SBX 2: How To Find Customers For Your New Business, Fast!

The Small Business Express

You’ve made the investment of time, energy, and money to launch a business.  You’ve got some customers under your belt, but things aren’t going as planned.  It’s as if you’re the star of your own Direct TV commercial.  Bills and credit card debt cause stress.  When you’re stressed, you get desperate.  When you get desperate, you lash out at people.  When you lash out at people, you become isolated.  And when you become isolated, every waking moment is like living in quicksand.

Don’t live in quicksand.  There’s a smarter way of turning things around than throwing your last dollar at advertising.  Building relationships with other business owners is something that anybody can do.  And, with a little creative thinking, can create a Win-Win-Win for your business, their business, and target customers everywhere.  Plus they’re way more fun than panicking and second-guessing yourself every day.

In this episode of The Small Biz Express podcast we discuss:

  • That it’s ok not to be an overnight success
  • Why  “doing everything you can think of” isn’t the same thing as “doing everything you can”
  • Taking a laser (versus a lightbulb) approach to your audience
  • Why spending money on traditional advertising can be deceiving
  • The power of building relationships with an already successful business owner (online or offline)
  • A low cost strategy for getting the attention of your ideal customers
  • Gary’s contest that turned a $25 investment into an immediate $2000 return
  • How to design a contest follow-up that is both ethical and effective

Action Steps from this episode:

  1. Find a bigger business with your customer base.  Offline or online, there are successful businesses that serve a similar market that you want to target.  These businesses are run by intelligent owners who will know a good offer when they see one.  Look for businesses that offer complementary products or services rather than direct competitors.
  2. Approach the owner with a Win-Win-Win offer.  Put on your creativity hat and come up with a promotion that will benefit the other person’s business.  Contests and a give-aways work extremely well.  The goal here is two-fold.  Your offer must clearly and obviously benefit the other person’s customer base.  And you should be able to keep the leads of the contest for a strategic follow-up.  Approach the business owner with a laidback, “I have something cool for your customers.  Let me help you, help them.”  Giving away something really valuable that’s free, no-strings attached will earn you a stack of  names, numbers, and email addresses.
  3. Follow-up.  Help your fellow business owner run the promotion to the full extent that you are able.  Other than leads, there is value in the owner-to-owner relationship.  After you execute your giveaway (or pick your contest winner), have a follow-up plan for everybody that raised their hand.  Follow-up fast, as enthusiasm drops quickly once the promotion ends.

Links and Resources Discussed in this Episode

  1. Design and contests and promotions for your Facebook fanpage (http://www.shortstack.com/)
  2. A brilliant contest system for online businesses (http://contestdomination.com/)
  3. How to run a successful social media sweepstakes (http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-sweepstakes/)
  4. The Simpsons: Ned Flanders opens a business called THE LEFTORIUM… and fails?  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Flanders_Failed)
  5. Google Adwords Express – a quick and easy way to market your business online… and fast!  Unlike traditional adwords campaigns?  Google will actually do a lot of the work for you.  By the way, subscribe on the right to be the first to hear about new posts on The Small Business Playbook. (http://www.thesmallbusinessplaybook.com/229-google-adwords-express-easy-way-market-business-online/)

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