70 ways to get new business
This is really a new series where we look at prospecting, or finding new clients. It’s 20 times harder to get a new customer than retain an existing customer, it’s hard work, very few people are any good at it. But here are the main ways to find new customers. New Business Solutions can help with all of these.
Prospecting in Marketing
Hire/ Outsource marketing or digital marketing
Bundle - combine your product with another complimentary product
Co brand - find a friendly company and split the costs of prospecting
Offer a discount
Social media sales or marketing
News articles - google notifications are great
Blog posts - you're reading one now
Shopfront – location, could be training in a park as a personal trainer, passing by trade
Branding – Specifically raising brand awareness
Exposure/ Charity – Offer free work
Blogs - write expert material
Email campaigns (marketing) - branding/ newsletters/ quarterly round ups
Word of mouth - hope people will tell others of a good experience
Referrals - Asking past customer success to write a letter of recommendation
References - Asking past customer success to speak to your prospect
Merchandising - those nice stacks of products
POS - point of sale - impulse buys
Media/ press - write press releases/ articles
Product/ company reviews
Free samples - let people try a new product or service
Ambassadors - having high profile people use your product or service
Events - product launches/ Tupperware parties/
SEO and web inquiries - increasing search engine ranking
Product faithful - people that love your company/ product and will sell it on your behalf
Hand written letter, card or invite
Industry bodies/ chamber of commerce
Create a website
Novelty promotion - Loudspeaker/ bullhorn/ Skywriting
Prospecting in Advertising
Print (newspaper, brochure, magazine)
Broadcast (TV, radio, Twitch, YouTube)
Outdoor - (billboards, buses, trains)
Paid search (ad-words) (pay-per-click)
Social media (digital marketing)
Native advertising (tries to look like its not advertising)
Display (a pop up or image displayed)
Prospecting in Sales (hunting)
Prospecting – Creating a list of prospects and contacts
Cold calling – on the phone calling prospects
Warm calling – making a call to a known person
Hunting – very specifically target an individual
Social media stalking
Canvassing – Door to door introductions
‘Plus one’ whenever you do a presentation invite the neighbors
Meet the neighbors - drop in to your local businesses
Networking – Talking to friends and family/ co-working space/ any shoulder rubbing
Referrals – Recommendation from past client
Reviews – Online experience gauge
Success story – Writing a one page story about past work
Conferences – Industry specific networking
Partnering – Complimentary businesses sharing leads/ market intelligence
Expertise – Speeches, industry promotion
Inquiries - Potential customers that have expressed some interest - like website, inbound call
Lead generation - cold calling to make introductions or meetings
Seminars - an educational session
Drinks – Coffee or alcohol with your prospects
Introductions - finding two people that can deal with each other, or asking a friend to introduce you
Lunch and learn - meet with a group of people that will potentially use or advocate your service and sell to them in an educational way
Advocacy - Teaching your prospect how to sell your product to their management on your behalf
Philanthropy - raising revenue for a cause
Gifts – many negotiations need gifts, otherwise called bribes
Education - teach people about your product or service
Multi level marketing - recruit your friends to sell on your behalf
Email campaigns (sales) - cold expressions of interest/ cold appointment requests
Add-ons - land and expand, sell a small thing then sell more, tip of the spear
Industry expert - Having a niche
Region expert - have a geographic patch, Be the grass-mowing guy in your neighborhood, the local area lawyer
Prospecting in Account Management (Farming)
Overwhelming service - spend all your money on high quality customer service
Contact old customers
Create repeat business
Contacting ex-clients