Prospecting is crucial to small business survival. In
order to grow,
your small business will need to expand its customer base. But even
loyal customers eventually use other suppliers, so you´ll have
to acquire new business just to maintain the status quo. That means
expanding your sales prospects. To get started, try these nine
techniques:
1. List the firms that compete with your customers.
Each company on that list is a potential new customer.
2. Solicit referrals. Offer discounts, freebies or other
incentives to customers who bring you new business.
3. Try direct marketing. Direct marketing and mailing
lists are a convenient way to identify and obtain lists of accurate,
targeted sales leads for your business.
4. Seek out symbiotic partnerships. Prospect sharing
with similar industries can provide benefits to both parties. For example,
an alliance between a body shop and an auto repair shop lets each company
recommend customers to the other and creates a more complete service
offering. A word of caution: Before you enter into this type of alliance,
make sure you can vouch for the other company. Otherwise their mistakes
could sully your good reputation.
5. Look outside your niche. Think creatively about other
markets that may want your product or service. Visit trade shows in
crossover industries for ideas. A prime example of a company that expanded
their niche business is Dansko. This clog maker used to cater solely
to hospital workers, but expanded its horizons and now markets and sells
it shoes to mainstream retailers and customers.
6. Consider tweaking your product or service. One way
to expand into
new markets is to appeal to a broader range of customers. Keep your
eyes peeled for opportunities that are related to your current business.
Case in point: Mercury Interactive invented the testing-tools software
industry, allowing customers to check for bugs before computer programs
go to market. Not content with its leading market share, the firm made
small modifications to its software so that it also could check for
Y2K problems. Later, Mercury again refined its software to make it applicable
to the exploding e-commerce testing market.
7. Go global. Don´t ignore potential customers
just because they live in a different country. Selling overseas has
become much easier in the last several years. Trade barriers have fallen,
while technological advances have simplified cross-border communication.
Consider whether your product or service might work well in another
country and explore opportunities there.
8. Do good deeds, and inform prospects of your philanthropy.
Environmental groups, for example, will provide your company with referrals
if they know you provide environmentally friendly services (your oil-change
station recycles used oil) or products (your paper store sells chlorine-free
products).
9. Advertise creatively. Consider special promotions,
different media
or other new ways of getting your message out. If you aren´t advertising
already, now may be the time to start.
