The success and profitability of a business depends on many factors, but perhaps the main among them is the large number of customers and the profit that they bring to the company.
Constantly expanding client base is a guarantee that you will always be on horseback.
That's why almost all businessmen are concerned about the issue how to look for customers.
This task is very difficult, especially if you take into account the level of competition in most business sectors, however, it is quite real if you use different sources of customer search and form competent competitive advantages.
What should I look after before I look for clients?
Do you know what many companies forget about?
The fact that before you start looking for customers, you need to take care of what you will offer them.
For example, a company makes shoes, which it is difficult to call footwear: bad quality, a small number of models, poor colors, inflated prices, etc.
The company invests huge amounts in advertising, attracts customers who buy products, but given the quality of shoes, none of the customers for the second time will buy this muck will not.
What will the company do?
Again, huge amounts of money in advertising and will start looking for new customers.
But, above all, the management needed to take care not of how to find customers, but about:
- The quality of the products / services produced.
- Reasonable pricing policy.
- Forming competitive advantages.
- Hiring skilled managers who perfectly know how to look for customers, have experience and connections in business.
Yes, such specialists need to pay well, but these investments will pay off.
Only by adhering to these rules, you can quickly create a client base that will expand without visible effort on your part and you do not have to constantly worry about how to look for customers.
3 types of customers to look for
Company executives, sales managers and other interested persons should know that all customers can be divided into 3 groups:
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Expected.
Before starting a new business, you should create a business plan in which you specify who will be the main consumer of the products or services offered by your company.
Let's say you open an agency for organizing weddings, your expected customers are couples who are going to get married.
Based on this, you should look for customers in the registry offices, wedding dress shops( leaving their promotional brochures there), on special forums, etc.
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Perspective.
This is a group of customers who can turn from one-time to permanent and even expand your client base by attracting their friends, relatives, business partners.
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Uninterested.
This type of consumers is the hardest to work with.
Let's say you are the owner of a dental clinic.
You went to a large company, offering its head to conclude an insurance service agreement for employees of this company in your clinic.
The manager responds that he is not interested in your proposal, because they already cooperate with another dental clinic.
You need to prove that you are better than competitors: you have lower prices, more experienced personnel, better materials, newer equipment.
If you can not boast of such competitive advantages, then the consumer will remain disinterested.
Methods of attracting customers
We need to try to work with all groups of consumers, but the most wide field for activities is expected customers, which can easily be turned into promising ones.
You can search for customers by advertising
Of course, the most effective source of search for consumers of products and services is advertising.
The benefit of today's promotional tools, with which you can search for customers, abound.
You can use:
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media( national or urban depending on the scope of your business).
It is important not only to advertise in newspapers, radio and television, but also to order advertising articles and programs about your company.
- Shields, posters, billboards, banners and other outdoor advertising tools.
- Public transport( advertising can be placed on public transport as well as in its cabin).
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Internet.
Here - a non-plowed field for activities: creating your own site, advertising and communication under the guise of a satisfied customer on forums, social networks, contextual advertising, etc.
- Dispatch of electronic and ordinary letters.
- Calling potential consumers with an offer to buy products or order services from you.
- Distribution of leaflets, business cards, booklets, flyers.
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Interaction with partners.
For example, a salon of wedding dresses is offered by your agency for organizing weddings by brides who came to them, and you guide your customers to buy a wedding dress in this salon.
How to search for customers? Go to them to a meeting!
You can not sit and just wait for the consumer to find you.
The fact that you have organized a good advertising campaign is not yet a guarantee that buyers will fall to you.
You have to go looking for customers yourself.
How to do it:
- Participate in a variety of exhibitions, seminars, forums, etc.
- Perform circumvention of organizations that are your potential buyers.
- Offer its services directly on the street in places with high traffic, etc.
This method is considered to be the most profitable and promising experienced businessmen.
They advise doing such detours either on their own or with the help of people you trust 100%, because if you offer your products or services there will be one who does not care about the result, there will not be any sense.
More tips for finding customers, including via the Internet,
in the video:
Sarafan radio is one of the best ways to look for
customers. In the last century, when there were not so many promotional tools, entrepreneurs hoped for a word of mouth with whichThe most effective way would be to look for clients.
Today, domestic businessmen, unlike foreign ones, ignore this tool and do not care too much about whether their buyer will be satisfied or not and what he will tell his friends and acquaintances.
Recently, my friend indignantly told about visiting a new cafe.
They with the sister made the order, had supper, cute chat, everyone was satisfied( and kitchen, and prices, and service, and the interior of the institution, and light background music).
There were few people in the hall, because this is a new cafe.
And everything seemed to be fine, until the administrator broke into the hall, did not build waiters and did not organize the rearrangement of the tables.
Noise, screams, roar - not the best companions of the sister meeting, so the girls hurried to retire.
Here so pleasant impression of visiting of new establishment was hopelessly spoiled by the careless administrator.
Consumers were unhappy, refused to go there again, but worst of all, that with the help of a word of mouth they will scare their friends and acquaintances from visiting this cafe.
But they could not only become regular customers, but also act as advertising agents.
If you recently opened your business and started to question how to search for customers, remember that the more sources and promotional tools you use, the better.
But in order to form the client base as quickly as possible, you need to offer high quality services or products and not forget about competitive advantages.