How To Double Your Customer Base Without Spending A Penny
Silence may be golden, but it’s no great help when it comes to building your business. You need to get the word out so that customers / clients come a-knocking each and every day. But saying “Hey, guys, I rock!” isn’t always the most effective way to earn a stranger’s trust (no matter how rocking you may be). Remember, that stranger has been burned before by promises that didn’t pan out.
But when a stranger hears about your rocking ways from someone they trust, winning their attention (and cash-generating loyalty) becomes oh-so-much-easier … and closing deals happens a lot faster. So here are three ways to make it easier to draw customers in, month after month:
#1 - Make Them A Winner
Admit it, you love it when someone brags about your victories. Makes you feel hella good. Your customers are no different. They want to feel good about themselves, and about the money they spent with you. So make it easy on them.
Make it a habit to talk to each customer before/during/after the job about their expectations for the work you do, how they were exceeded, and how that made a difference for them. Notice that you’re not looking for them to brag on you - you want them to brag on themselves.
Here’s why this works: Ask yourself what’s a more effective sell: “My accountant is the best!” … or, I saved $4,000 by calling this guy.” When your customers brag about the results they achieved, the people who trust them want to hop on the gravy train themselves. Make your customers focus on how they’re winners because of working with you, and their trusted contacts will follow.
#2 - Make Them An Offer
Letting your customers know that they can receive referral bonuses is always a good way to bring in additional business, but it can be a double-edged sword if you’re not careful. If customers pitch you to their contacts simply to line their pockets, those contacts will see right through the pretense and both you and that customer lose credibility.
However, if you’ve taken the time to make your customer feel like a winner, they’ll have a lot more credibility when referring your service to their contacts. Instead of hearing “Buy This!” their contacts will hear, “Here’s how I solved a problem that you have too - check it out.”
And that referral bonus you hand out to your revenue generating customers is golden for two reasons - first, because you don’t pay it out until after the new customer is acquired, and second because it’s a whole lot cheaper than other forms of advertising.
#3 - Make Them A Hero
If you’ve made your customer feel like a winner, take it a step further by allowing them to spread the love. Give them a special discount offer that they can pass along to their contacts. Put them in the position to do those contacts a favor by extending that discount and everybody wins. You get the business, your customers gain appreciation from their contacts, and you don’t spend a penny on advertising that might or might not have brought in that customer.
So What’s Your Plan? Tell Us Below …
How will you use these tips to bring in more business? Take a moment now to share how you’re implementing these customer-doubling strategies and learn from what others have posted.
Dave
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16 Rockin' Comments
August 14th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Hey Dave,
A surprise discount works wonders. Have done that a few times.
It gives you a good reason to call up all your customers, connect, and let them know so they can “get their orders in on time”.
20% off for the month of “blank” is generally a popular deal. It’s not a massive discount, but it’s significant enough to create some motivation and some winning customers.
August 14th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Good idea with the “get their orders in on time.” You can definitely use a deadline as a closing mechanism.
How’s the zoom going?
August 15th, 2007 at 2:17 am
Good information. People spend a lot to increase their customer base. If this is possible without spending a single penny, then it is always preferrable. Good job!
August 15th, 2007 at 2:38 am
Dave,
Limited time deals are also good to boost up sales (and morale, productivity, etc) when things are a little slow.
And the zoom is good. The zoom is very good. haha
My progress is sure and steady, which is what I like.
Probably the best thing I’ve done to date is post less. I’m taking a little more time to write much better posts. I’m happy. Visitors are happy. It’s win-win.
August 15th, 2007 at 5:37 am
@Sagar -
Thanks for the kind words.
@Shane -
Glad to hear you’re taking your time with the posts - it’s amazing how much writing improves when you add even just a little more simmering time to the process …
August 15th, 2007 at 8:52 am
Would love to use your widget on my desktop to keep up with your excellent community. Alas, I am a MAC/OSX guy and can’t use silly .exe files and all that microsquish hoopla. Let me know when you folks decide to become sleek and agile. I’ll continue to use platform neutral desktop widgets I’ve enjoyed for so long. Drag and drop is where it’s at.
FowJam
August 17th, 2007 at 1:13 am
Dave,
If only more businesses realized that paying more attention to their current customers is so much easier than going out and finding new customers. I’ve always believed that word-of-mouth marketing is the best.
Excellent post!
August 17th, 2007 at 7:45 am
Maria,
Thanks for you kind words.
Word-of-mouth marketing is indeed a winner - and on that note, how did you hear about FreelanceFolder?
August 18th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
hi i enjoyed the read
August 19th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Great Article, Thanks!
Martin
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:59 am
Hi Dave,
I heard about Freelance Folder from Carolyn Manning - How’s that for WOM marketing? :))
Thanks!
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Maria -
That’s great - spread the word :-)
October 17th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Special discount always works!
S*
April 24th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Your advice is good as it makes the customer feel special and it extends an opportunity to grow your business. You need to WOW customers and you present a great approach.
June 28th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Great read! I’ve been using the limited time discount now for the past 2 months and it works great! Business has picked up well and the the clients have been excellent.
I do have one question:
How much is a fair referral bonus for a client? I have thought of doing this for a while as well, but have never came to a conclusion as to what they should receive. Some referrals have gotten me as little as $200 but others have brought in a lot more, so I didn’t know if there should be a set price or perhaps a percentage of the amount I made. Any suggestions?
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