Brigitte Soares | Posted Jun 12, 2009, 5:26pm So after close to 2 years of careful planning & budgeting, I am finally ready to tackle the small business world and serve companies in my area. This should be an exciting time for me, however I have found that I have used up all my referrals & put out as many advertisements as I possibly could, but I am still not at the business level that I set out in my business plan for year 2 of operation. I would like to hire a few more employees but I am stuck in a cycle since we are already maxed out and will not have the resources to fund the extra manpower until my company experiences the growth that I desire. So I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to meet new business owners. Teambiz meetings are great, but I dont think its the right atmosphere to push my company on others since everyone is caught up in discussing the topics. What do you think?
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Marc Lachance | Posted Jun 13, 2009, 7:14am Brigitte The question becomes "how do you identify and meet new business owners that you could service?" The best way to do that is to get out and network. There are many different places that you can do that, and success depends on a number of things. The number of people that you meet, the opportunity to develop a relationship with them, the type of business that you have. Some of the places that you can meet people are the Chamber of Commerce and Buniess Network International (BNI). BNI specializes in building business by referral. Joining and attending are only the start. You must participate and get to know people and build trust. In your business, getting referrals should not be a problem. It's finding the people who need your services. Hamilton has two BNI chapters. I can get you an introduction. For the Chamber, I don't belong, but I know a number of people who do. |
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Alex Bucataru | Posted Jun 14, 2009, 11:49am Brigitte
As you pointed out, TeamBiz meetings and on-line community are focused on exchanging knowledge, information and ideas. As a result, relationships are built and you may get referrals and even direct business, but that is not the goal and should not be the expectation.
Still, there are several ways you could use TeamBiz to get more business. You can submit articles for publishing, and participate in forum discussions - providing useful tips that can help other members in their businesses will build trust and an expert image. Make sure your profile is complete and up to date, to make it easier for potential clients or referral partners to learn more about you an your business, and to contact you.
Getting results from networking takes time. Trust and relationships build up slowly, and there is very little you can do to speed up the process.
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Walter Newman | Posted Jun 14, 2009, 5:42pm Been involved with an organization like BNI, years ago... It worked, for a while until I run into two problems:
- I wasn't able to commit every week
- I noticed a decrease in referred business - so I couldn't justify my time and money invested in the group
To top that, I found the pressure for referrals somewhat stressful and many of my referred prospects had no idea who is the person that referred them to me! So... I ended up spending a lot of my time virtually on cold calls.
Despite my experience, it could be a temporary solution for a start-up. If you carefully watch your return, then it will be easy to pull off when it doesn't make sense for you any more.
Chamber events in your area may be another idea...
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Emily Green | Posted Jun 17, 2009, 8:57pm You can get referrals from your existing clients. Not every client will refer you, but it doesn't hurt to ask!
You may also want to try to advertise on craigslist and other local classifieds for personal tax, until your networking efforts start bringing results. Google is another place where you can buy some paid local advertising, if you don't have the time or the budget for on-going SEO.
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Sarah Jarvis | Posted Jun 18, 2009, 5:32pm First, I think that you should define who is your client: where are they located, what size (employees, revenue), types of business (b2b, b2c), what stage (start-up, growing, established..).
Then start looking for places where you can find them (or people who can refer them to you!). When you are specific about who your clients are, you are able to create a message appealing to them.
However, exposure is key - and I'm not talking only about advertising. List your business in as many local directories as you can, start a blog, reply to posts... There are many things that you can do on-line.
Follow up with people you meet, it helps a lot. Invite them to subscribe to your e-zine or blog feeds.
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Karen Fischer | Posted Mar 25, 2011, 5:47pm Hi Bridgette -
I started my business a year ago and though I am a marketing/sales person by nature - I relied on referrals and people I knew which wasn't a mistake but you end up doing things serially and chasing the next client when that one is done and didn't look at eating my own dog food of what I tell others.
Here are things that I have started to do to help pick things up:
- Looked for additional partners for complimentary products and services. Some I resell or refer and in return they refer to me.
- Networking events and online networking. Sites like this and linked in can help you build awareness of you, your company and your products and services. I belong to a couple networking groups and am expanding this - many the whole focus is about sharing leads with each other.
-Though a marketeer ....not a huge advocate of advertising unless online today. Very dependent on your business and what you sell (ie consumer...) whether print advertising is worthwhile. What is worthwhile which is similar form is writing articles in magazines, online...etc and getting your name out there and expertise in what you do.
-I am partnered with a sales company (actually ex-employees of mine) and they have a telemarketing group. We both resell his service, but use it myself as I find telemarketing is still a great way to get leads. There are lots of people who do this - but the key is scripting it - ask a few questions and let someone call - they can do everything from just providing you qualified lead to book an appointment. For those that are B type leads who aren't ready to buy - I continue to market to them through web, newsletter...etc.
-Webinars ....another great lead generation tool that used in past life and plan to down the road. If you have an interesting subject - people will attend. Key is NOT to be an Advertisement - provide value and information - do few second advert at end.
-Referral or affiliate programs - these are great for driving business and you only have to give up minimal margin. Affiliate tend to focus on web-based products and services......Referral is really same thing, but is more manual process - basically giving up margin for lead that closes.
-Affinity programs - are there association groups that can use your product or service? Ex: say you have a product that lawyers or accountants could use - offer your product or service at a discount or offered especially for them. Any association (and they are numerous) - marketing , universities/colleges...........you name a type of group and there is probably an association they belong. The association because are all non-profit are happy to offer savings to their members. In some cases - you could give a small referral to the association as well to help them.
-Social Media.....not a huge generator at least for me but is building awareness and by doing is building traffic to web and also credibility. I use Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Slideshare - haven't gone to YouTube yet but that is next.
-Web .....assuming you have a website. Make sure you have SEO , provide value not just content about you/products/services. Capture leads ...etc.
These are just some things that have worked for me and am truly focusing on. You can't boil the ocean and not everything works for every business - but my suggestion is select a few and try them for awhile and track your results. I am starting to build my own metrics for the things that I do and adjust as needed.
Hope this helps. |
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