Most business owners don’t start their companies because they enjoy selling; they do it because they love what they do. Unfortunately, if you’re not successful at drawing in new clients, your business won’t last.

New people also help keep you on your toes and they bring in new sources of revenue for the business. The influx of different customers helps you keep customer service solid and your business and products innovative.

The challenge that most business owners struggle with is figuring out how to attract new clients. It doesn’t have to be complicated, as is the case in most aspects of business. It’s just a matter of employing common sense.

There are three pathways to finding new customers for small businesses.

WORD OF MOUTH

The first step is through word of mouth which is a crucial avenue.

Having word of mouth means you delivered a product or service more than satisfactory to somebody and that person passed that information on which then spreads.

In other words, it’s about setting business products and service standards. This is important if you want referral business because referrals are the easiest and cheapest source of new business and it costs businesses nothing to acquire.

BUILDING NETWORKS

The second avenue is through building networks. Many businesses that lack a network in a specific industry can struggle to find new customers.

Networking is an excellent way for small businesses to connect with potential customers and partners to build relationships that can help grow a community around your product or service. It’s a great way to identify business best practices or industry benchmarks.

While those communities may or may not be a direct source of income for you, they can certainly be a source of referral.

People in a small business can be too focused on the product but they haven’t necessarily concentrated on building a network. Generally speaking, the newer the entrepreneur, the smaller their networks are, so that that is a specific challenge.

Business owners can access networks through local chambers of commerce, industry and community groups, along with anything relevant to the product or service being provided.

The challenge is to build trust with your audience and building trust means people need to know more about your business and your product or service.

MARKETING

The third avenue is marketing.

The first stage in marketing is to determine what problem your company resolves and for whom.

Researching opportunities, identifying your target market, developing a unique proposition, and choosing your channels are all important steps in marketing your business.

The real danger in marketing that is currently being seen in small businesses is thinking that they need to be on the first page of Google search engine.  None of us can afford to be on the first page of Google search engine and nor do we need to be.

What we need to do is build the networks and contact base and then refer those connections into the business’s own website or own social pages and they become part of your community.

Businesses need to find customers that have a problem they can solve, and establish how to locate these prospects who have the problem.

You can’t just advertise to the world. Your reach and marketing need to be very targeted, and it will be crucial to make a profile of the market segment that you’re targeting.

Customers now desire more than just your product or service; they also need an authentic relationship with your business.