Who will buy from me? [2006]
- Date : (2006-01-04)
- Author : SAIE
Who will buy from me?
The power of customers will shape how you do business. Customers are the driving force in any business. Without customers to buy your products or to use your services your business won’t make money. If you don’t make money, you won’t be able to pay your staff and pay your rent, let alone make money for yourself.
Many people start off with great plans about how much they will be able to sell but often they start out being timid and scared, as though customers will bite them. They soon learn that you have to be “bold and beautiful” if you want to succeed.
Angie was moving to a new city so she decided to sell off some of her used clothes and the things she did not want to take with her. She set up a table outside her house and waited for people to come and buy. After about half an hour she got frustrated as very few people were showing any interest. She could have stuck it out and spent a frustrating morning only selling a few items. But Angie thought a bit and decided to move all her stuff, table and all, to the main road where many people were shopping. With a little help from her boyfriend, her table was soon set up on the busy main road and everything was sold out within an hour!
Here’s some tips on how to attract customers to your business.
1. Salesmanship. As a first-time entrepreneur, you need to overcome your fear of selling. No customers will buy from you unless try to sell them your products or services. You can’t expect customers to come to you. But don’t worry, the more you sell, the easier it becomes.
2. Location. If you are to attract customers to your business, you need to find the right location. Your business should be situated where there are lots of people who may be willing to buy your products or pay for your services. If you want to catch fish, any fisherman will tell you that you need to go to where the fish are biting! Don’t be afraid to change your plan. Angie saw that things were not working so she made a new plan and changed her sales from dismal to sold-out!
3. Promotion. You need to promote or market your products or services to attract customers. For example, you could print pamphlets or posters. You could offer your goods at discount prices. You could run a competition. Or you could hand out free samples to potential customers.
4. Price. Make sure that your product or service is priced right. If it is too expensive, customers won’t buy from you.
5. Value. Perhaps you can make your product or service more attractive to customers by adding value. For example, you could add beautiful packaging, offer after-sales service or discounts to repeat customers. You could also offer free delivery.
6. Opportunity. You should always be on the look out for opportunities to sell more products or acquire new customers. For example, if you are a cool drink vendor, you could look out for opportunities to sell your cool drinks at places other than your normal area. Examples could include big events such as soccer or other sports matches and marathons or fairs.
7. Distribution. You could try to increase your customer base by distributing your products to other areas and locations. For example, you could offer your product to stores and supermarkets located far away from your business.
8. Networking. Don’t forget that your first and easiest customers are your family, friends and other people that you know. You can start by making lists of all the contacts you have through different groups you are connected to. Church groups, sports groups, school groups, music groups and other groups are all contacts with people who know your face at least. From there you should get even more customers by word-of-mouth as your friends tell their friends.
