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December 29, 2008 at 11:43 pm #1001317Up::0
Reading the other replies i can see that this forum has quite a few experienced business operators that know what they are talking about.
Getting customers is vital to the life of your business and you need to keep getting them because every business loses about 20% of its customers per year.
Before you even start to promote your service you should have answered these questions.
1. Who is my primary customer- the one i really want to get
2. What is their customer profile
3. What needs do they have that are filled with my service
4. How can i prove that my service fills their needsGetting the opportunity to make a sales presentation takes and average of 7 contacts by your company to the same customer to build rapport and credibility. Especially for a high involvement service that is not essential for their business.
You should read about Customer Relationship Management and how to service customers for repeat sales.
Identify your targeted customer and get all their details
A simple sales management strategy is;
1. Attend a Business Networking event and obtain a collection of prospects
2. Send a ‘welcome’ letter to them highlighting what you talked about
3. Send a ‘special offer’ letter to them and ask if they want to join your newsletter list
4. Give them a phone call 7 days after the letter and catch up for a coffee
5. Send a relevant ‘news article’ to them within 21 days of the coffee
6. Continue to stay in touch every 30 daysYou will need to develop what works for you. The more your service costs the more you need to focus time and energy on building a relationship with the customer.
January 7, 2009 at 12:27 pm #1001318Up::0Hi Laura,
You could go to your Chamber of Commerce meeting and offer a discussion about graphic design. Do not forget to get attendees contact details that you can use as your database. By getting their details, you will have the permission to approach them by phone or e-mail.
Good luck!January 16, 2009 at 11:42 am #1001319Up::0Great info here and agree with you. Finding a targeted market that interests you and then creating traffic to your site are all very important steps in creating a home business. Many people think it is going to be easy to start earning money, but for most of us it takes time and a lot of determination to make it work.
Thanks,
http://www.InfoProductWealth.comJune 15, 2009 at 6:04 am #1001320Up::0As a graphic designer, I’m in the fortunate position of getting most of my work through referrals from happy clients, however before that happens you need to get some clients in the first place.
So when it comes to marketing a new service business, I think the focus should be on letting prospective clients know “what’s in it for me”, eg. do you offer lower prices, better quality service, a more diverse range of services, and so on. Then think about who would benefit from becoming a client and market directly to them in a letter, for example, with a view to setting up a meeting.
In all my years doing business online, I’ve never – not once – used a service provider who contacted me via email without any research on my part. That spam line is very blurry, so I’ve never bothered trying to market myself through email.
The same goes for cold calling – who wants to be interrupted by a marketing call when they’re busy? A letter can be read at the recipient’s leisure and you can provide alot more information in one hit.
Press advertising may be helpful if it’s highly targeted. For example, if you want to market to dog grooming businesses offering cartoon-style doggy logo designs, advertise in a dog grooming trade journal and forget the more general publications.
As for yellow pages – no offence Sensis, but only 1 call during 6 years in the printed directory.
June 30, 2009 at 4:22 am #1001321Up::0Something that hasn’t been mentioned yet is – who has your preferred clients..
1) Before you
2) After You
3) Similar Business to you.1 & 2 – Show these businesses your quality and service and work out a finders fee.
Offer to pay them per customer that uses your services if they personally introduce you to their clients (via email/letter etc) and signed by them.
Check my blog post (cashflowaddiction.com) to see what you can pay them with no guilt and give you some thoughts on your customers value.3 – Find the busy shops and offer to do overflow work for them under their name.. Prove your quality first… if their not greedy and they get rush work they can’t handle, at least they can take the risk with you and everyone gets paid.
Read keith Ferrazzi’s (sp?) Never Eat Alone for insights into networking and cold calling and find ALL the networking events out there that don’t clash with your existing work and look for your 1, 2’s, 3’s. and possible customers.
A lot of people respond to free advice/articles (look around the web ) so find someone who tests their site/advertising religiously and team with them on a newsletter with successful ideas or addressing people’s fears/needs and stick the url to sign up for ‘Free Advice’ on your business cards. It’s not hard to find whats ‘hot’ in google… just put your take and send it to your growing contact list.
Cheers,
Ross.July 3, 2009 at 5:49 am #1001322Up::0I have seen lot of them that marketing through the online and few through phone and Marketing must for the business for more information they can refer http://www.gentlerainmarketing.com….
Gentlerainmarketing – Marketing ideas,Marketing strategies,lead generation,new clients.
July 8, 2009 at 1:41 am #1001323Up::0There’s a heap of fantastic advice here so make sure you take advantage of it, write down a summary of advice and make your plan from there.
A summary of what I can see from here is:
* figure out your goals and purpose – what you want from the business
* devise a strategy – overall view that is made up of plans – business plan, marketing plans, cashflow plan etc
* define your marketing plans – the internet marketing plan, the networking plan, the cold calling plan as these all fit into the marketing strategy.
* put consistent effort into whatever you decide to do.All the best,
BelindaMarch 29, 2010 at 9:59 am #1001324Up::0Burgo, post: 454 wrote:What about a beautifully designed brochure something that is uniquely you, sent with a personal hand written note, as though your target is the only customer your are interested in, then a followup phone call.Cold calling is the hardest and not always the most successful way to go about persona;l marketing.
Lets open the door a little first with a stunning brochure that is about you.
After all you are actually applying for a job. Research the organisation as if you want to work there.
When I went into photography we had three customers, within twelve months we were National with customers in ever state and city major department store and photographic outlets. This happened because I designed a very personal letter then followed up with a phone call the a visit.
The impossible we can do immediately, miricles take a little longer.
Hi Burgo,
can you share with us the personal hand written letter?
Love to know the way you write it and the structure and contents of the letter. -
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