Any tips for generating new leads on a budget

[projectxy]

Hi..

As with a lot of businesses we have had to tighten our belts to ride the current econmic climate.

Does anyone have any good advice to generate leads on a tight budget apart from the usual networking clubs etc (we which frequent )

Many thanks as always

[NikkiPilkington]

This thread might help - http://www.ukbusinesslabs.co.uk/foru...w-clients.html

[Ray Stewart]

Your blog from the website still isn't working!

If I were in your position I would make sure that businesses locally know about me. You can do this by writing a letter or dropping in. Neither approach costs much.

I would focus on the extra service you offer that local PC shops don't - mainly network support. I would offer a number of hours for support for a slightly discounted price for a minimum of 5 hours if they buy up front. You could sell these at £35/hour instead of your normal £40 for example. This helps tie the client to you and you know you are likely to get used more than 5 hours a year so it's win for you and win for your client.

Focus on the comfort factor for your business clients. They know they have an expert on hand when needed and you will get first bite at upgrades and other spin off work.

Try to get some testimonials from current clients to include in your letter or presentations. Use case studies, with client details if they are happy, to demonstrate what ProjectXY can do to resolve real life issues and hassles.

Write the longest, but most interesting, letter that you can. Don't think people ignore a 16 page letter from a prospective supplier - they read it if it is interesting and written from the heart. I have done this times and it works.

I would get rid of the MS produced pdf files on your website. They take ages to load and it is disappointing that you haven't taken the time to write something. Yes, they are pretty, but they will not convince me or anyone about the benefits of a server. Give me a case study to read of one of your clients and how you set it up and how much help it really gave them - that would convince me.

Never forget - your market is enormous. Most small businesses have more than 1 PC and from my chats, few, if any, realize how a server and a network can help them improve their overall efficency. Your duty is to get the message across to as many of these as possible using the means above.

Posture yourself as the local expert - offer your services free to the local radio station for a phone-in programme or to the local paper on business computer use, or common problems people come across with simple solutions. Get your blog working - and update it regularly with helpful suggestions and simple solutions to Outlook issues for example. You can then point people in your letters to your website and blog for more information - at the moment these are both seriously letting you down.

All this can be done without spending much money but I don't focus on the money so much as how much I can help local businesses. Suppose you manage to sell half a dozen batches of support hours quickly, your marketing budget (or salary budget!) just had a significant boost of £1,050!

I love helping businesses grow using self funded methods that work. There is rarely any need to borrow money in business when funds are usually quite easy to come by. For example, how often do you email/telephone/write to your existing customers with good topical offers? you should do it at least monthly - just make sure it is always something new and desireable/useful - you will have a steady stream of sales. Have you offered support hours to existing network customers? if not - why not? Do your previous clients come to you first when they need a new machine? if not - why not? ask them! Does your network installation service include all cabling? (the first company I asked said they would cable on one level but were not insured to use ladders - no I didn't use them). Do you tie in website hosting for your network clients? if not, why not? you need access to mx records for directing email to exchange so why not get the hosting as well?

I have to do some work now but this should give you a few ideas - hopefully.

[projectxy]

Ray,

Thank you again for an indepth overview of how to improve things. After reading the above I realise I have a lot of improving to do. That is one of the great things about this forum, the range of expertise avaliable.

I am now thinking of having a good look at the services offered by ourselves and reviewing what we are not offering. I think that hosting would be a good addition aswell and also we do cabling installtions but I do not think that I have made that clear in our marketing.

This afternoon I have seriously thought that we are going in the wrong direction and well it sometimes takes an outside view to make you realise that mistakes you have made.

Cheers

Jay

ps... blog is really doing my head in.... currently trying to migrate my wordpress installation from self hosted unit to new offsite host... and well its frustrating work!

PPS.... I forgot to mention in the above... in part due to reviewing our situation I would like to invite any UKBL members who are considering reviewing any of thier IT needs to drop us a line. Also I dont think that I have fully introduced my business on here... I will do so very soon.

Thanks again

[NikHurwood]

don't attempt a full migration... is easier to install a fresh copy, use a database backup to import your content, add your theme and install any plugins you use. Migrations are always hassle, especially in winter.

[Ray Stewart]

Jay. Thank you and the others for the kind comments. Now wordpress..

I use wordpress for my blog - it is brilliant and simple, and I also have several client blogs on my hosting setup. We recently outgrew our simple hosting account but the thought of moving what had become sizeable and busy sites filled me with dread. At least it did until I ran into Carl Sheperdson on this forum.

I spoke at length to him about my needs, and worries, but I was persuaded to move all the hosting to his reseller account. As part of the service, Carl and his team will take your existing setup and transfer it all to their UK servers for you. There is no charge for this but it saves (me anyway) a heck of a lot of headaches.

The wordpress blogs that worried me, Carl tells me, are actually quite easy to move! Anyway, the moves happened. No lost or corrupted databases, no hassles and no-one even noticed anything had changed.

I am sure Carl can help you if you ask him - it never costs to ask! If you need some free webspace to put the blog on for a bit you can use mine - no charge - it's up to you. At least Carl can do it then!

