© 2011 Apptivo Inc. All rights reserved.

How to Get More Customers This Year

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Maya Pillai

By now, small business owners should have new strategies in place to find new customers and

thereby increase their sales. If only we were living in a picture perfect world, where we would

have an unlimited budget, every lending institution would give us loans, luck would favor us and

our touch would turn everything into gold. Unfortunately, it is not a perfect world. As small

business owners, we have to overcome the harsh realities of the economy and other market

forces to get new customers this year.

Understand your customer(s)

Remember, your sole motto is to increase your sales while your customer’s motto is to get the

best available products/services that suit their budget. Before you try to increase your customer

base, it would be best to understand who your target market is, the current value proposition that

you offer and what your competitor is currently offering. Market research is the only way to find

out what your customer wants are. You can either hire a market research firm or do the legwork

© 2011 Apptivo Inc. All rights reserved.

yourself. In the opinion of Paige Arnof-Fenn, CEO of Mavens & Moguls, a strategic-marketing

consulting firm, “Attracting more customers is really about listening to their needs, not being a

solution looking for a problem.”

Study your existing customers

Understanding your current customers is necessary, before you formulate a market plan for

finding new customers. Use simple qualitative market research by using one of the inexpensive

online survey tools such as SurveyMonkey or Zoomerang. Always keep in mind that

products/services liked by one audience may not appeal to another. Therefore, formulate your

sales strategy, keeping in mind the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your target

audience. As a small business owner, you can get to know your customers by including

demographics (income, age, gender and so on), psychographics (attitude, taste) and buying habits

in your market study.

Determine the market for your product

You should develop a strategy to acquire new customers using the information received about

your existing customers. “Make sure you know who the gatekeepers and influencers are; they

will affect the decision makers and you will most likely need to sell to them differently than to

the end user,” says Arnof-Fenn. For instance, if your target audience is a software firm, the

gatekeeper here is the technology manager. Your sales pitch has to influence him because he

would be the company’s decision maker in the case of software purchase. These days, customers

have become very picky. Your message to the target audience should clearly outline the features

and benefits of the product. If a potential customer has to visit your website/online shop, he

should really have a reason to do so. “The value proposition has to be spelled out clear ly,” says

© 2011 Apptivo Inc. All rights reserved.

Jerome S. Osteryoung, Director of The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at

Florida State University.

Have you thought about selling more to your existing customers?

Try selling more to your existing customers. You can bundle products/services for a special

discount for your regular customers. Word of mouth is one of the cheapest and quickest publicity

that you can get. You can also get new customers through referral; give discounts to each

referrer. Customers can also be given free samples at times. These are great ways to start a

loyalty program with your existing customers who will then try and bait in new customers.

Another option to get new customers this year is to revamp your website and establish your

Internet presence by opening a business account in various social networking sites. People are

spending a lot of time on the Internet comparing prices and visiting discussion forums before

they make their final decision. Therefore, make sure to update your online advertisements and

blogs frequently, answer the queries of your potential customers and also be active in discussion

forums.

How are you planning to find new customers this year?