5 Hours to a New Customer

Business in Vancouver asked us what advice we would give an established business to help them find new customers. The answer? 

Do Something.

There are many strategies for finding clients – approach new markets, offer different services, create a unique product, or enter a geographic region you’ve never tried. While business leaders spend a lot of time thinking about what to do, only the act of doing – trying new things, or trying old things in a new way – will generate returns. If you do something (sometimes anything) differently in your business, you will get different results.

For those who prefer a bit more guidance, try these actions:

1. Identify five prospects. (20 minutes) You’re probably going to make some mistakes with your approach, so don’t pick your best prospects; just pick five in a segment or geography that you’d like to explore. This is a quick Google search. Don’t over think it.
2. Identify a method for meeting those prospects. (20 minutes) Join their associations. Find them at tradeshows. Look for them in your LinkedIn network. Heck, call them directly.
3. Identify a goal for those meetings. (20 minutes) Figure out who makes decisions and how, and make a plan to reach your goal.
4. Execute on that plan by a deadline. (4 hours) If you are the only person taking on this challenge, set a public due date so you’re more likely to get it done. If you have many people in your organization, assemble a team so you can run multiple prospecting experiments simultaneously.
5. Learn. (1 day) You tried one method five times – now decide if it works. Run the prospecting experiment a few more times with different methods in step 2 and discover the best practice for your business.

As it turns out, the hard part isn’t figuring out what to do, it’s getting people to do it. What’s holding you back?

Bellrock is a management consulting and change management firm where remarkable is expected. If you found this article valuable, don’t be stingy. Share!