Going from Small Business to Big Business
You’ve successfully launched your business and built up a solid, perhaps small, customer base. Starting small has its benefits, though. It allows you the opportunity to cultivate a loyal relationship with your customers. By now, you’ve had time to work out the kinks, and you’re confident that your product or service is truly the best your business can offer.
Now, you’re ready to expand and grow your business. But, growing your customer base can certainly be easier said than done at times. How do you get more customers for your business? Let’s take a look at some strategies you can use to expand your business and gain more contracts.
Reevaluate Your Bidding Process
So you need more clients and want to grow your customer base. The best way to do that is to pitch every job that comes your way, right?
Wrong.
Nothing is worse than bidding on a project that you can’t afford and then having to turn it down after. Not only does it tarnish your reputation, it does nothing for morale.
Instead, try focusing on what your business’s realistic capabilities are. Find what you’re good at – your own unique niche – and stick to it.
Leverage Your Startup Capital
It’s not always a convenient time to spend a ton of money upgrading equipment.
If your company has other more pressing cash needs, then equipment leasing is a great way to let you push that money you’d spend on an equipment upgrade towards another, more urgent, area of your business.
Your startup or seed money needs to be spent wisely, the equipment and furniture that is needed to run your business does not make you money, but the use of it does! So hold on to your precious gold for where it is really going to work. You know… those little things like payroll, insurance, and inventory.
Advertise
If you’re doing work in a neighborhood or near a residential area, show off your brand in as many places as possible. People are always snooping in their neighbours’ business to begin with – might as well give them something to talk about: you.
Ask your clients if you can use them for referrals and list yourself on Facebook, Google, and as many other online listing services as you can think of. Be sure to ask your happy customers to leave you a review.
When picking a company, clients are going to want to see that you’ve done good work before. They want a brand they can trust. Be that brand.
Make Yourself Available
Can a potential client email you? Call you? Instant message you? Tweet you? Facebook message you? Make sure that all of your avenues of communication are open, and have someone ready and available to take prospective buyers’ calls.
Being available means allowing all channels of communication to take leads—and it’s up to you to respond to them. Don’t leave your social media account wasting away or your email account cluttered with hundreds of unread messages.
And if you’re in a more niche industry, you should never hesitate to give out your personal number. Your fast response time means that your customers will be happy that you can fix their problems quickly.
And what does that lead to? Better reviews, a leg up on your competition, and yes, you guessed it – more clients.
Be Kind, Be Human
In a world where so much is automated, a personal touch can go a long way. Try to get to know your clients – not just what they want out of a contract, but where their son is going to college and what their favourite football team is. People love to talk about themselves, so, if they seem to have the time, chat them up.
After completing a job, follow up. Send a quick thank you note that expresses that you enjoyed working with them and that you hope that they can give you a referral.
A little kindness and a touch of humanity goes a long way.
Put Your Plan Into Action
At the end of the day, growing your business is about regularly improving your business and seizing opportunities. Identify what your customers love about you. Then get yourself out there with confidence.
As we talked about earlier, equipment leasing is a great way to get low-interest funding.
Luckily, Thomcat Leasing has solutions for your business and can meet all of your equipment leasing needs.
To help you figure out what your lease payments could be, get a free 60 second lease estimate. There’s no sign-up and a report is immediately sent straight to your email inbox!
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