[leemason]

If you are looking to increase your service offerings to your existing and new customers how about offering them online backup services? I see that you mention setting up backups in your SBS consultancy offerings. We have a small number of resellers already and if you are interested I would be happy to discuss this with you. The great thing is that once you have signed up a customer they will tend to continue using the service so you get a decent amount of recurring revenue which in any business is no bad thing. Let me know if you are interested.

I have to say I will be looking to follows some of the advice that Ray gave in this thread myself!

[Meanna Blog]

Have you looked at all into Guerrilla marketing.

It may not be for you, but the GM principles are very simple to put in place and do not cost much at all. They do, however, take time, which it sounds like you do have.

[steveo]

We're a website looking to get more leads and members, does anyone have any tips for promoting our site and getting new members?

Originally Posted by Meanna Blog

Have you looked at all into Guerrilla marketing.

It may not be for you, but the GM principles are very simple to put in place and do not cost much at all. They do, however, take time, which it sounds like you do have.

[NikkiPilkington]

Steveo why not start a new thread on this as your offering is different to the original poster's offering?

I do have some thoughts so will reply when you do - after coffee

[uniquejosh]

Originally Posted by steveo

We're a website looking to get more leads and members, does anyone have any tips for promoting our site and getting new members?

Wow, have a look of your site. It looks pretty. There are a few recommendation shopping sites around, right? Why Naturalbornshopper is different? What is your target? It seems you have spent some serious money on the site, do you allocate any marketing budget for that?

With more information, maybe I can propose some ideas for you.

[steveo]

Thanks for the kind comments about the site. Our unique selling points are:

1. We're a cashback site.
2. Our members can create lists of items they like.
3. We give our users a cut of any money they make by selling items they recommend via lists they create.
4. We're UK based.
5. We're always running new competitions and prizes for our members.

In a nutshell there are some good reasons to use our site.

We do have a marketing budget, however to really get a site like this into the mainstream would take a considerable amount of money and influence, but we are picking up a steady stream of customers all the time which is encouraging. Any ideas you can think of though to get our name out there would be fantastic.

Many thanks

[uniquejosh]

Originally Posted by steveo

Thanks for the kind comments about the site. Our unique selling points are:

1. We're a cashback site.
2. Our members can create lists of items they like.
3. We give our users a cut of any money they make by selling items they recommend via lists they create.
4. We're UK based.
5. We're always running new competitions and prizes for our members.

In a nutshell there are some good reasons to use our site.

We do have a marketing budget, however to really get a site like this into the mainstream would take a considerable amount of money and influence, but we are picking up a steady stream of customers all the time which is encouraging. Any ideas you can think of though to get our name out there would be fantastic.

Many thanks

Sounds great. benefits for users are very clear.

Also, incentives for existing users to attract new users to join are strong.
I could imagine it is best to use social media to grow it.
some ideas:
1. users can share their recommendation/list on their own social network websites (facebook, myspace, twitter....)
2. Wish list function
3. Calling for re-visit: create price alert, so if the price of the products users like go down, a price alert will be sent.
4. Create a twitter account for your site: any promotion information, goodie, freebie info and competition....all updated there. use hashtag to highlight keywords to attract new users.

All Free....

Probably you have done many of them. Anyway, hope it helps.

Cheers

[steveo]

Thanks for the ideas We have a twitter account already actually http://www.twitter/nbshopper

What we really need is a £x,xxx,xxx investment lol, know anyone who would be interested?

[uk-new-businesses]

Originally Posted by projectxy

Hi..

As with a lot of businesses we have had to tighten our belts to ride the current econmic climate.

Does anyone have any good advice to generate leads on a tight budget apart from the usual networking clubs etc (we which frequent )

Many thanks as always

A shameless plug for sure, but you can have some local leads for FREE at http://www.michrome.com

[UK Business Network]

Originally Posted by Ray Stewart

Your blog from the website still isn't working!

If I were in your position I would make sure that businesses locally know about me. You can do this by writing a letter or dropping in. Neither approach costs much.

I would focus on the extra service you offer that local PC shops don't - mainly network support. I would offer a number of hours for support for a slightly discounted price for a minimum of 5 hours if they buy up front. You could sell these at £35/hour instead of your normal £40 for example. This helps tie the client to you and you know you are likely to get used more than 5 hours a year so it's win for you and win for your client.

Focus on the comfort factor for your business clients. They know they have an expert on hand when needed and you will get first bite at upgrades and other spin off work.

Try to get some testimonials from current clients to include in your letter or presentations. Use case studies, with client details if they are happy, to demonstrate what ProjectXY can do to resolve real life issues and hassles.

Write the longest, but most interesting, letter that you can. Don't think people ignore a 16 page letter from a prospective supplier - they read it if it is interesting and written from the heart. I have done this times and it works.

I would get rid of the MS produced pdf files on your website. They take ages to load and it is disappointing that you haven't taken the time to write something. Yes, they are pretty, but they will not convince me or anyone about the benefits of a server. Give me a case study to read of one of your clients and how you set it up and how much help it really gave them - that would convince me.

