The Power of Presence; How to get more customers to your small business

If your business is based on sales, every day is critical. Whether you’re in real estate, finance, or you own a restaurant or hair salon, the customers and potential client information that you receive today, could very well be in the hands of your competition tomorrow.

That is why I can’t stress enough the importance of collecting customer data, in order to stay present in the mind of those customers to get and stay leaps ahead of your competitors.

The thought process of the average customer is to shop around for a product or service, gathering ‘intel’ on what’s available, so they’ve usually put the word on the street that they are on the market for a particular product or service.

If you’re in a field like real estate or finance, and someone within your professional circle gives you a qualified lead, it is very likely that this customer has made friends and acquaintances aware of their interests in a particular product or service, which happens to be yours. Odds are that their name and phone number is being passed around in more than one professional circle.

The timing with which you make contact with this prospective client is so important that the moment you receive their information, it’s to your absolute advantage to make contact as soon as possible.

By not acting on a lead, and staying top of mind once you do, you have two things working against you; for starters, you are allowing for your competition to get in front of you in the mind of your prospective customer. And secondly, you are giving your potential customer the time and opportunity to seek out someone else who will provide them with the product or service they are looking for, a product or service that you can provide.

I once had a friend who worked in the banking industry. He belonged to a few networking groups, and when he received the business card of a prospective new client at one of his weekly meetings, he would go back to his office, pin the lead onto his calendar and let it sit there for two to four days.

When he finally got around to calling the customer, he always received the same response. They would inform him that they were no longer interested, because they were by that time, working with someone else.

He would then hang up the phone and complain that he had the worst luck when it came to landing new clients.

In the case of the restaurant owner who doesn’t have a way to contact those who eat at his restaurant once they leave, the same is true; he’s giving his competition the opportunity to get in front of his business with regard to getting and staying present in the mind of those customers.

I think the message here is clear.

By putting off contacting a new contact and prospective client, you are guaranteed to lose that client. By not collecting customer data while they’re in your restaurant or hair salon, you’re allowing your competition the opportunity to push you to the back of that customer’s mind.

The Small Business Dream app makes the task of contacting and staying in front of qualified leads and potential repeat customers easy by automating the process for you. No more relying on memory or the urge to procrastinate. Why not start your free, no credit card trial today?