I was intrigued to view the following methods put in place by the small town where the company I work for recently moved to when they changed the location of our base of operations and set up shop in a new town, a small town.
I was surprised by the number of visitors we received in the following weeks after our open house. Lots of people came by dropping off resumes as expected, but what surprised us all was a load of gift baskets delivered. Each employee received a basket of goodies put together by the local businesses. The bank provided a branded mug. The local hardware store provided a blank key. A baby store provided a unique coupon. Etc.
We were new in town, and our neighboring businesses brought a warm welcome to us and intimately shared with us how they might share their services with us: future customers.Perhaps it was the great work of a chamber of commerce. But several co-workers found some new places to conduct their business via a simple gift basket.
They hustled to get our business as we set up our new business. And new business is the life blood of any business.
The summary and bottom line is you need a great product or service and then you need a method for attracting new customers. There are endless ways to find new customers, however, not all methods are created equal. The most successful business that participated in the gift basket was a restaurant that served lunch nearby and provided a coupon for a free something. We were able to sample the quality, risk free, and ultimately returned many times more during the lunch hour. Some of us even returned in the evening with our families and friends to share the great food with them.
Once you find a proven strategy for finding customers, it's best to focus on that one method. However, it's important not to miss the one time unique events as well. In this case, I believe it was the power of the connections, the chamber of commerce, which could be a network of your own kind in other circles, that brought about the successful neighborhood welcome campaign.Look around, how might you help a business, even one unrelated to yours, achieve success when you both work together?
