well for their business but that direct messaging Instagram and TikTok accounts directly makes more sense for someone selling video editing services.

I’ve been finding clients on the internet for over a decade now. In the following article, I discuss the best tactics for finding drop servicing clients, including joining freelance marketplaces and posting on social media.

1. Find Drop Servicing Clients Through Freelance Marketplaces

Choose a freelance marketplace. Popular freelancing marketplace websites include:

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Toptal Jooble
• Freelancer
• Flexjobs
• SimplyHired
• Guru
• Behance
• 99Designs
• Dribble
• People Per Hour
• ServiceScape
• DesignHill
• TasksRabbit

It’s important to learn how each freelance platform works. For example, on Upwork, businesses post jobs and freelancers submit proposals. Freelancers pay to submit proposals by using Upwork Connects. Upwork Connects cost $0.15 each.

On Fiverr, freelancers create service packages called “Gigs”. Instead of job applicants sending proposals to job requests like on Upwork, on Fiverr businesses directly search for the service they need and decide who to hire based on the Gigs available.

Freelance marketplaces are a good place to start looking for drop servicing clients because businesses are actively searching for service providers there. According to a report by Research and Markets, 78% of companies hire freelancers, and 48% of Fortune 500 companies hire those freelancers through freelancing platforms. As long as there are a large number of companies using these platforms, there is always a better chance of landing clients.

2. Find Drop Servicing Clients Through Social Media Channels Like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram

Find drop servicing clients on LinkedIn by:

1. Creating a LinkedIn in profile with a professional headshot
2. Including your target service keywords in your headline so clients can easily search and request your service
3. Summarizing your skills and experience with the services in the “About” section of your LinkedIn profile
4. Posting content that is valuable to your service niche regularly to establish expertise and leverage content marketing to attract clients
5. Sharing testimonials to stimulate social proof
6. Sending connection requests to your target clientele with a brief message that highlights your offer

Find drop servicing clients on Facebook by:

1. Searching for and joining groups where your target audience is
2. Posting valuable, non-promotional, content regularly to showcase expertise
3. Interacting with other group members posts regularly to establish connections
4. Creating and posting a lead magnet, such as a free template, to capture potential client emails if the group allows promotions
5. Responding to any group member inquiries to set up a sales meeting if they ask for additional support beyond the valuable content you’re publishing

Find drop servicing clients on Instagram by:

1. Searching for businesses in your target niche
2. Commenting on some of their posts so they become familiar with your account
3. Sending a direct message to the account to introduce yourself and your offer

Social media is one of the best places to find clients for drop servicing because nearly 94% of businesses are on social media, according to Business Dasher. LinkedIn is especially effective. Cognism estimates that the majority 80% of B2B leads generated on social media come from LinkedIn.

One book editor on Reddit mentions that they get the majority of their work through Facebook groups. They’ve also gotten some clients through Instagram too.

3. Find Drop Servicing Clients With Google Maps

Use Google Maps to find drop servicing clients by researching businesses that may need your services. This doesn’t work for all services, but it does work for many digital marketing services where you can clearly see whether a business is lacking that marketing channel. I’ll show you what I mean with website development and Facebook Ads services.

Use Google maps to find drop servicing clients for website development by looking for businesses that have Google My Business profiles setup but are missing a website. This is easy to spot because the website navigation button is missing in the Google Local Pack.

Use Google Maps to find drop servicing clients for Facebook Ad services by:

1. Downloading the Meta Pixel Helper Chrome extension by Facebook
2. Searching for local businesses using Google Maps
3. Opening the local businesses websites
4. Using the Meta Pixel Helper Chrome extension to see if the businesses are already running Facebook Ads and contact them if they’re not

The majority 64% of businesses have a Google Business profile, according to Red Local SEO. As such, Google Maps are one of the best places to find active businesses that may need support with digital tasks.

