Think Like A Detective To Find More Customers!
Potential customers can be found in unusual locations. Ultimately successful
businesses are those that can think like a detective and sniff them out. Here
are some sources of potential customers that you might want to think about.
1. Your local area. Just because you can sell to a global market over the
internet doesn't mean you have to. There are
most likely people in your local area that would benefit from your product or
service if they new about it. Don't wait for them to find your site, make sure
you have a strong profile in your community. It can be very cost effective to
market in your local area and you can often provide better customer service.
2. Expert sites. These are sites that specialize in having experts answer
peoples questions on a range of topics. One I have used with success is
http://www.allexperts.com . If you are prepared to willingly give some of your
knowledge and expertise free of charge there is a strong chance some of the
people asking the questions will become customers. This
approach works best with services because you generally make a higher value
sale, therefore your time given away is well rewarded.
3. Discussion boards. These are similar to expert sites but they are where
people meet to discuss certain topics. Again potential business can be found
here if you're prepared to work at and make valuable contributions. To find one
that relates to your business go to your favourite search engine (eg Google) and
type in +(your area) +discussion board. For example I would type in +marketing
+discussion board. You might be surprised what you turn up.
4. Non-competing sites your customers visit because of a habit or common
interest. For example do your customers play golf or tennis? A lot of business
people golf so if you are targeting business people golf sites might be worth a
look. Maybe you can do a mailing to some of the golf sites customers or sponsor
an event they're running. You don't know unless you ask.
5. Your existing customers. Often overlooked this is a great place to start
finding new customers. After all they have bought from you and if you did a good
job will probably recommend you to others if you encourage and/or reward them
for doing so. Often you just have to ask. Let's say you run a baby site. Someone
who has just had a baby is very likely to know other people the same age who
also might be planning on having babies. How could this work for you?
So challenge yourself to become a customer detection specialist. Customers
are everywhere. You job is to work smarter than your competition to find them
and attract them to your business. Good luck.
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