Eleven ways to find more customers

You always need new customers, both to expand trade and to replace the customers you inevitably lose for one reason or another. This guide offers you 11 tips how to gain these extra customers.

1. Build a customer profile

The first step to finding more customers is to build a profile of your most profitable current customers. Do this by reviewing the top 20% of your customers to see if you can identify some common characteristics. For example, their age, gender, income group, location, preferences, the magazines, newspapers or media they prefer, or any other distinguishing features. (If you don’t already have a database of your existing customers, start gathering this valuable information immediately. Read the related Solution Guide, ‘Why databases are a valuable asset’).

The more you understand about your best customers, the better placed you are to find more customers like them and to target your promotions effectively. For instance, your research might uncover that your best customers live only in upper income suburbs. If you use letter drops, you would therefore save money by concentrating on these suburbs and ignoring the rest. You could source demographic information from Statistics New Zealand www.stats.govt.nz that will help you select suitable areas in unfamiliar cities.