Guest Blog Post by Adam Urbanski of The Marketing Mentors
This past weekend I received a disturbing message from a dear friend. His business wasn’t generating all the income he needed. He’s exhausted all savings, started depleting credit card reserves and badly needed money to pay this month’s mortgage… Ouch! I wish I knew sooner…
Whether it’s pride or just human nature that keeps professionals from asking for help sooner, it’s just plain silly to keep “toughing it out” when there are so many strategies for generating new business fast.
You see, there is really no shortage of new business, there is only a shortage of knowledge how to get this business.
So if you are one of those professional folks who could use a few hundred bucks to help out with this month’s mortgage, here are a few strategies to get your business buzzing with new customers or clients:
1. Get on the phone!
Pick up the phone and call everyone you know. Contact all clients, prospects, friends and family. Make sure they all know what you do, who you are looking for as a client, and how to “give you away.”
2. Get out and meet people!
Sitting in the office, shuffling paperwork and piddling around with emails will not take you far enough fast enough. You need to be talking to people who can buy your product or service. Set a goal of how many people you want to see in person every day and find ways to meet that goal!
3. Stop competing and start leveraging!
Instead of being mad at your competitors for stealing all your business, approach them and offer to help out. At times we all get projects that are too big, too small, or too “whatever” for us to take on.
Contact your competitors and ask if they would be willing to outsource their “too whatever” jobs to you – so that you can both make some dough. (Yeah, I know, it sounds like eating some humble bread – but hey, I think it beats living under a bridge ;-)
4. Ask for referrals!
You should be doing this anyway. Have a conversation with all clients (past and current) and help them think of people they can introduce you to right away. Oh, and don’t forget – just because a prospect says “no”, it doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t know someone who would gladly say “yes”.
5. Crank up your follow-up!
Do you have a stack of cards from people who turned you down once before? Maybe it’s time to resurrect them. Reach out to your “old” prospects – even if you previously gave up on them. Give them a call, send them a postcard or an article, and give them a special reason to say “yes” now!
6. Forgive your ex-clients!
Frequently ex-clients realize they made a mistake by getting involved with another vendor – but they are too embarrassed to admit it. Give them a way to gracefully come back to you and many will do it.
7. Catch a COI!
Form an alliance with Centers of Influence who can introduce to a large number of prospects at once and give you instant credibility. Well thought out and carefully executed strategic alliances with COI can infuse your business with all the new sales you can handle.
8. Educate, educate, educate!
Regardless of what business you are in you can always find things your clients and prospects would appreciate learning from you. How-to tips, informative case studies, industry reports – those are all great tools that can easily attract prospects hungry for your “stuff.”
9. Start thinking strategically!
If you are having trouble attracting enough new business, the marketing tactics above should help you get things hopping, but to achieve a long-term sustainable success you’ll need to address your marketing on a strategic level.
Identify or re-evaluate your ideal target market, clearly describe the benefits your product or service provides, create a compelling marketing message, re-evaluate your business model and re-define your methods of delivering your product or service, etc., etc.
10. Stop getting and start giving!
When you are in the “how I can GET a client” mode, you are focused on you – and that doesn’t make you very attractive. Shift your thinking to “how I can GIVE clients more VALUE” and you’ll become an irresistible client magnet!
11. GET HELP!
When you are in the midst of a demanding situation you cannot always have the clarity needed to creating solutions. Collaborate with a successful associate, start your own board of advisors or a mastermind group, or hire a marketing mentor to pull you out of the quicksand. Remember, when time and money count – you can’t afford the expensive “trial and error” learning curve!
Oh, and one final thought – now that you are done reading – get busy implementing!
The Author, Adam Urbanski, The Marketing Mentor, helps Service Professionals and Small Business Owners attract more clients. For more free tutorial articles, hot how-to tips and a FREE 32-page marketing guide go to http://www.themarketingmentors.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Adam_Urbanski/5749
P.S. If you’re looking for great content for your blog, remember you’ve got resources you can use – YouTube, Ezine Articles, and more.
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Been following all the advice but I’m in the same place with 3 days to fix it
First, (((hugs))) because that’s a tough place to be.
Second, I’d start with a list like this 11 ideas one. Rank them based on what’s likely to work for you, then just cross off each as you go after it. Once you’re engaged in some of them, more ideas and twists on the ideas tend to pop into our heads and our brains go into problem solving creativity mode. :)
Thanks Michelle <3 I'll keep going. Wish I knew which of my current methods to drop. I'm still working way too much.
Michelle you rock for giving me a little kick in the behind.
I was thinking about the last 2 times I was a vendor in someone else’s lcoal shopes. The owners opened their brick and mortar stores without a business plan except with the dream that if they “build it- they will come”.
I was was paying vendor rent and commision and needed to make sales. the ownere were telling their vendors, “we tried EVERYTHING.” I knew better; like no website. I went in and stood out side wearing a bunny suit and handed out candy..oh YEAH I got sales for my stuff. Why? Becasue I reached out to build relationships…
…ok, Michelle, I will do it. I will put on my virtual bunny suit thenfollow your amazing list for my on-line store ( The brick and mortars closed when I pulled out to focus on my own on-line store.)
Thanks!
I LOVE this comment, Malika! Virtual bunny suit – go for it!!
Michelle, always on point. (and Adam).
Noticed the “from Ezine Articles” note on the bottom. It’s so cool and refreshing ;) to see people who actually practice what they teach.
I was stressed earlier this week about this very topic. After a quick workout, my stressed and logical mind helped me with a solution.
No going into this with a “How can I get a client” but like Adam said, I’ll go into it with a “how can I give more value”.
And, I did. Actually worked with my son on the solution. ^_^
That’s awesome, SaraBeth!
And yes… I’m a fan of the practice what we teach. :D EzineArticles is useful for finding great content to share.
That really is a fantastic mindset and helps get us out of stress mode when we focus instead of how we can be of service and provide value.
And you, I know first hand, have so much value to give!
Hello Adam,
Nice to see you here on Michelle’s space :)
Great tips over here :)
This happens to almost very one of us, sometimes in the initial stages or in the middle when every thing seems to be going
very smooth. The income streams seems to be getting dried up and nothing new is happening to our business.
No new clients, nothing new to offer to our customers, all saving are evaporating.
Its very obvious that we need to connect new people for getting our business expand Sitting just in our office and reading
mails is surely don’t going to help us out.
Connecting new people is very important, this helps our brand to get the exposure in front of the crowd.
Contacting our ex-clients and our present clients is one of the best ways to keep our roots growing.
Thanks for the share.
Shantanu.
Hey Shantanu, thanks for sharing your experience with this. And you’re right – sitting in the office doesn’t make sales happen! :)