Introduction
Getting Started
Types of Home-Based Answering Services
How to Obtain Clients
Your Home Office
10 Easy Steps to Organizing Your Business
The Art of Networking
Marketing Your Business
Additional Tips for Success
Start-up Costs and How to Fund Them
Getting Help from the SBA
Financial and Legal Considerations
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Additional
Tips for Success
Here are a few suggestions to attract
prospects, save money and generally launch a successful business venture.
During the direct mail phase of your
marketing campaign, an incentive was offered to bring in new clients. The
lifeblood of any business is new people coming into it. What better way to
encourage them than with a free promotion! When you give something away, you can
expect to find someone there to take it. This will also be true in your
marketing solicitation. If you offer a reduced rate for a period of time, or
contract for five months and give the sixth month away free, you will entice
people to take action.
The irony of this situation is that
the more you give away, the more business you will attract. If you sent a direct
mail response out and obtained three clients who contract with you for six
months at $50/month, you have attracted $900 worth of business. However, if a
giveaway of the sixth month free doubles your response, you will contract six
people paying for five months at $50/months, but increased your revenue. You
gave away six free months, but increased your clientele and your revenue doing
it. In addition, you now have clients who are potential renewers when the
contracts expire. You could also give away a gift to new enrollees instead of
the month’s free service. A number of promotional companies exist that can
help you select an appropriate gift and buy it at bulk rate. Your giveaways
can sometimes amount to only $4 or $5 per person, and you end up with six and
twelve month contracts as a result.
With incentives, offer something
tangible and relevant to your business. Do not attach any strings. Make it a
straightforward offer with no fine print. People appreciate, and are more likely
to respond to, this type of offer.
Another tip for success is to minimize
your printing costs. Direct mail costs money. Brochures cost money. Business
cards and stationery cost money. Take some steps to keep your printing bills
within reason.
Shop for competitive quotes. There are
usually a number of printers in a given area, so you should be able to find
three or four to bid on your job. If you are having business cards, stationery
and brochures done, do them all at once, advise the printer to quote each job
both separately, and combined. Often, a combined job can reduce your
costs.
Be specific about the job. Get all the
costs up front. If you want the printer to set the type, fold the piece,
whatever; be sure you have all this priced out first.
Stick to standard sizes and colors.
Avoid heavy paper stock. You do not have to use postcard stock, either. Give the
printer ample time to complete the job. Rush work costs money and the costs will
be passed on to you.
Printing costs can eat up a budget
quickly. The more homework you do up front, the less you will spend and the more
likely the piece will be done to your satisfaction.
As you solicit additional business,
your base set of clients can hopefully provide some solid testimony as to the
value of your services. Securing these endorsements can be the foundation for a
new marketing campaign to add new clients and “grow” your business.
You will likely have to ask for this
feedback yourself. Most people do not take the time to write a letter, but most
often simply comment to you personally about their pleasure with your services.
So, ask them to put their thoughts down on paper. If someone has written, ask
their permission to reprint it and use their name. Alternatively, you can
initiate written comments by sending out a customer satisfaction form, which
encourages comments from your clients.
Whichever way you choose, these
endorsements can help you obtain new business.
Finally, do not overlook the outlets
through which you can publicize your business— at no charge! It amounts
to free advertising and you should be watchful for the opportunity this presents
to tell people about your services without increasing your marketing budget.
News releases about your business can
generate some publicity for you. Many smaller newspapers publish a Business
Section where new businesses in the area are noted and a few specifics spelled
out. The newspaper will not have the information to print unless you send them a
news release.
Send your release with a cover letter
to the city or business editor of your local newspaper, the managing editors of
business trade publications and the news directors for local radio and
television stations.
The cover letter should briefly state
the positive aspects of your business and why your services would interest their
audience.
The news release is more formal and
should be typed on one sheet of paper, double–spaced, and headed “NEWS
RELEASE” with the day’s date. You should also list a “FOR MORE INFORMATION”
header followed by your name, address and phone number. The copy itself should
be short and to the point, but with the same idea as an advertisement. The first
paragraph should be your “headline grabber”, the idea of which is to get the
reader (editor or director) to become interested enough to keep reading.
Emphasize the convenience of your service to small business owners who do not
have an office and generally are out working all day. Do not be long winded.
Sell them on your basic idea. If they are interested in publicizing it, they
will call you for more information.
Emphasize how your business relates to
current news trends, such as the age of computers, which takes away, some of the
human touch, and you’re trying to restore that so the customers of a business
will be able to talk to a person rather than a machine. Make it newsworthy. You
will have a better chance of getting the free publicity you seek.
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