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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