How to Find New Customers
A few posts back, I mentioned a handful of ideas that you can use to ensure you are able to line up work for the future. I didn’t mention anything about the ways that you can find new business offline, in your local community.
Here are a few ways to find new customers:
- Pick an area – Choose an area of your town that you want to work within. It might be a suburb, a neighbourhood, or a district, but take a look at the businesses in that area and choose your next customer. Start with the businesses that you frequent or have more knowledge about. Not only can you benefit from word of mouth within this community, but you can visit all of your clients with minimal driving. Become the big fish in the little pool for now; look at expanding later.
- Provide value – Once you’ve selected a new business, find a way to demonstrate how your services will help them. You are a business owner a well, so don’t be intimidated by someone else. If you’re a writer, show how you can provide articles or blog posts that can increase their SEO results. If you’re a web designer, review their webpage with them, and show them how you can make it better. If you’re a biz consultant, show them how to save money, and how to spend wisely. Communicate how what you do will increase their bottom line without increasing the time they need to spend working at it. Ideally, show them how you can save them time and money.
- Be persistent – Note – this doesn’t mean “be irritating.” I can guarantee you will not get the new business on your first visit, but if you do – fantastic! This doesn’t mean the business owner doesn’t like what you are doing, or doesn’t think it’s important. It usually means they are busy. And you want to have business owners who are busy. Show that you are interested in their business by watching for events that might be useful for them. Do you have another client that might benefit from meeting this new prospect? If your prospect sees that you are actively looking for new ways to promote your existing or previous clients, chances are they are going to think about your business in a positive light. Keep in touch with this prospect until they become a client, or until they tell you to go away. Be persistent, not pushy.
There are many ways for your to find new business wherever you are. Pretty much any business is going to be on the lookout for good talent, and when you show them that their business is your priority, you’ll be that much further ahead of the folks that are only thinking of their own business.
To paraphrase Dennis Miller – Nothing is more interesting than MY business, and nothing is less interesting than YOUR business. Start talking about their business, and you’ll probably end up talking about your business.
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Great tips … being persistent its the clue to sucess.
I am starting on a cold email campaign with in a narrow niche. Small margins – but hopefully it works out.
I know this isn’t an offline tip (and it might be obvious) but one of my biggest local clients (whom I’ve developed a great relationship with now) was actually found through Craigslist. There ARE good clients looking for freelancers on there if you’re willing to sift through the posts a bit. It all worked out and I’m glad I have them as a regular client now.
Thanks for the post. Prospecting can be so daunting at times and focusing on these three areas is a great way to stay focused. I would say that the most important and probably hardest is being persistent. In the end, successful people will be separated from unsuccessful ones based on their ability to persistent in a polite professional manner. Thanks again and have a great weekend!
Brian
You bring up some good points! I like your idea of “pounding the pavement” in a small/concentrated area. Sounds like it might be rather fruitful since your time is literally focused in 1 area.
Do you think that telling the company how they can make what they already have, better is a little bold? While we may all be able to look a logo or website and think “OMG”, would you really want to tell that to a potential client?
I’m not saying one way or the other, I’m actually posing an honest question.
Do you think submitting a “cold email” like Jordan mentioned would do the trick? I understand that they idea is to get your name in front of potential clients, but maybe an introduction of what you do might suffice?
What do you think?
I hadn’t really considered looking locally for work. I’ve been looking mostly online at Craig’s List and places like oDesk and eLance, but local businesses seems like one of those things I should have thought about myself but didn’t.
Great Post! Its something i tell all my small business clients.
Some of my best clients have come from Craigslist. I shift through atleast 35 spam emails a day. Plus I spend time looking through small business ads from every major city in my state. I also look through the Wanted ads, you would be surprised by the number of people asking for web design help.
The best part is after I provide these clients with my services 2/3 have referred friends or colleagues so they have increased business 3 fold.
Awesome advice! I’m glad I stumbled on this. Keep the good information coming. I can see how this will greatly help small businesses.
Great quote from Dennis Miller. I promptly tweeted that one.
I talk to quite a few freelancers. And it seems that many of the most successful have 1) a niche, 2) a list of prospects, and 3) a plan to contact those prospects regularly, say monthly.
Three simple points. Yet so many of us (me included) stray away from it. Heh. Are we easily distracted or what?
Cold calling sucks sometimes but is really the one way to guarantee consistent business…