Resolve to Find New Customers in 8 Steps

A full parking lot, jam-packed classes and your favorite exercise machine in use are all signs that point to January. For many, the New Year is a pledge to exercise regularly, eat healthier and shed pounds—which means spending time at the gym. And wouldn’t you know these goals always rank near the top for New Year’s resolutions.
This commitment to health means finding that gym membership card, finding your workout gear and retraining your body, muscles and your mind. While getting in shape may seem like a daunting task, if you start slowly, once you’ve hit your stride, positive results start showing with leaner muscles, loser clothes and an overall healthier attitude in general.
As a small business owner, finding new customers is much like getting back in the workout routine. You may have lost ground in the fourth quarter with all of the planning, parties and gift buying. But we can help get your small business New Year’s resolution started off on the right foot in the following 10 steps.
1. Check out new Cole Lists homepage. We’ve simplified the way to create your list using our Google Maps™ technology. The Quick Start List Builder allows you to build a list based on your profession. First choose the location you’d like search. Next, decide who you want to target—residents or businesses? Then choose your profession, preview the list and purchase. At that time users can enter their login and password information.
2. Interested in cloning your best customers? Use the Customer Cloning feature that’s built right into Cole Lists. All you need to do is enter at least the first two characters of the prospect’s last name or business name, house number and zip code. Enter this information for at least three and up to 10 of your best customers and then check out the demographics and customize the search criteria to create a new list to market to.
3. Find your niche. You can target prospects for your type of business using the For Your Profession tab. Simply select the industry you work in and we do the rest.
4. Commit to a direct mail or telemarketing campaign. Create the direct mail piece or the phone scripting and set aside time on your schedule to send out the letters/postcards or make the calls.
5. Follow up. That means if/when you send out something, you follow up in a week or so to check to see if the prospect received it. Involved in a telemarketing campaign? Why not call back the prospects that you may have left a message for to see if you can reach them.
6. Utilize the extras. Have you checked out Cole Community? That’s our online community dedicated to helping small business owners find new customers with articles, a blog and webinars—both on-demand or future ones you can sign up. Take advantage of this free information to grow your business.
7. Have you checked out Cole News section? Located on the Cole Lists homepage, you can find daily insight on various categories including finding new customer, growing your business, industry news, mailing lists, sales leads, small business marketing and telemarketing lists.
8. Track what’s working and what’s not. Do more of what’s working, do less of what’s not.