It’s a simple truth – without clients or customers, businesses don’t survive. As small business owners, the balance between completing current work and drumming up new clients can sometimes be difficult to manage, and the prospect of an empty sales funnel is something none of us want to think about. Fortunately, there are a number of creative ways to find new business. Below, you’ll find some simple ideas to help you get your name out there and bring in new customers.
EXPANDING TO AN EXTRA PLATFORM WILL HELP OUT YOUR BRAND IN FRONT OF A NEW GROUP OF POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS…
1. Ask For Referrals
When it comes to your business, don’t be afraid to ask for referrals! Friends, family, and especially current or past clients can all be excellent sources for new business! Call or email your contacts and offer a 10% commission on any closed deals to encourage leads.
2. Expand Your Social Media Efforts
If you’re searching for new customers, it makes sense that you may have to look in new places! Pick one new social media site and set yourself up there. If you’ve been getting by with only a Facebook page, hop on Twitter. If you’re running a brick-and-mortar store, set up a Foursquare page with a deal for new visitors. Expanding to an extra platform will help out your brand in front of a new group of potential customers.
3. Give Something Away
Contests and giveaways are excellent ways to draw in new clients. Just an example: Your landscaping business may give away $200 of free work, but every person who enters your giveaway is going to be thinking about A) your business’ name and B) what kind of landscaping work they’d get done with that free $200. Chances are, that small amount of free work is going to result in an influx of new business. This is a great way to get the idea of using your services implanted in potential customers’ minds.
4. Network!
When you’re a small business owner or solopreneur working from home, the tendency to “hole up” and work can keep you cooped up for days without you even realizing it. Even with the advent of social media, nothing can replace face-to-face networking when it comes to making an impression on others and letting your personality shine through. Get out there and let people know that you exist, and the clients will appear.
5. Hold an Event
This idea goes hand in hand with networking, with the added benefit of having people come to you instead of having to go to them! Set up a social event to benefit your community, and introduce attendees to your business at the same time! Organize a race or marathon, hold a silent auction or a formal dinner – anything you can think of! Not only will you be doing something that exposes your business to a large group of people, you’ll be giving back as well!
These are just a few ideas to help you generate new business. Do you have a method that’s worked for you in the past? Let us know in the comments section below!
