When it comes to doing business these days, the deal is – no one wants to be sold to. You must give consistently to eventually get business, especially if you are a professional service business. Here are my 7 ways to attract customers to a small business

1. It’s all about service. You must first try to be helpful when building relationships with prospective clients. It’s all about providing valuable content, engaging people to build a relationship, being a good listener and making sure you are a trusted resource before you attempt to sell anything.

2. Understand Your Business First: What do you do and how does it serve your customer? What is your (UVP), Unique Value Proposition? How do you serve your customers and solve their problems?

3. Focus On a Specific Customer Develop a detailed customer profile. Who is your customer? How does she live? Is she married with children or a single working professional? Is she a Baby Boomer or Millennial? Create a mental image of her, and make sure your marketing messages and content speak specifically to her. Remember – if everybody can use your product or service, no one will!

4. Attract Your Niche Customer Depending on who your customer is, some marketing methods will work better than others. Once you develop your customer profile, figure out how to reach them specifically. The more niche focused your business is in the marketplace, the easier it is to reach your market. Start by developing a list of your top 4-6 keywords. These are the top search terms people use to find your products and services online.

5. Determine Your Marketing Approach Your marketing approach will be determined by your niche target customer. Try a few of these ideas to reach your target customer.

• Develop a Great Website
• Content marketing/Blogging
• Email marketing
• Pay per click ads
• Direct mail
• Vehicle wrap
• Flyers/ billboards
• Newspapers/magazines

6. Create a Referral Machine Turn your happy customers into an unpaid sales force for your business. Incentivize your customers with discounts and special sales to tell their friends about your business. Find unique ways to reward and acknowledge your most loyal customers. Host a customer appreciation event or give a social media shout out to your customers. Everyone loves acknowledgement.

7. Keep Your Customers It’s cheaper to keep a customer than to go chase a new one. Your best opportunity to generate more revenue is to upsell an existing customer. The best way to upsell customers is to keep in touch with them. Here are a few ideas to incorporate into your business.

• Contact customers within 7-10 days of a sale
• Conduct an online survey about your customer service
• Invite customers to leave a review on your website, LinkedIn, Yelp, Angie’s list, TripAdvisor, Google+ local, or Yahoo local listings
• Send an email newsletter at least monthly (weekly is best)
• Send birthday cards
• Send holiday cards (It’s not just about Xmas, try Valentine’s Day or 4^th of July cards, too)
• Ask for feedback on Facebook and Twitter

If you start using these methods of marketing and sales in your business, you will see more repeat customers and that means your business will become sustainable. Remember anyone will buy something once; you need to build a relationship to get them to buy it over and over again from you.

Hey if you need more help with sales, if have an amazing free resource for you. One of my favorite sales experts Jeffrey Gitomer and I are giving you a free, five-part webinar series called, “How to Really Make Sales.” You know Jeffrey from his New York Times Bestseller, “The Little Red Book of Selling.” Jeffrey is a master at sales and I know you’ll benefit greatly from our knowledge and advice during the “How to Really Make Sales” five-part webinar series.

Register here: http://www.getsales14.com.

Mark your calendar:  The Webinar series will take place LIVE on GoToMeeting at 1pm and replay at 4pm and 7pm that same day.

1. Thursday Nov. 6, 1pm ET – How to Network and Make an Appointment
2. Wednesday Nov. 12, 1pm ET – How to Make a Sales Call
3. Thursday Nov. 20, 1pm ET – How to Close a Sale
4. Thursday Dec. 4, 1pm ET – How to Build a Relationship

If you miss one, not to worry, it will replay twice after it’s recorded, so it will be available for you when you are ready to learn. Get your gift today: Visit http://www.getsales14.com

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