Tweet

Untapped Leads You May Be Missing

Guest post by: Stephen Feswick

Article Overview: Finding new customers can be challenging, but most business owners have dozens or more untapped leads literally under their noses.

Untapped Leads You May Be Missing

Consider the other smart business people who, like you, also agreed to advertise on the local phone book cover, real estate folder, community arena bulletin board, coffee shop flyer or community magazine in the search for new customers. Do they know what you do - what you sell or service? Conversely, do you know what they do, what they sell or service? A dozen or more other businesses have banded together with you to get their message out to the public so for goodness sakes don't overlook them as a source of business.

Pick up the phone or better yet, drop by their business and invite them to visit your place of business. Put on the coffee and ask them about their industry. What exactly do they do? How long have they been doing it? What do they like about the business?

Engage them in conversation. Learn all you can about your new marketing partner. Now, work with them to find ways you can open our network of contacts to them while they in turn open up their contact lists to you. Can you offer goods and services their families can use? Even better...can you help their employees or their customers?

Why not create a special package just for these advertising partners. It doesn't mean you have to drop your price. Instead, provide information in the form of a book or special report just for them. Make it something the average customer can't get from you and encourage them to share the offer with employees, friends and family. Go out of your way to honour your partnership status with them.

Why would they choose to do business with anyone else?

Brainstorm a little and you will find there is tremendous value working within a small business marketing network of any size.

Related Articles
  LEADERS LOVE FORMULA : TALENT+ EXECUTION.
  Judicial Branch Needed to Keep Sales Lead Management Honest
  High Goals, Outstanding Performance and Success
  Seo Networker Search Engine Optimization Course
  Business Opportunity Leads - The Satisfaction of Converting the Leads into Customers
  Africa at DEMO ‘08
  3 Good Reasons Marketing Should Qualify Leads Before Passing to Sales
  Taking the High Road
  Do You Want Personalized Tax Debt Relief Leads?
  Sales Leads -- Quantity or Quality?
  Your Sales People Will Miss Quota - Unless You Give Them This...
  Are Free Leads Really
  Top 7 Tips in How to Pitch and Catch Business Referrals
  Sales Success Tip-Think You Need More Leads? Think Again!
  The Evolution of Customer Analytics Marketing in the Gaming Industry
  Using Web Analytics for Marketing
  Turn the Year-end Slowdown into Surprising Sales
  The Advantages of Lead Generation for your Business
  Actions upon Contacting Your own MLM Lead Prospects
  MLM Success: The Smart Approach To Financial Freedom

Article Tags: new customers, small business marketing



Related Forum Posts
Re: 3 Ways to Grow Your Business in 2011 - Hi David, I've had a lot of success by building my own media list and then emailing out the reporters when I have a story. I've also used PR Leads (paid program) which got me into the New York Times and Forbes. I haven't done much with online press releases - from what I hear they can help you with your SEO but they don't get much mainstream media attention. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'd be happy to help!
Re: Internet Marketing is the best business in the world - [quote="WhyNot":ms4wci6i]You stated that you can get your product in front of millions of people within 5 minutes using PPC. What is PPC? I am considering writing an e-book, how can I best market it? [/quote:ms4wci6i] It is Pay per click advertising. You have google, yahoo, MSN and other sites that offer it. Your ad shows up along site of the search results for the key words you specify and on other sites as "sponsered results". You could test the market with PPC (track where you get your hits from;keywords and so forth and use SEO to get FREE traffic), or Free methods like article marketing.. Either way you have to [u:ms4wci6i]know what your doing [/u:ms4wci6i](supply,demand, niche, [u:ms4wci6i]Highly[/u:ms4wci6i] targeted prospects, Location specifics [country, state,city,zip code,] etc.). Oh yeah and you have to have money. Because you are going to lose money if you are a beginner. Man I need to include this post on my blog...LOL Been a while since I been here. Just got this notification in my email and figured I'd help you out. Been working on my SEO. To answer your other question there are LOTs of other Free ways to advertise/market. For example Forum marketing Yahoo Answers (great for SEO to) But be careful not to bet banned. SEO of course Search Engine Optimization US Free Leads Article Marketing YouTube Twitter Yahoo blogs Blogging (blogger,squidoo, hub pages) Myspace Facebook Newspaper ads Craigslist etc. The list goes on. These are just a few I though of off the top of my head. Now that I think of it I need to start doing more myself. ideasuniversity had wrote quit a few good post on marketing/promotion, viral effects and such. You should check them out. Just a word of advice, make sure you have the write niche first. Anyway, hope this helps.
Seek Venture Capital & Funding - Hello, Greetings from India. I am Seeking Venture Capital for Offshore Software Company Start-up. Need advise along with Business Model Sample. I have a basic outline for an offshore company. 1. Technology - like Microsoft Dot Net, Java, LAMP 2. Talent Team - Found Good Technology Developers. 3. Where I can get the leads/potential customers - Leads have been identified who are willing to move forward offshore projects. 4. I do not have resources like funding. It is a very critical factor to me Industries: Manufacturing, Real Estate, Retail, Insurance, Distribution & Logistics, Healthcare, Industry Associations and Software Product Development, Agricultural Industries and Etc. Services: Offshore Software Development Company. Offices to be located: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and USA. Products/Services/Applications in areas like POS & Billing, Sales & Distribution, Production Planning, Material Management, Inventory Control, Plant Maintenance, Purchasing, Accounting and Logistics. Dynamic Web Programming with Database Driven Content Management Systems, Online Stores for E-Commerce, B2B Solutions, Community Portals, Website Redesign and Development, Custom ERP with Enterprise Wide Functional Modules such as Marketing, CRM, Accounting, Inventory Control, Sales & Distribution, Production Planning, Purchase & Stores, Logistics and Supply Chain. Seek your further questions and help. Thank you, Best Regards, Jayapratap.
Focus Brings Long Term Results - Over the past 2 years of venturing out and running my own business and not working full-time in a job I have tried numerous business opportunities. I have tried businesses in providing student accommodation, share trading and options, renting and selling paddles to dragon boat clubs and selling toilet odour eliminator products online. This was opportunistic thinking and diminished my efforts as I got started by adding more work rather than focusing on one business. It was all very tempting to try and run them at the same time to see which one would take off. Unfortunately there was no focus and when times got tough I jumped across to work on the business that interested me more. Opportunistic Thinking Is Bad If you are like me and see that everything is possible and always keeping an open mind about business ideas, then you will find it irresistible to try new ideas. Trust me I’ve learnt the hard way. So how have I changed this? I’m a huge fan of Yaro Starak’s blog - entrepreneurs-journey.com and one day he wrote a post about his coach Rich Schefren who was launching a new coaching program. As usual most internet marketers have a system to launch their new products and give away a lot of free quality information that can be applied straight away. They do this so they can build rapport with you and show that their information is useful before they start their sales pitch on you. As I knew the information was free and they just wanted my email address, I downloaded Rich’s eBook, the “Internet Manifesto“. If you haven’t read it, I would recommend you get a copy of it immediately. The Change in Mindset After reading the “Internet Manifesto”, I had a profound moment that I would change the way I operate my business. My mindset went from “thinking opportunistic” to “thinking strategically” meaning if I wanted to build a long term business I would have to set up the right systems and hire staff to leverage my time. I realised that I couldn’t do everything myself. Rich’s famous flowchart accurately shows how most Solo Enterpreneurs run their Internet Businesseses today. (I’m one of them and have taken action to outsource a lot of my work since then) Rich Schefren's Internet Manifesto Since then I have taken action to sell my businesses that are not part of my goals and made a mental decision to not start new business opportunities. Focus Is Key Since I was compelled to find out more, I downloaded the rest of Rich’s series of books which are listed below: 1. Internet Manifesto 2. The Missing Chapter 3. The Final Chapter 4. Attention Age Doctrine Part 2 5. Maven Matrix Manifesto 6. The Entrepreneurial Emergency Through this series I learned that I needed to focus on one task at a time, not five at a time (today’s generation calls it multi-tasking). Making that shift helped me improve time efficiency and also get tasks completed that generated more money. Additionally, you need to use your strengths to focus on a task and learn to outsource the rest that you are not good at. This is the key to long-term success in any business. Tyrone Shum Focus Strategist
Getting Started In Your New Internet Business - I always think it’s fun and exciting to start a new Internet business. I know for me that I would do something that I’m interested and passionate about. Otherwise the new venture doesn’t last for long. As it’s just as important to have passion, motivation and interest, there are a few areas that help me succeed in business. Promoting Your Internet Business I would call this the “show me the money” part of the business. Without money or income, there is no business. Therefore it’s important to promote your business and turn your promotional activities into sales. At every opportunity, try to promote your business through passive means: e.g. through your stationary, letterheads, emails, brochures and any other promotional material you may use. Even if it’s just an article you write for a directory, remember to put your website address at the bottom of it. In the past, I made stickers of my logo that I could easily stick on my products. Also I made sure that every email I sent out to a customer had a company logo in it. This all helps with creating the brand for the business. It’s crucial to develop a marketing plan that will not only sell your products, but also your brand. Here are some other articles I recommend to read to help you promote your Internet business: * Spreading The Word: Turbocharge Your Traffic * Converting Traffic Into Sales Part 1: Generating Leads * Converting Traffic Into Sales Part 2: Profiting From The Back-End * 12 Sales Effective Marketing Tips Operating Your Business This is the “lifeblood” of the business and I’m amazed at the amount of businesses that still operate without having good systems in place. An electrician I use from time to time asked me how I maintain my book work and said he doesn’t know how to do it. I was shocked because I’d known him to be trading for over 2 years and he probably doesn’t know how much money is being made in his business or let alone lost. What I am saying is to not be like my Electrician friend and make sure you buy an accounting software to track all your accounts and paperwork. I would suggest hiring a book keeper because it will save you the hassle and time of doing it all yourself. Some good software packages out there that are under $500 like MYOB Accounting and QuickBooks will be more than sufficient when you start out. Another area that most people forget or get caught out on are getting the appropriate insurances for your business. The most common are public liability insurance, fire, burglary, vehicle and workers compensation insurance. All these can be easily found via a quick search on Google. I would recommend ensuring both public liability and fire insurances are in place before even running your business. Keeping Pace And Staying Up To Date This may sound all too overwhelming when you have to promote, operate your business and keep up to date with your industry. Believe me it’s not as hard as it sounds. Take the first step and join a trade association or your local Chamber of Commerce. You will find it both informative and beneficial to your business. To know what is happening in your area and within your industry can help you make better decisions for promoting your product or service. Whether it may be time to change a product line or add more services to your business, you will be keeping up with the industry and making sure you are not missing out on opportunities. Also it’s a great way to network and promote within your trade associations and Chamber of Commerce. Simply write an article to contribute and it can be used as great public relations (P.R) for your business. Also I emphasise to have a well prepared business plan created before starting your business, because this will be your starting point. A business plan is useful for so many areas for your business from sourcing finance to implementing a growth strategy for the next 5 years. Once it’s written down, it will become a living breathing document that you can update and review over time. I’ve just finished preparing my business plan for this business which took nearly 3 weeks to complete but I can tell you that it is well worth the time and effort to do. Learn how to put your own business plan together and I can guarantee you that you’ll get finance and negotiate business deals much easier. The Future Of Your Internet Business Starting your Internet Business is rewarding and if you look into those areas I have mentioned, then you will have a good foundation to running a successful Internet Business. Take action today and know that you deserve to live your dream. Tyrone Shum Internet Business Coach


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Igniting Your Unstoppable Business Destiny

Why Small Businesses Don't Survive

How to Sell to the Price Driven Customer

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.