Everyone knows that a satisifed customer leads to repeat business and referrals; and advertising draws people in, but what other methods do you use to drum up business?

Here's something that I do that takes very little time and money and has paid dividends for me. In every area of the country, there are free newspapers that are delivered to every home and the regular newspaper in the area has a section dedicated to what is going on locally. Between these 2 sources, you can find potential leads almost every day. Usually you will see articles on somebody getting a promotion, somebody opening a new business, somebody getting an award, etc.... People are so excited to see an article about themselves, and love recognition for it. All I do is photocopy the article and write a little note at the bottom. I usually say something like -

Hey Bob,
Congratulations on opening your 3rd restaurant! I always try to schedule my business lunches at your place, the wings are the best! If you ever need any Real Estate help or advice, feel free to call me any time. Keep up the good work.

Jeff

The letter does a few things - it shows that I took the time to recognized his achievement, it lets him know that I support his business, and it lets him know what I do and that I'd like to work with him. People love the acknowledgement and it probably took 3 minutes of my time and a 39 cent stamp.

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I have been doing it for years, but in reality I still think it's unconventional. I teach all of my potential clients everything I know. How to build, rank and market their websites. I don't solicit these clients, I just be as helpful as I can.

Because of the nature of my business (Web development) - there is a huge investment in time required to first learn, and then maintain the knowlege needed to be successful. When these students (Potential clients) finally realize that they no longer have the time or ability to keep up, and would rather hire a professional, who do you think they call? It is the easiest sale to ever make. Most of the time, I know everything about thier website already, and often times know a little about their family, what their hobbies are and what they like and dont like about the web etc. I have earned their trust and they already know i'm the professional.

Now this does take a lot of investment, I probably spend a good 20-30 hours per week posting replies, researching algorithms, staying current in SEO trends, making industry contacts etc, but for me it is well worth it.

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