In the past few weeks I’ve gotten two new clients simply by being first.

These clients either had had problems with their current web designer or had been trying to create site themselves and finally determined that that wasn’t a good use of their time as business owners. So they called me…

Both told me that I was the designer they picked in part because I got back to them immediately. I was first and that made it seem like I was the most interested. And they are good clients, one site is already up and running and paid for.

I don’t always jump when the phone rings, but I try to get backto them as quickly as possible. I don’t have a crackberry (yet) but I’m using Google Grand Central, which routes calls to the number on my website right to email and my cell, so I can stay on top of callers. I’ve found that just responding quickly, a simple thing, can make a big difference in the way clients deal with you (and refer you too).