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To the question of "where do your customers come from?" most people would probably choose advertising as an answer. Or referrals. Or direct mail campaigns. This may seem true, but it’s not really accurate. Your customers come from leads that have been turned into sales. Each customer goes through a two-step process before they arrive with their wallets open. They have been converted from a member of a target market, to a lead, then to a customer.

In order to look as relaxed as the man in the picture above, you might want to try implementing a referral system. A referral strategy is any system you can put in place to generate new leads through existing customers. The ideal way to do this is to create a system that runs itself! Here are some ideas for simple strategies you can begin to implement into your business immediately.

What if I told you that you could put an inexpensive system in place that would effectively allow your business to grow itself? For most business owners, a large part of their customer base is comprised of referral customers. These people found out about the company’s products or services from the recommendation of a friend or colleague who had a positive experience purchasing from that company. 

If your business benefits from referral customers, you will find that these customers arrive ready to buy from you, and tend to buy more often. They also tend to be highly loyal to your product or service. Seem like great customers to have, don’t they?

For some, the word ‘telemarketing’ brings up images of rows of people with headsets, all working from a head office in a country far, far away.

Others think of the people who always seem to call the minute they take their first bite of dinner. Some just think it’s an old fashioned marketing strategy. While in some cases this may be true, telemarketing is still an important tool for every business – of every size.

When it comes to marketing and generating more income, most business owners are focused outward. They’ve carefully established and segmented their target market, and created specific offers and messages for each market segment. They spend thousands of dollars in advertising and direct mail campaigns in hot pursuit of more leads, more customers, and more foot traffic. 

While this is an effective way to build a business, it is costly and time consuming. It requires constant and consistent effort, and while this approach does generate results, those results quickly disappear when the effort stops or becomes less intense.

If you want to start your own direct mail marketing campaign, then here are the five steps you will need to make it successful and profitable.

Every time you mail an existing or potential customer a letter and ask them to respond or take action, you are running a direct-mail campaign. Direct mail is a marketing strategy that can help you achieve a number of business objectives. From lead generation to customer retention, direct mail campaigns are a highly versatile and relatively cost-effective choice for business promotion.

So you’re convinced your business – and your customers – would benefit from a strong guarantee. Now what? What are you going to guarantee? How are you going to position it? Once again, this goes back to your target audience and your product or service. What are some of the major objections your potential customers raise during the sales process? What kind of risk do they take on when they make a purchase? How much time will they need to test or experience your product or service?

What is the biggest objection you need to overcome when closing a sale? Is it cost? Belief in what you have to say? Confidence in your product or service? While it is a different answer for every business, every business has to deal with some element of customer fear or hesitation before a monetary transaction.

Before you try to offer something, it is important to decide what kind of offer will most effectively achieve your objectives. Are you trying to generate leads, convert customers, build a database, move old product off the shelves, or increase sales? Consider what type of offer will be of most value to your ideal customers – what offer will make them act quickly.

Here are some examples of types of offers for prospective clients: