Prospecting refers to the process through which a business attracts new clients. This, surprisingly, is not as easy as it may sound. It requires you to constantly come up with creative new ways to attract new clients. Here are four amazing sources for generating new clients for your business.
Your power base basically refers to the people who will support you and your business due to the nature of your relationship. These are your friends, family, school mates, former colleagues and even that ex with whom you parted on amicable terms.
The power base is a very important aspect for prospecting because you will find that these will be your first clients. They will be the first ones to learn of your new venture and will be eager to show support. You must keep expanding your power base.
Endeavor to meet new people and create new relationships everyday. The more relationships you cultivate and the more friends you make, the larger your power base grows. Make a list of people who you consider to be in your power base and call them personally to pitch your business and request them to consider becoming your clients. Do not make the common assumption that they will automatically become your clients the instant you open shop.
There are customers who come to service items which may or may not have been bought from your company. They may be people coming to repair a broken watch, or replace a faulty phone battery or a person going into a tailoring for a retouch on his suit.
Service customers are a great opportunity for prospecting. If someone comes seeking to service a product, it means that they are buyers of the said product. Prospect to these customers by getting their phone numbers and giving them a call, or making a pitch for your business as you provide the service that they came for.
Some of your customers may go for long period without buying from your company. Always make efforts to reach out to them and find out the reasons for this. You could do this by making a call sending an email or even a text.
Remember to always collect client information as you serve them and keep it in a database. It is important to follow up on clients, even those that have not completely ceased from buying from your business. This ensures that you do not fall into obscurity, and that they do not stop thinking about your business.
Use this prospecting opportunity to update the customer on new products and any developments in the business. Also, make sure to ask for feedback on your products and service provision, and take any suggestions on places that you could improve on.
There are people that you made pitches to but did not close. Always revisit old cases and keep prospecting to them. The fact that you did not close them on the first try does not mean that they are impossible to change.
Remember that circumstances change with time. Their preferences may change; a company where they used to buy goods from may compromise on product quality or the customer may have an increased purchasing power. Always go back to your records and analyze the customers that were not sold and keep prospecting to them. Eventually, you will close them.
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