Business Plan Template: A Way of Copying What Other Successful Businesses Do!
Strategy 1:
The Fastest Way to Find New
Customers for Your Business
Whether you are a start up business or an established old timer, one universal truth reigns supreme. You must find new customers for your business and hold onto every one of the existing by staying in contact with them. You see in the year 2008 one small business slogan must be burnt into our brains. The slogan: more contact equals more sales.
More contact equals more sales is a powerful way of measuring your effectiveness in serving your customers well.
But onto the fastest possible strategy for gaining new customers for any business. This strategy is about tapping into someone else’s customer database where there is a similar target market or demographic. The idea does not stop there. What we do is piggyback off the established database and offer our product or service to them.
In some quarters you may have heard of the strategy of joint venture or host beneficiary.
Well this strategy is exactly that; joining forces with another business where your target customer is the same.
Some time ago I overheard a conversation where two people were discussing the best ways to go to market and attract customers. What do you think were the strategies suggested by these two experienced business people? Yes direct mail, networking events, various internet strategies were mentioned. They all have some value. But it is rare for anyone to ever mention joint ventures, strategic alliance or host beneficiary.
The fastest ways to build your business is to consider the power of using an established business database (someone else’s) whereby their target market and yours is exactly the same. Imagine the power of piggybacking off the resources of another established business who is not in competition with you. The major benefit of this strategy, called a joint venture or host beneficiary, is the ability to reach large numbers of qualified prospects with the tacit endorsement of the host business.
Your Steps to Success
Consider this real life example. A local BMW dealership and a high end women’s fashion boutique both share the same target demographic to some degree. This demographic was predominantly over 40, wealthy and lived in surrounding up market suburbs. Although the BMW dealership had many men as well as women customers, virtually all the men had wives or partners, so in essence the target market was perfectly similar.
Step 1: Define your target market
So step one is to get clear about your target audience. Who is your ideal customer?
I suggest you simply write down 6 points about your ideal client. Points to think about are age groups, geographic locations, habits and their passions, their challenges and what their usual spend in your store may be.
Step 2: Research and find another local business that has the same target market?
It is normally quite easy to come up with two or three other businesses who have the same clientèle as you wish to have. Consider a hairdresser and a beauty salon. How about a luggage store and a travel agency. What about a computer retail store and an internet hosting service. Some alliances are obvious, others not so but remember the key is to be non competing and to have the same target audience.
Step 3: Create a powerful offer for the partner business
Create the single most powerful offer or offers to communicate to the database of the other business. Not something wimpy or weak. Something new or fresh works best. After all, the main benefit to you will be the repeat transactions and not necessarily the first sale.
Step 4: Have a meeting with the partner business to give all of the benefits and the steps ahead for success.
Setting up a meeting and creating a simple step by step plan on how to communicate the offer to the database of the established business is next. Options would be direct mail, flyers, email, face to face (in some cases) and even in-store where there is a retail presence. For some a combination of some of these works best. You decide.
Step 5: Have a template letter for the other business to use
The best way to test the strategy is to write a direct mail letter to the database as though the letter is coming from the host company offering a special one time only offer of the other business (you – the initiator).
Step 6: Create a simple strategy to ensure repeat customers are maximized
You may be thinking these 6 steps are difficult. You may be thinking this is a lot of work. It does not have to be. For every business you really should know who your ideal client is. This is smart business. To relentlessly and professionally pursue your best targets is one of your smartest tactical pursuits and having a focus every week or month upon this will virtually build your business faster than anything else.
The advantages to every one concerned with a host beneficiary strategy are profound.
For you (the new business) you are getting to offer you product or services to an established group of people who are already well known to the host business.
To the host business (the business you have approached), they get to offer their own customers a considerable saving or a great special. If this is done well, the host business can develop even better relationships and goodwill with their customers ensuring future business.
The customer receiving the offer, gets a great special or deal off a business they know well (the host business), but in reality the delivering business is a third party. This offer may not have got to them in any other way.
Consider the upside always of approaching another proactive non competing business and watch the opportunity for windfalls in sales and profits to occur.
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