How To Get More Customers

Line up 100 business owners and ask them what they would like more of and the overwhelming majority of them would most likely say they wanted more customers. They would like to have more people buying the products and services they sell from them.

You know how it works (or at least how it’s supposed to)… when more people buy from you, you take in more gross dollars, and as a result (depending on your margins and overhead), you make more bottom line profits. As a spin-off benefit, the more people you add to your customer base the larger it becomes, and the larger it becomes the more people you have to go back to for additional sales and the referrals they’re capable of giving you.

It’s in this one single area where most business owners (including your competition, and probably, you, too, if you’re honest), spend most of their time, effort and money. If you’ve been in business for any length of time you probably realize that getting new customers is not always the easiest, the most time-efficient, or most profitable thing you can do. Most businesses only have one or two main methods of attracting new prospects to their businesses.

For example, you probably remember in times past before the Do Not Call law was passed, that a large number of businesses were heavy in the use of telephone soliciting. In fact, you, yourself, probably got more than your fair share of calls when you were just sitting down for dinner.

Other businesses and professions (such as chiropractors, car dealers, truck driving schools, and lawyers) take a different approach. Many of them advertise heavily on television, especially during the afternoon hours to attract new customers. They’ve found that a large part of their intended audience… the people who are most inclined to use their services, watch television during those hours, and it’s a cost-effective way to reach them.

Each business, industry, or profession has their own methods and timing to contact those who are most likely to be interested in their products and services. What works for some businesses, may or may not work for other businesses in the same or different industries or professions. Think about your business and your company for a minute. Chances are that you, like nearly every other business owner in your industry or profession also utilizes one, or perhaps two main methods of attracting new prospects. Most likely, the method you use is the same method that nearly every other business uses. It’s called the, “That’s how things are done in our industry or profession,” method.

Typically, when a person first chooses to go into business they look around and see what everyone else is doing. Then they lay out their office, shop or place of business just like every other similar type of business they’ve seen. They look at what everyone else is doing to market or promote their businesses, products and services, and adopt those same marketing plans and methods to market or promote their business. This activity isn’t isolated to just a few businesses – nearly every business in nearly every industry or profession is guilty.

But wait a minute. Who set up that system in the first place? And who says it’s right or that it’s the best system for you to use? The fact is that there are an unlimited number of methods of attracting new customers to your business and your imagination is the only limiting factor. Some of the best, most productive and cost-effective methods you can use can be adapted from what others are doing in totally unrelated businesses.

This brings up a couple of questions. First, how observant are you? What are others who are in the same business that you’re in doing? And how effective are they?
Next, look around at what other businesses… unrelated businesses in other, unrelated fields, industries or professions are doing. Have you seen what’s working for them? Is there one business that just stands out by doing something different or unusual? Or do they all pretty much use the same marketing methods?

Next question: How creative are you? Can you look at what some of the other businesses are doing and adapt (with a few minor changes) their methods to your business? In other words if you were brand new, just starting in business, and had no idea of what anyone before you had done to attract new customers, what would you do? How would you go about getting new customers? Would you use the same methods you use now, or would you do something completely different?

A dentist I consult with specializes in working with children and their teeth. He loves children. And he recognizes that as they get older they may need braces, they’ll probably get married and have a spouse and children that will all need dental care. So he set up his reception room with a special, “kid-height” counter so when the children come in they can talk directly to the receptionist, transact their business just as an adult would, and schedule their next appointment. He’s even decorated his reception area with artwork and pictures that some of his young patients have created.

How do you think those young people feel? Well you probably guessed it. They absolutely love it there. And they tell their friends about it, too. And their parents? They’re thrilled. Imagine having your kids want to go to the dentist! And then be treated, not like a second-class citizen, but as an equal transacting business (with the parent’s help, of course), and having a hand in scheduling their future appointments. What a learning and growing experience for them. And who do you think the parents use for their own dentist? That’s right. The spin-off business of catering to, and working with children, is their parents.

As the kids grow up and have families of their own which dentist do you think they’ll use… that they’ll insist their spouse switches to and that they’ll bring their own children to? The relationship this dentist is building with those young people of friendship, of trust and of caring, will provide him all the financial security he’ll ever need and allow him to do whatever he wants and go wherever he pleases for the rest of his life.

So, what about you and your business? What are you doing? Specifically, what marketing methods are you using, right now to attract new customers and to build lasting relationships with them so they’ll do business with you for a lifetime? And second, how many different marketing methods do you presently and concurrently have working for you? There’s a real danger in having just one or two main methods of attracting new customers.

One of my consulting clients depended almost entirely on a telemarketing team to acquire business to business leads for their salespeople to follow up with. When a well-funded competitor opened for business not far away they hired nearly all that business’ telemarketing staff and nearly shut the business down. The business was nearly a total disaster. When they called me in as a consultant I could see that we had to do something quick just to save the business. So we got to work and hired and trained a whole new telemarketing crew and got the business up and running again.

But then we looked at other marketing options and put together an effective direct-mail program, started a proactive referral-generating system, and worked out some joint ventures and host-beneficiary relationships with other complementary, but non-competing businesses. Now if something happens to any one of their marketing methods they have other strategies or other “pillars” in place that can keep the business from collapsing and keep it running smoothly.

What about your business? How can you apply this? Well, why not start by going back and revisiting the questions I asked earlier. Then see if there are some areas that you need to improve in. Make sure you’re not dependent on only one or two main methods of attracting new customers. New customers are important to your business, there’s no question. But they’re not just important, they’re absolutely vital… not only to the growth of your business but to the very survival of the business.

It’s critical that you have multiple systems in place to ensure that your business continues running and growing uninterrupted if anything unexpected happens.