The following suggestions are not the top ten ways to gain small business customers, nor are they in any order of performance. There are too many parameters that will affect the success of using the same tactic in two different locations/situations. However, by doing some local research, it will help you become more clear as to which methods will be most effective.
Network Groups
Almost every area has a business networking group, if not a dedicated small business group.
The idea here is to build up a rapport with other small business owners who, it is hoped, will recommend or use your services/product on the basis that it is preferable to deal with someone you know this has been proved to be so.
Groups also provide added benefit this means that when you talk to a customer and that customer wants a product/service you do not provide, you will be able to get the deal based on your networking knowledge and connections. Your local Chamber of Commerce will be able to help you, and you may want to sign up with them.
If you provide services/products that serve a local community, you must have exposure in your local or free paper. The weekly cost is generally £25 a week: you can decide to insert weekly at £1,300 a year, fortnightly at £650 a year, or monthly at £300 a year. Having an advert in the classified section is less expensive than having an advert in the news pages, and block booking will reduce the cost by 10 - 25%.
Many small business owners will tell you that brochures etc are a waste of money as they very rarely bring in business by themselves: I tend to agree with that comment.
They are useful for exhibitions an envelope stuffing with the monthly statement, but struggle to carry a message to potential customers as they have leaning towards presentation rather than the technical issues of your business.
Leaflets/flyers can have a more specific message about special offers and current prices: the things that customers want to see. The presentation is not as important as on the flag waving brochure, and the customer generally has more belief in what you say due to the more basic presentation.
Providing your customers with up to date information is essential, with the cost efficiency of leaflets/flyers I suggest past and current customers receive something as regularly as you can afford.
It is most important that your mailing list is as relative as possible to your target customer. You can get lists for small office, home office (SOHO) that will give you access to those needing supplies of relevant products that are used or consumed in that environment.
However, if you sell to small medium enterprises (SMEs) you will probably need to know turnover, type of business, employee numbers and profit & loss details to enable you to target, say, turnover between £1 - 5m , under 20 employees, and in profit, to supply office lease equipment.
Cost is the key to successful mail shots. With an expected response of about 2 - 10% you have to mail a significant amount of prospective customers. To get 100 responses you need to post between 1,000 - 5,000 letters that's £600 for stamps alone, using an average of 3,000 mail shots.
The other resources headed-paper, brochure, envelopes and time, easily brings the total to £1,000 for 300 responses - being a cost of between £3 - 10 for each lead. Almost every product has a customer user/buyer statistical breakdown if you know this, you can improve sales drastically. Its about good research, and knowing your product and customer.
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