Have you just started your own small business? Or are you doing some freelance work? How do you get new and more customers?
We’ve found that the following works for us. Maybe you too.
1. Partners
It is very helpful to team up with people who provide other related services and arrange to refer business to each other. For example, if you are a web designer you can partner with graphic designers to refer businesses to each other.
2. Profile
Building your business profile is a constant and unending task. This means a well structured and designed website, writing for/being written about in trade publications, attending business networking events, speaking at conferences, entering/winning/judging awards, and that’s before you’ve started with all the usual social networking avenues like starting a blog, commenting on other blogs, tweeting, facebook, linkedin – I think you get the idea now. An important consideration with this is to ensure you’re getting a profile that will be seen by potential clients, and not just chasing fame within your industry.
3. Happy clients (word of mouth)
Unfortunately, the most effective new business method is also the most difficult — happy clients are repeat customers, meaning more work and thus more billings. But more importantly, clients also talk, whether they have a good or bad experience. Marketing people know other marketers, business owners know other business owners — and they ask each other for recommendations, and value those recommendations highly. The better you service your clients, and the happier they are, the more likely they are to recommend you to their colleagues, friends and family.
Finally, don’t expect things to work instantly, building up a reputation takes years so your biggest asset and selling point is the standard of your work and the way you approach clients. Showing your work in the best light and having a diverse portfolio will give you the confidence to approach people for work.
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