There is this “build it and they will come” misconception out in the business world.
Build a blog and readers will come.
Build an online store and customers will come.
Build a brick ‘n mortar business, hang a sign and they will come.
It just doesn’t work that way and if you are a new business you are in for a very long wait, if you have the funds to hold out for “them to come”.
When we started our auto repair business we had some obstacles to finding customers. No lists to send out advertising to. Our niche was too narrow a niche to try the newspaper. We had one place we could advertise, a local publication focused on our niche. We sat for three months staring out the window waiting for customers to come.
We had the right location, we had the best technician, we had the best service (if anybody ever showed up).
Every month for three months our friends would stop by, we had some acquaintances who needed something and they had friends who needed something. At that point we worked on any car that showed up… really.
We have laws that prevent us from getting info on car owners so we had a challenge to overcome. Most businesses don’t have this kind of challenge.
There were days when it was really hard just sitting and waiting. But we showed up everyday on time and stayed until close, even if nothing happened.
BUT we knew the customers wouldn’t just show up because we had a new shop. So we hit every event our potential customers were at. We had shirts made with our business name so people would associate us with our new shop. We mingled and mingled and mingled. We said hi to familiar faces and answered questions. We gave out a lot of free car advice. We never pushed, ever. We asked about what everyone else was up to and only when asked did we let people know what we were up to.
Finally, one guy called. He saw our ad in the local publication and no one else in town had been able to fix his car. So we were his last shot… It was scary because this wasn’t just squeaking brakes. This guy had a real issue, an engine issue and no one could help him… We were mortified but we scheduled the guy in.
My partner, the technician, was stumped. He had some ideas but was clearly nervous about tearing into this guy’s motor without knowing. I said, tear in, we’ve got nothing to lose. Well, the issue was resolved, the guy was happy and so was the car.
And that is where it started. With one customer who had a problem. We sold it. We told him we would figure it out and we did. From there, this guy told everybody the story. Then, as we showed up to events people who had similar cars began to ask questions. We had created a value and a trust. We were known as the shop who could fix the stuff no one else could.
The beginning was hard but we never once sat and waited without also acting. We got out, we got our faces seen, we answered questions, we smiled a lot. We did a lot of one thing or another and things began to fall into place.
So don’t be passive. Be active and get out and sell it!