Never forget - your market is enormous. Most small businesses have more than 1 PC and from my chats, few, if any, realize how a server and a network can help them improve their overall efficency. Your duty is to get the message across to as many of these as possible using the means above.

Posture yourself as the local expert - offer your services free to the local radio station for a phone-in programme or to the local paper on business computer use, or common problems people come across with simple solutions. Get your blog working - and update it regularly with helpful suggestions and simple solutions to Outlook issues for example. You can then point people in your letters to your website and blog for more information - at the moment these are both seriously letting you down.

All this can be done without spending much money but I don't focus on the money so much as how much I can help local businesses. Suppose you manage to sell half a dozen batches of support hours quickly, your marketing budget (or salary budget!) just had a significant boost of £1,050!

I love helping businesses grow using self funded methods that work. There is rarely any need to borrow money in business when funds are usually quite easy to come by. For example, how often do you email/telephone/write to your existing customers with good topical offers? you should do it at least monthly - just make sure it is always something new and desireable/useful - you will have a steady stream of sales. Have you offered support hours to existing network customers? if not - why not? Do your previous clients come to you first when they need a new machine? if not - why not? ask them! Does your network installation service include all cabling? (the first company I asked said they would cable on one level but were not insured to use ladders - no I didn't use them). Do you tie in website hosting for your network clients? if not, why not? you need access to mx records for directing email to exchange so why not get the hosting as well?

I have to do some work now but this should give you a few ideas - hopefully.

Have to say, well done you, have read a few of your posts and none of them pull punches or waste time, yet they are informative and you quick becoming the (dare i say) mentor whose posts I actively look for, I have not asked you anything yet Ray, and yet you have given me advice on other peoples questions, you obviously know your biscuits, and IO think there nay be a few more "Labbers" that will share my opinion,

Thanks

Kip

[uk-new-businesses]

Originally Posted by Ray Stewart

Your blog from the website still isn't working!

If I were in your position I would make sure that businesses locally know about me. You can do this by writing a letter or dropping in. Neither approach costs much.

I would focus on the extra service you offer that local PC shops don't - mainly network support. I would offer a number of hours for support for a slightly discounted price for a minimum of 5 hours if they buy up front. You could sell these at £35/hour instead of your normal £40 for example. This helps tie the client to you and you know you are likely to get used more than 5 hours a year so it's win for you and win for your client.

Focus on the comfort factor for your business clients. They know they have an expert on hand when needed and you will get first bite at upgrades and other spin off work.

Try to get some testimonials from current clients to include in your letter or presentations. Use case studies, with client details if they are happy, to demonstrate what ProjectXY can do to resolve real life issues and hassles.

Write the longest, but most interesting, letter that you can. Don't think people ignore a 16 page letter from a prospective supplier - they read it if it is interesting and written from the heart. I have done this times and it works.

I would get rid of the MS produced pdf files on your website. They take ages to load and it is disappointing that you haven't taken the time to write something. Yes, they are pretty, but they will not convince me or anyone about the benefits of a server. Give me a case study to read of one of your clients and how you set it up and how much help it really gave them - that would convince me.

Never forget - your market is enormous. Most small businesses have more than 1 PC and from my chats, few, if any, realize how a server and a network can help them improve their overall efficency. Your duty is to get the message across to as many of these as possible using the means above.

Posture yourself as the local expert - offer your services free to the local radio station for a phone-in programme or to the local paper on business computer use, or common problems people come across with simple solutions. Get your blog working - and update it regularly with helpful suggestions and simple solutions to Outlook issues for example. You can then point people in your letters to your website and blog for more information - at the moment these are both seriously letting you down.

All this can be done without spending much money but I don't focus on the money so much as how much I can help local businesses. Suppose you manage to sell half a dozen batches of support hours quickly, your marketing budget (or salary budget!) just had a significant boost of £1,050!

I love helping businesses grow using self funded methods that work. There is rarely any need to borrow money in business when funds are usually quite easy to come by. For example, how often do you email/telephone/write to your existing customers with good topical offers? you should do it at least monthly - just make sure it is always something new and desireable/useful - you will have a steady stream of sales. Have you offered support hours to existing network customers? if not - why not? Do your previous clients come to you first when they need a new machine? if not - why not? ask them! Does your network installation service include all cabling? (the first company I asked said they would cable on one level but were not insured to use ladders - no I didn't use them). Do you tie in website hosting for your network clients? if not, why not? you need access to mx records for directing email to exchange so why not get the hosting as well?

I have to do some work now but this should give you a few ideas - hopefully.

Just to say that I think this is brilliant advice. Although it's aimed more at we designers, I'd recommend having a read of the article linked below ... Some of the core messages definitely apply in my opinion:


http://www.squidoo.com/uk_freelancer

[fundingportal]

I recently went out and did some ood old-fashioned door banging, and was amazed at how positive a reception I got! In fact I spent 1 1/2 hours chatting with a new prospect.

It costs nothing but time and makes you real, not just a phone call or a letter.