Reach Out to Family and Friends and Make New Friends!
Prospecting for customers one-to-one is where you reach out to people around you and personally explain what your product or business opportunity can do for them. If you believe you can make a positive difference in other people's lives, you will be eager to share that information with them. You may want to reach out to your community of family, friends, and people you are acquainted with as well as people who are referred to you. As a people person you probably prefer the direct approach as opposed to formal advertising. Start by having a conversation with everyone and really listen to what they have to say! Ask them about their family, their interests, their pets, their job, etc. Make this conversation all about them and not about you. Make notes afterwards so you don't forget the details of their life and you can lead with this information the next time you talk.
If you are selling a great product, you can meet with them again and listen for their pain. Share how you are addressing those problems in your own life or share a success story from your small home business community and ask if you could meet with them again and give them some information that might help. If you are selling a business opportunity you can ask them at the end of the meeting if they know of anyone who might be open to the idea of making extra income with a small home business. If they sound interested themselves ask them what was happening in their life that would motivate them to make that decision. Keep it brief and then after getting their contact information, tell them you will be in touch with them but right now you have other business to attend to and make a quick and gracious exit. Do not try to discuss the business with them at that time! Call and make an appointment to meet with them later when you have plenty of time to make a business presentation without interruptions or distractions.
Follow Up With Customers Matters
If they are interested in your product and actually buy it from you always follow up with them. Remember, they are interested in you as a person, not the company you represent. If you don't contact them again they might lose interest or not use the product at all. Try sending a personal thank you card or a write a note of encouragement first. After that you can keep in touch with them through telephone calls, emails, more visits or hand written notes. When they have success with one product, trust is now established. You can now suggest they try another product as well. You can also ask them for referrals or you can ask if they will write you a short testimonial. Use their valuable testimonials to help you gain more credibility. For a small home based business, this plan works great in promoting your business and helping it grow! Many new business partners start out as customers first. When these previous customers start prospecting for customers, they now have a personal story to share.
I have a friend who was in Iraq and sustained nerve damage to his shoulder and neck because of the type of body armor he had to wear. As a result of his injuries, he kept dropping things. He had success with a few products after only one month! He has friends who served with him who sustained the same injury. He became a business owner and began prospecting for customers by sharing this information with his fellow servicemen.
Share at Clubs, Organizations, Community Events
Talk to people in your clubs, organizations, or church about your business. Go to community events and share. Share while waiting for an appointment or standing in a long checkout line. Share with your librarian, hairdresser, repairman, or anyone else you come in contact with. Get out of your comfort zone and join a new club or organization. Join a bowling team or some other type of challenging team event or do volunteer work and get to know the people there before you talk about your products or business. The time invested in these activities will pay off in the end and help you improve your prospecting for customers skills.
While prospecting for customers, don't try to push your products or your business on them or they will avoid you and you will lose potential customers. Some people want to just watch and see how well you do first. Rather than trying to sell it to them directly ask if they know anyone who would benefit from your product. This takes them off the spot and puts them into a helping mode. They might suggest someone or not but in any event you planted a seed.
Always Be Positive
By getting to know more people, you can be of service to more people. Making new friends is a positive move in promoting and establishing your small home based business and hopefully making you feel good as well. Remember to always be positive and friendly. You want them to be happy to see you. Always be professional and you will do well. You don't have to be perfect because everyone starts out new but hopefully you will gain more confidence once your business starts to thrive and grow. I hope this article gave you encouragement and some new ideas. Best of luck in your attempts at prospecting for customers!
If you would like to know more a home business that uses one-to-one prospecting as well as internet marketing click here Prospecting For Customers. Annie Cook is the President of a home based business and an expert author of many articles related to home business success and internet marketing. Annie is also part of a team of successful business people who are willing to train new entrepreneurs. If you would like to know more about Annie Cook click here Home Business Success
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