4. Find Drop Servicing Clients With Cold Email

Start by building a list of leads to cold email. You can use tools like Apollo.io, Hunter.io, or LinkedIn Sales Navigator to create a list of leads. You can also do manual research yourself if you don’t want to pay for premium tools to build your own list. The important details you need when building an email list for cold email marketing are:

• Name
• Company
• Email
• Phone number
• Role

Next, warm up a new email inbox for cold email outreach. Start by purchasing a new website domain for the cold email inbox to separate your cold email initiatives from your main website domain. Set up SPF records, DKIM, and DMARC to ensure your email inbox is technically sound and improve the chances that your emails don’t end up in your audience’s spam inbox.

To warm up the email inbox manually, send emails to a carefully selected list of recipients that are likely to respond. Or, use an email warming tool to complete this step for you. Cold email warm up tools like Mailwarm, Warmbox, and GMass Warmup:

• send small batches of emails,
• move emails from the spam box if they land there, and
• automatically reply to emails to keep engagement high.

After 2-4 weeks of warming up the email inbox, begin sending cold emails to your list of prospects. Start with 10-15 emails per day and slowly scale up from there, each week adding 10 more recipients to your email outreach.

Cold emails can be an efficient method for reaching drop servicing clients in bulk. You can write one cold email and send it to thousands of prospects. The average cold email has a response rate of 8.5%. If you send 100 cold emails, 8.5 people are likely to respond to continue the conversation further.

5. Find Drop Servicing Clients With Cold Calling

Build a list of potential drop servicing clients to contact by phone. You should already have a list of prospects with contact phone numbers from building the list in the cold email step.

Write a cold calling script to help keep your conversations on track. If you’re not a sales expert already, you can use a generative AI tool like ChatGPT to help you write your sales script. Here’s a partial example of a cold calling script for SEO services written by ChatGPT.

Data from UpLead shows that the best time for cold calling is either late morning between 10 AM and 12 PM or late afternoon between 3 PM and 5 PM. The best days of the week to cold call are Wednesday and Thursday.

With cold calling, you can reach drop servicing clients and pitch them your services without needing to physically be present at the business’s location. It allows you to have live conversations with prospects to better qualify them than cold email allows. Cold calls convert into customers just 2.3% of the time on average, according to Cognism. However, it remains one of the most accessible ways to sell digital services online.

6. Find Drop Servicing Clients With Craigslist

Post ads on Craigslist to promote your drop servicing offer. Your Craigslist drop servicing ads should:

• Include relevant keywords, such as “SEO” if offering search engine optimization services
• Use an eye catching headline, like “increase your website traffic by 50% or your money back”
• Leverage high-quality copy to convert prospects
• Incorporate a concise case study with images of the results

Craigslist Ads start at around $5 per post.

One Reddit user who uses Craigslist Ads to promote their services mentions that they still get lots of work through Craigslist. Although, it was easier in the past.

Craigslist is the most popular online classifieds platform, according to Marketing Scoop. It’s cost effective and simple, which is why many small business owners use it to connect with customers and service providers.

7. Find Drop Servicing Clients With Paid Advertising

Run paid advertising campaigns on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, and TikTok Ads. The specific advertising platform you choose should depend on where your target audience is most likely to see your ads. For example, if you’re trying to sell short-form video editing services, Instagram Ads or TikTok Ads make the most sense because your target audience is likely on these platforms.

Once you’ve researched your target audience and chosen the proper paid advertising channel, create your paid advertisements. Successful paid advertisements require a combination of high-quality copywriting and either video or image. Determine the specific ad requirements for the platform you choose and create the required media to set up and run your advertising campaign. Here’s an example of a Google Ad for PPC advertising services showing up on Google Search for the query “paid advertising services near me”.

Paid advertising can be effective for finding drop servicing clients. The average conversion rate for paid ads is around 7% on average, according to Growth Scribe. The typical ROI across all paid advertising channels is 200%, so marketers can expect to earn $2 for $1 spent. The major drawback with paid advertising is that leads stop coming the moment you turn off your ad spend.

8. Find Drop Servicing Clients With SEO

Set up a website and implement SEO initiatives like blogging and Google My Business profile management to attract clients to your drop services.

Blogging allows you to rank on the first page of Google for global and local keywords. To use blogging to find drop servicing clients, start by performing keyword research. You can use a free keyword research tool like Google Keyword Planner or a paid option like Ahrefs or SEMRush.

