How to Reach New Customers: Methods for Businesses on a Budget Every business has a product or service it has to sell to make profit, but with no customers you surely won't have any sales.
As a small business owner or start-up company, your probably strapped on to your company debit card for dear life.
While there are many effective ways to reach new customers, these can often be expensive.
Perhaps some of the methods you tried just haven't gotten you the return investment you were looking for.
So for the cash strapped business owner, here are 5 great ways to reach new customers.
Offer Packages

• Separate your services into a few different packages.
  


• Offer a discounted version of your most popular service or product and remember to make it the bottom of the barrel package so you have plenty of room to work with on higher priced packages.
  Some people are searching for the lowest price rather than the highest quality, so while sales of your mid range and premium services may drop slightly, the sheer volume you can generate from the lower end package will more than make up for any lost revenue.
  


• Offer a premium package.
  By including something extra (added value) with your basic service you can grab a few extra sales dollars from those customers who are actually looking to get the most bang for their buck.
  

"BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE" - Free Services Offer your customer something free.
Make sure the offer isn't something that's going to cost in the long run.
If you're changing oil, include a free vacuum, if you're selling donuts, offer a "Buy 3 get 1 FREE!" deal.
These are small enticements but they might just increase sales enough to drive your sales up.
Set up a contest

• Setting up a contest for a free service is a great way to drive some new traffic your way.
  There's a few ways to make this successful without killing your bottom line.
  The main point of running a contest isn't to drive sales directly but instead to give you new sales leads.
  


• If you have a website or a newsletter, ask your customers to sign up and provide you with contact information (Name, Number, Email) in order to be registered to win.
  This will get you a large list of new sales leads of people who are already interested in your services, which means you now have the ability to send them information without cold calling or spamming inboxes.
  


• Setup a business card drop box.
  For those who haven't jumped into the web-based world of marketing, setting up a box (fish bowl method as I like to call it) for people to drop their business cards in is a great way to gather customer contact info.
  Once you feel like you have enough new contacts, "fish" through the box and pick a winner.
  


• Don't forget to actually pick a winner, and for that matter give them their prize.
  The winner gets a free service and you get a new FREE advertising agent (so long as they liked your product).
  


• Finally, make sure what you're offering is something of some value.
  You want your potential winners to care enough to give up their information, and you want your winner to enjoy it enough to want to tell everyone he knows.
  

Focus Your Advertising

• Localize your advertising.
  While many new companies sky rocket out of control and go nationwide in weeks, the likelihood is that you will have to fight the competition for a leg up.
  With that in mind, advertise like a small business rather than a Fortune 500 corporation.
  Start of with paper advertisements, a website with at least your business info and contact info, a few flyers and consider a localized campaign with Google.
  The latter item is an extremely useful advertising tool that can direct customers right to you as they search online for the exact product or service you provide.
  
• Spread the word locally.
  Find your clients manually and go where they go.
  The more you search, and it gets difficult, the more you're going to find.
  Get in touch with potential clients and throw out your sales pitch as often as possible.
  

Trade information When you find a potential client, whether in person, by phone or online, GET THEIR CONTACT INFO!!! Turn your chair around one time and read that again.
Don't just hand out your business cards and expect a call.
You paid good money for that piece of paper and you would hate to see it thrown away.
Start practicing a bit of selfishness with your cards.
Give them out once you've gotten your potential customers information, when you actually make the sale, and give them as many as you can spare when you complete the sale or service.
Remember, your past customers are your best form of advertising, and the best part is they paid you and give you word of mouth advertising for free, which in this modern business world, is often your best asset.
For more ideas on how to reach new customers visit myRise Design's website where you will find great ideas and even some FREE advertising methods that will help you spread the word about your company and services.