HOW TO PROSPECT FOR CUSTOMERS?

Why is prospecting for customers important? Who should read this article? If you are a business owner, in any way, whether big or small business, without having the right customers buy from you, then, you’re not in business.

I believe one of the reason why you establish your business is for you to be able to take care of certain things in life, things like giving your children best education, provide food and shelter, health bills and living a certain life style, these and more but if after you’ve spend a lot to start a business and finds out you’re not able to make money out of it, it’s very disturbing.

One of the major problem most business owners encounter is the issues of getting and keepings customers, client dependence, and marketing and customer loyalty.

According to Cheryl Conner in her article: 8 great challenges every business face, one of the major problems business owners face is marketing and customer loyalty. you begin to ask where are your customers and what is the right messaging? And when you get these customers, how do you keep them? Identifying your customers, what they want and how to give to them will make all the difference.

Carol Roth in her article getting and keeping customers at carolroth.com, she agreed that one of the major problems she had discovered when working with business owner is getting and keeping customers or prospective clients.

Lastly is Andrew Beattle in his article titled: 5 Biggest Challenge Facing Your Small Business at www.investopedia.com, he said client dependence is one of the major problems business owners face, what this means that in his word "If a single client makes up more than half of your income, you are more of an independent contractor than a business owner. Diversifying the client base is vital to growing a business, but it can be difficult – especially when the client in question pays well and on time. For many small businesses, having a client willing to pay on time for a product or service is a godsend."

You can see why it’s very important to be active in seeking effective ways of prospecting for customers instead of relying on one major clients or worrying about how to keep that one customer, prospecting is an ongoing process serious business owners should engage in all the time.

There are myriads of ways to prospect for customers, it all depends on the methods that is comfortable for. The reason is the while cold calling may be very comfortable for salesperson A it will be very heartening for salesperson B. Cold calling is still the most effective method means of prospecting for customers but then it is not for everybody.

You will learn about 8 ways of prospecting for customers. You will learn about working your warm market. You can start by buying leads, that your potential customers, doing a press release is yet another powerful method of reaching perspective customers, there is meeting, joining leads club, writing articles, the traditional means of getting customers referred to you and advertising. These 8 ways are major ways employed mostly by business owners to get flood of customers.

WARM MARKET: You can start with your warm market. That is friends and family. Prospecting for customers one-to-one is where you reach out to people around you and personally explain what your product or business opportunity can do for them. If you believe you can make a positive difference in other people's lives, you will be eager to share that information with them.

Start by spending time with them often. When you are having conversation, let it be about them. Show you care for them and you talk with them, take note afterward so you remember important details about them and family, you are going to leads with this information later on.

Depending on what your services are, when you meet with your friends, family any of your warm market, listen attentively as they let out problems or pain they are having. if these problem or pains are what you can help alleviate, share how you are addressing these problems in your life or share a story of how another was helped by you. Ask if you could meet with them again and share information that may help. Don’t always talk business whenever you are with them. Gently ease them into it. Only bring up your business and service on when they hint at having a problem and only telling them about a solution if you know any, either yours or some expert on the subject.

BUYING LEADS: You can prospect for customer by buying leads. What are leads? Leads are potential customers who have the ability to purchase a product, services or business opportunity. The more leads you have the greater your chances for success. There are people you can buy your leads from, they called lead vendor. They are over the internet selling leads list to multi-level marketer but make sure are good from reputable vendor and at a reasonable price.

PRESS RELEASE: Press releases are a tried and true free way to get the word out that you're open for business. Give your business plenty of exposure by issuing a press release. If you are announcing the grand opening of your business, have a new product or service offering to promote, announcing an upcoming event or company milestone, then a press release is just what you need. The key to having your press release accepted is that it must be newsworthy for your intended audience-not a sales pitch or business ad. You will be given the opportunity to promote a brief "call to action" at the end of the release to get people to visit your website. You can go to Ezinearticles and find an articles describing how to write a good press release. A good press release catches the interest with the title and get straight to the point.

MEETING PRESENTATION: One of the most underused, and free, techniques available to you to get your name out there in public and meet potential customers is the meeting presentation. Here is how to go about it.....

Before you go see the prospect, what are you going to talk about? You need to think of something interesting, something related to what you do. Depending of what you sell, you could create a 20 minutes power point presentation. The objective of the presentation is to establish in the mind of the prospect as an expert in the field. When you meet with the prospect, your presentation will bring your prospect up to speed with what you do and how it can be of huge value to him.

LEAD CLUBS: Leads Clubs are a tried and true professional networking process. They are most effective when the rules for participation are clear and the members committed. In essence, a "leads club" is a group of individuals who meet for the express purpose of exchanging leads to further each other’s' businesses or interests. Clubs can meet as often as once a week, or as little as once a month. There are three critical components to setting up a Leads Club that benefits all members.

ARTICLES: Articles are particularly good for showcasing knowledge or "expertise," if you will. Articles offer tips, training, strategies, trends or general information. The list goes on, but more importantly, you establish yourself as the "go to person" for your niche. Remember though, your article must also be informational - not a blatant sales pitch.

WORD OF MOUTH: Provide a Good Service and Business Will Follow the fact is that a good business will grow from word of mouth. If you provide a great service or product, your existing customers will tell others about you. This is the best type of networking to utilize and it is also the most costs effective.

Word of mouth networking is effective because your existing customers are getting people excited about what you have to offer. Therefore, they come to you already interested. It is easier to build your client or customer base this way. One way you can speed it up is to ask your existing customers for referrals. You can ask your customers to tell their friends and family that you may be contacting them so that they can expect your call.

ADVERTISING: Advertising has always been a good way to find prospects, but today it extends way past the old fashioned traditional media - newspapers, radio, magazines, and even outdoor billboards. Today blogs, social media, Internet radio, email marketing, webinars and a whole bunch of other possibilities will help you identify and source new leads.

Knowing how to and where to prospect is a valuable asset for your sales career. If you are ready to grow your business with floods of customers, then utilized the information given here. Make getting prospective customers for your business a breeze while you make money.

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