Say you offer video editing services. You would want to look for keywords that your target audience may search on Google, such as “what is the best video editing software”. You could then create an article listing the best video editing software. Use the article to show the reader how employing your video editing services is an alternative solution they could consider.

A Google Business Profile can attract drop servicing clients in one specific geographic location. Say you set up a Google Business Profile in Austin, Texas for an SEO business. Then any business owner in Austin, Texas that is searching Google for SEO services can come across your Google Business Profile. You can get your Google Business Profile to show up in the Google Map Pack for your target service by performing SEO work like:

• asking your customers to leave positive reviews,
• incorporating your target service keywords in the title, and
• creating Google Posts to share updates.

SEO is so powerful for finding drop servicing clients because the majority 94% of clicks go to organic results and only 6% go to paid ads, according to Search Engine Watch. Exploding Topics claims that the average SEO campaign provides an ROI of 2,200%, or $22 for every $1 spent.

9. Find Drop Servicing Clients With Reddit

Look for businesses asking for digital service support on Reddit threads. Join groups related to your target service and/or use the Reddit search function to find Reddit threads where business owners are asking for help.

Reddit has over 1.1 billion users, according to Backlinko. Many people are turning to Reddit to find what they are looking for because the engagement is highly authentic. As such, a business owner in need of a digital service is likely to turn to Reddit to find more information. From their research, they may decide to outsource the service rather than do it themself. If this happens, it’s convenient for them to post right on Reddit - where you’ll be waiting.

10. Find Drop Servicing Clients by Partnering With Other Digital Agencies

Reach out to digital agencies that offer complimentary digital services. Create a deal where it’s beneficial for you both to cross-sell your clients on the other’s digital service. For example, if you are drop servicing SEO, you can partner with an agency specializing in Google Ads.

A PR service provider on Reddit mentions that they pay their partnership agencies 10%-20% of the first month of services for helping to secure clients.

Partnering with other agencies to sell your drop servicing services allows you to take advantage of your partner’s book of clients. You don’t need to spend any marketing dollars for speculative outcomes. Instead, you can pay a small referral fee after you have actually performed the work and received payment from the client.

Is Drop Servicing Legit?

Yes, drop servicing is legit. In fact, many digital marketing agencies operate similarly. The agency owner is responsible for landing clients and then hires marketing talent to fulfill client needs. The only difference is that drop servicing is hiring freelancers specifically to fulfill service requests, not employees.

Dylan Sigley’s success proves that the drop servicing business model is legit. Dylan Sigley is the creator of the Drop Servicing Blueprint. He has created and scaled multiple online businesses to 6 figures in revenue with drop servicing.

Drop servicing can be highly profitable. Drop servicing profit margins can range anywhere from 20% to 80%, depending on factors like the specific service and your sales skills. You do not need a license for drop servicing. You can operate a drop servicing business as a sole proprietorship to get started. However, long term it may be beneficial to register a real business entity like an LLC to take advantage of tax deductions and opening business bank accounts.

Is Drop Servicing and Digital Dropshipping the Same Thing?

Drop servicing and digital dropshipping are not the same thing. Drop servicing is acting as a middleman to sell digital services while digital dropshipping is acting as a middle man to sell digital products.

Conclusion: Is There a Better Online Business Than Drop Servicing?

There is a better online business model than drop servicing called local lead generation. Local lead generation is a better online business model than drop servicing because profit margins are higher, you can earn passive income, and income is typically more stable.

Local lead generation profits margins can reach upwards of 90%. That’s because local lead generation websites typically cost a few hundred to a few thousand dollars to get ranked on Google. Once ranked, they can generate $500-$2,500+/month.

One of the biggest benefits of using local SEO to find business opportunities is that your website can continue generating leads even if you stop investing in the marketing channel for a period. In our lead gen program, you’ll see many people saying that some of their sites generate leads for years without them continuing to invest into the website’s SEO.

Monthly income for local lead generation agencies is often quite stable. That’s because you can charge your clients a flat fee each month to receive all the marketing results from your website. Check out our local lead gen program to learn more about setting up these digital properties to earn online income.