How do you reach your customers?
Watch this video to learn how to reach your customers.
There are five ways to reach your customers. They each require a level of expertise, skill and discipline.
The art of being successful lies in choosing one of the five ways that you’re already good at, and investing in it on an ongoing basis. Because of the time investment it’s unusual for businesses to be good at more than one of them.
This is a list to help you start. I appreciate it’s a short section for a key topic.
Hunting for customers
This method means selecting your target customers and contacting them directly. This includes phone and email marketing. The majority of traditional sales is in this category.
There is an important distinction between selling to people who can make a buying decision on their own, and to people who represent large companies. Smaller companies have access to their own budget, and they don’t have to convince others to sign off the investment.
Selling to large companies may involve selling to customers that have to convince others. This can mean a large reward, but may also involve a long and uncertain sales cycle.
Attracting customers
To reach customers this way, you make it easy for potential customers to follow you and contact you when they’re ready. The most effective way of doing this is through the web and social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. The key skill is keeping your name appearing before them (see your brand) as someone who is well informed in the area of their concern. To do this, you need to be able to produce or share quality content on your website, on social media, and in talks and presentations.
Relationship Building
Another form of attracting customers is to build relationships with a small number of potential customers and influencers. You get to know their specific drivers, and have solutions ready so that when they have a requirement, they come to you. This may require a large investment of time and effort before you achieve results, but you will enjoy great customer loyalty.
Agency / Commission Approach
This option means you pay a fee or commission to a third party, and outsource finding clients to them.
Luck
Luck may seem a strange driver for winning business, but actually, luck can amplify all your business development activities. The Psychology of Luck, according to Professor Richard Wiseman, shows that the following principles appear to increase how lucky we are:
- We create, notice and act on opportunities.
- We listen to our hunches.
- We expect good fortune.
- We are able to learn from bad luck and turn it into good luck.
A lot of luck is really about attitude and observation. Many of the approaches in this guide will help you improve your luck.
The next segment is on cash flow. It’s key for any new business.
NLP Going Solo Section Index
NLP Going Solo 1: Start with the end in mind
NLP Going Solo 2: Balanced Scorecard
NLP Going Solo 3: Customer Proposition
NLP Going Solo 4: Your Brand
NLP Going Solo 5: Choosing Customers
NLP Going Solo 6: Reaching Customers
NLP Going Solo 7: Cash Flow
NLP Going Solo 8: Summary
