Finding Your Customers
It’s obvious…the key to growing your new business is building your client base. When you’re just starting out as a brand new business owner finding customers can be very frustrating. You know you have a good product. Your website is up and running. Your business cards look slick. You’ve even gone to the expense of running some ads in the community newspaper. So, why isn’t the phone ringing?
Here’s a clue. If you’re just sitting back and waiting for the customers to show up, it could be a long wait.
In the next few posts we’ll be talking about how to find new customers—working our way from the easiest, least expensive methods, to outside-the-box guerilla marketing techniques, all the way up the ladder to the high-priced traditional vehicles that reach a mass audience in one fell swoop.
No time to waste—let’s start.
Word of mouth marketing and advertising (WOMM) will be your single biggest source of new customers. WOMM is finally being recognized and getting its due among business owners. Believe it or not, there’s now an entire association devoted to word of mouth marketing.
Andy Sernovitz, a word-of-mouth marketing expert says that new customers are more likely to tell their friends and family about your business than long-time customers. This is one more reason to go the extra mile to impress your newbies. In my business, I reward every single referral–large or small–with a $25 gift certificate to a local grocery store.
Referrals are the easiest, fastest, and least expensive way to grow your concierge business.
As you start bringing in those new customers and building your client base, do everything you can to insure that positive word of mouth about you and your company spreads. Do exceptional work. Be early. Dress professionally. Go above and beyond what’s expected. Your customer may never thank you, but they’ll remember your work and call on you again–or refer you when their friends or family need your services.
I went through my client database to see if I could give you evidence and yes, it’s right there on an Excel sheet. One of my very first customers is directly responsible for leading me to a dozen others. And that growth is exponential! Each of those twelve could eventually be the source of a dozen more new customers. Think about it. Doing a great job for one early customer has the potential to lead to more than 150 new customers.
Now put that potential on steroids. Do a great job for your customers and don’t wait for the referrals to roll in–ask for them. Now is not the time to be shy—you have a business to market. Make it worthwhile for your customers to spread the word by tossing in a perk like a gift certificate, a free hour of service, or some other value-added offering. I feel awkward asking for referrals in person, so after my first piece of business with a new client I send a thank you email and end it by asking for referrals to their friends and explain that every time a referral results in a new booking they’ll receive a $25 gift certificate. Kaching! It does my heart good to put those gift certificates in the mail.
One word of warning. Word of mouth marketing can work in reverse, too. Do a poor job and news travels. Unfortunately, people don’t need much incentive to talk about your business when they’re unhappy with your service.
So the absolute easiest way to grow your client base:
1) Do a great job
2) Follow up
3) Ask for referrals
Next post: Networking That Works