Here’s a simple tip that can become a core part of your marketing routine. 

Despite what many business professionals think, and many marketers unfortunately perpetuate, marketing is rarely “sexy”, its winning business that generates excitement. 

Prospects are the lifeblood of your business and form the base for all your marketing activity. 

Generating prospects profitably however, is often like panning for gold - you have to find a source and keep believing that there is gold in there.

I’ll point you in the direction of a cheap, good source - your local newspaper.

Do you REALLY read your local newspaper?

There are a number of simple opportunities for you to get new customers, but three that are easy to spot in your paper are:

A  It’s a new business
B  Changes in ownership
C  Changes in size and location.

Many new businesses have no provision for your service in place, yet. 

They may think they are not ready for you or don’t need your service. They may think they it will be expensive. You’ll need to convince them otherwise. However, I believe, the main reason is that no one has approached them yet. 

In my experience, new businesses will be receptive to you if you make the effort to contact them. If your business also saves them money, time and effort all the better. Something to think about for your marketing messages.

The other two groups are always going to be more difficult prospects to turn into clients, but will almost certainly produce higher average fees. They will be open to change because of their situation, but be more hardened to your approach. Be patient and use a longer-term strategy. 

I imagine that it will take you about 15 minutes to scan the newspaper each week and pick out these three groups of prospects. 

Adverts and the recruitment section are the most obvious places to find prospects and their contact details, however most local newspapers also have a business page or business related articles, which will also give you a contact and perhaps a crucial piece of information.

If you specialise in an area such as small cash handling businesses, this could actually become one of your leading sources of prospects.

The actual gathering task can be given to another member of staff, but you may be the best person to spot other opportunities for you and your business.

Once you have identified a prospect, I find using a simple introduction letter followed by sales call still generates the best results. 

This is a numbers game; you need to do this tip weekly to get the maximum benefit. At the very least you will find yourself much more in touch with the pulse of your local business community. 

However, I believe you will be delighted at finding a simple, profitable way of getting new clients and building your in-house prospect lists.

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