|
How To Get Your First Customer
Robert Warlow
Small Business Success
Starting a new business is always
tough. You have spent hours and hours putting your Business Plan together,
sorting out the financing, arranging your office and buying equipment. And
the big day arrives … you have to get out there and secure your first
customer. It all looked so easy when you were planning, but now this is real
and doesn’t seem as effortless as you thought.
What
practical steps can you take to ensure your business gets off to a flying
start?
Put a Plan in Place
If you didn’t
write a Business Plan (tut tut!) then putting pen to paper is your first
step. You have to careful plan what you want to achieve and what you are
trying to do. A Plan will help crystalise your thoughts and ideas and act as
a spring board for creative thought.
It also will
be a useful boost when you come to review your progress against what you set
out to achieve – a cause for celebration or a kick up the backside!
The key
element in your Plan is to spell out exactly who your typical customer is
going to be. Are they young or old? Well off, or on the look out for
bargains? Single or married?
Once you have
clearly defined who you are after then chasing your first sale becomes
easier.
E-Mail All Your Contacts
You may not
think that personal friends and family may be interested in your product or
service, but don’t forget that they have friends and family as well and so
can help spread the word!
E-mail every
one in your address book and tell them, if they don’t already know, that you
are starting up in business and need their help. In your e-mail describe
what you do and the products you offer and request that they forward it to
everyone in their address book. A bit ‘spammy’ I know but when such a note
comes from someone you know then it doesn’t seem so bad.
For those
family and friends who don’t have e-mail, call them, write to them, to
officially launch your business. Very quickly word will spread and enquiries
and orders will start to flood in.
Ask For a Referral
It’s possible
you may have ‘road-tested’ your business before you decided to go full time.
In that case you will already have a small database of customers. Ask them
if they can provide you with some names of people or businesses whom they
think may be interested in what you have on offer.
A referral,
or positive recommendation, is a powerful and easy way to give your business
a kick start. If you want, why not offer a small gift, or a discount on the
next sale, for all customers who refer someone to you? This gesture will
further cement your relationship.
Tell Everyone You Meet
Be a walking
advertising board for your business! Find any opportunity to tell people,
especially strangers, what you do. Be enthusiastic! Have a rehearsed opening
which encapsulates everything about the benefits and problems your business
offers and solves.
Take your
business cards wherever you go and leave them all over the place!
Supermarkets, restaurants, shops, anywhere where people will find them.
Be a Media Star
The local
newspaper or radio stations are always on the look out for stories which are
of interest to the locality. Don’t expect them to run a story along the
lines of ‘And today, Joe Bloggs has just started in business doing …’. Your
story needs to be interesting and have an unusual slant. Did you travel the
world and come up with your idea whilst riding a train in India? Did you
have a flash of inspiration following a shocking experience? Carry out a
survey which shows that local people are crying out for a service such as
yours. Think of something that will grab the editor’s attention and this
will increase your chances of appearing in print.
Build Relationships
Don’t be
disappointed if you don’t get a sale on the first approach. Sometimes you
have to patient. A way of achieving your batch of first sales is to
concentrate on building a relationship with your prospective clients. Keep
in touch, remind them you are still around and, assuming you have targeted
correctly, they may eventually place that coveted order!
If you are
about to start your business get planning right now and start to implement
some of these ideas to get your new business off to a flying start.
© Robert
Warlow
Small Business
Success
http://www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz
Small Business
Success is a resource dedicated to helping small business owners be more
successful. If you are looking for a regular flow of ideas and tips then
subscribe to Small Business Success a
free newsletter, which
provides you with quick tips, ideas and articles.
For more
information visit
http://www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz
|
