When prospective customers reach out to us at Perfect Day Business Mentorship, one of the most common stated struggles the business owner is experiencing is that there just aren’t enough heads coming through their doors. Increasing their customer count is their biggest concern, but the strategies that they have been employing haven’t been working.

Too often, the automatic response to adding more customers means to go out and seek advertising. It means sinking money into forms of marketing that are shouting to cold audiences – people who have no idea who your business is, or what you do.

While paid advertising is an important part of business, it’s the last tier on the totem pole of the strategies that we teach at Perfect Day Business Mentorship. Most often, business owners are looking right past their greatest – and easiest – opportunities. Instead, here are 3 ways you can focus on opportunities that exist within your current clientele.

Family and Friends

The hottest first layer of extension you have accessible to you is the family and friends of your current customers. Their family should be the first connections you explore, because if they are most likely enjoying their experience with your company, and you are delivering on the desired outcomes, they are going to be talking about you to the people they spend the most time with – their family.

The next step outside of their family is their friends. These are going to the be people that they spend time with on the regular. “I was just at The Hair Shop yesterday and check out my new do! Stacy gives such great scalp massages! It was ah-mazing!” They rave about you and then continue to exchange gossip about how much they enjoyed their hour in your salon chair. The friend network is important because these people are also hearing about your business all the time.

The more that your business is spoken about, the more these people recognize who you are, and understand how great your business is. If their friend (your customer) is doing it, chances are, they will want to, too!

Coworkers

The next place your customer spends most of their time outside of their home, is at work. Their family and friends are the most immediate people that surround them, but their coworkers are next on that list. You can guess that your business has been talked about at the water cooler when Nancy asked Julie where she got her hair done. Your affinity starts to grow within the network of their coworkers, and you now have established some brand recognition there, too.

Hobbies

Outside of the immediate circle of their family and friends, and their coworkers taking up the next big chunk of their time, people they see routinely will also hold some valuable affinity. This might look like the group of golf buddies your customer spends every Thursday morning with, or the coffee group your 55+ clients get together with every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. For the same reasons that exist above, these are people they routinely see, share their experiences with, and like to give help to. You will have affinity within this network of theirs, also.

The Continual Cycle

The best part about this type of marketing strategy is that it always exists. As long as you listen, pay attention, and communicate with your customers, you will always be picking up on where opportunities might lay to extend your radius to serve more people.

How do you get these networks to convert to paying customers? A simple question to your current customer: “You know, you crossed my mind the other day. I was thinking about the group of girls you always get together with at the dog park. What do you think about bringing them in for a free coffee tasting? I’ve got some new product on the way, and I know you’re always picking up coffees to take to them every afternoon at the park. Bring them in on Saturday afternoon, and I’ll bring these new beans out for you guys to try. What do you say?”

You’ve now extended an invite to bring new people into your business, and you’ve shown your current customer that you value the relationship, which will build your retention.

It’s a win-win for all parties involved, and it didn’t cost you anything.

Want to dig deeper into this marketing strategy? Work with a PDBM Mentor.