Generating More Customers

Sell more by finding and cultivating more interested buyers

By Greg Brown

Every small business runs on a steady flow of customers, from flower shops to physicians. Getting new customers is often a matter of simply meeting new people, in itself a tough enough obstacle if you are new in town or simply shy by nature. Concentrating on work soon becomes the excuse for not making new contacts, and business, naturally, begins to slow. Here are some effective tactics to getting your company in front of more eyes quickly without breaking the bank on advertising:

Good old-fashioned shoe leather

More than a few businesses start off literally as walking-about-weekends, selling at fairs and shows or from a rented cart. You can get your name and product in front of thousands of faces by registering as a vendor at big community events. Set up a booth and chat up prospects! Chiropractors do this religiously; you can, too.
Try: Festivals.com and Festivalnet are exhaustive geographic guides to events large and small across the United States.

Remember that people simply prefer to buy from a friend

Join the local chamber of commerce and volunteer to speak publicly to groups that match your target market: Sell investments? Then hit the retirement communities, for instance; herbal supplements, present at a small bookstore. Never miss a cocktail, luncheon or charity event in your town and you can bet people will come to you for your product or service. Every wonder why Avon works so well?
Try: Toastmasters International is the granddaddy of public speaking organizations; famous members range from actor Tim Allen to brewer Peter Coors. Dale Carnegie, of course, has built an empire out of this idea.

Get referrals to do the work for you

It seems corny, but tell your best clients you need their help. It simply might not have occurred to them to refer you, and certainly they will - especially if you do the favor back.
Try: Business Network International has made a formal system out of referrals, but you can get much the same effect from joining three or four local groups in which you already have a motivating interest and to which your clients belong: your child's school PTA, the Rotary Club or similar, a tennis or golf club, and the United Way, for instance.

Market like you mean it

The Web is full of databases that promise to solve your lead-generation problems by pinpointing who and where your customers are, whether in corporate hives or down the street. You can't reach out to people you can't find.
Try: MelissaData can give you detailed information about homeowners near your small business. No money to spend? Hit the U.S. Census Bureau's new American Community Survey.

Reconsider your product line

One reason small businesses stagnate is that they become too good at what they do: They quickly sell to every potential customer they can reasonably reach. Small business history, too, is full of stories of secondary products that soon, and often accidentally, eclipse the original business plan: Home shopping famously began when a radio station manager offered can openers on air to pay outstanding bills at the station.
Try: The Product Development Institute, a consultancy, has a lot of background on the how-to of getting new products off the napkin and onto the shelf. Sequent Learning and Lean Advisors focus strictly on product management. Check with your local business school; you never know what kind of marketing guru is teaching just down the road.

Don't just collect business cards, take down names, phone numbers, e-mail and so forth from anyone and everyone, then follow up with a postcard coupon offer. A raffle is a good way to get names and numbers onto a single sheet fast.
The trick to referrals to take them seriously when the pop up: If someone says, "Oh, you know, Joe recommended you," take that prospective client to lunch on the spot! If you get the business, she'll be raring to recommend you on to the next customer.
Thank you notes to your current clients for their help is a huge personal touch - and it will cost you two minutes and a stamp. No, an e-mail is not the same.
Be realistic. Generating a huge wave of new business is the purpose of a sale. Referrals will be slower but more permanent, and likely mean repeat business over time.