Customer is business 

There is a plain truth ‘There is no business without customers’. You might own a big business house, big large number of staff, large infrastructure but if you have no customers, you have nothing much worth mentioning. It is the number of customers what you need to increase everything else comes later on. Increasing number of customers is main target of any good business establishment. Now the first question that comes to mind of a businessman is ‘How to increase customers?’ I agree, this is not a simple question but the answers are unbelievably simple. Most businessmen, especially new entrepreneurs go for complicated methods to increase their business but they forget about simple and time-tested methods. Let us discuss some of the easiest ways to increase your customer base- 

You primary target is to increase customers

Almost every one will agree to that but how and trust me if you follow these simple methods, you will find solid results which may take time but once started to give results, the results will stay forever-

Method 1- You should remain constantly in touch with your customers, for a simple reason, if your customer does not know you personally or if you are sitting in your cozy office leaving everything to your employees, however competent they are you are probably forcing your customers to your competitor businessmen. Your customer needs your personal attention. Most successful service sector or consumer products companies always remain very active as far their marketing departments are concerned. They might have their sales teams attending customers in luxurious air-conditioned halls or cabins but their marketing department is always busy doing rounds out in sun or rain. 

I have certain examples to prove my point here- Everyone knows pretty well that Karsanbhai Patel the owner of Nirma washing powder who started his business selling door to door. He never sat in a big office even when he became big, very big but operated from the general hall where rest of his workers sat and ran his business. Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel is name to recon today but who might have imagined that a person who started his business on a bicycle and has raised a company worth Rs.3,000 crores and listed in Forbes, mingles with his customers freely. He is a well known figure having a pharmacy college - Nirma Institute of Pharmacy and one of the leading engineering colleges- Nirma Institute of Technology and so many other institutes but he is still the same simple guy available to all his customers.   

I can give you another example that of MDH spices, the owner of Mahashian Di Hatti constantly remains in touch with his customers through every possible method and as you can see, he even keeps in direct touch by appearing in TV adverts himself despite having global reputation in spices’ business. Who might have thought that a company started in 1919 in a town in Sialkot (now in Pakistan) will become one of the biggest spice brand in global market but this is all due to efforts put up personally by Dharam Pal Gulati. And let us not forget he is almost 90 now but as active as a Young man. The way the company has raised slowly but steadily is matter of envy for many big brands operating in very grand style but nowhere near MDH in terms of business or profits. This is how, personal contact works to increase number of customers, the backbone of any business. 

- To cut a long story short, when you sit in a position where you are available freely to your customers your customers feel more at home thinking that you are waiting to make a deal with them. They also feel that in case of a problem they can approach someone who will solve it for them. You should make them believe that yours is the business house that is ‘exclusively’ for them. Meet them freely, shake their hands, offer them tea or cold drinks, Indian customers love to feel important. Enjoy their discussion even if you find it not so interesting in certain cases but treat them as you treat currency notes despite the fact that a currency note is perhaps the most bacteria bearing item but no one throws them away because the currency notes carry tons of bacteria on them.

Be reliable for your customers

Have you ever heard that your customer comes back to your place when he has full faith in you. He buys as many items or times as much trust, he has in you. You might earn lesser profit but never lose trust of your customer. I would like to mention a personal experience at this point, which I initially thought, would make me a loser but I gained a lot of self-confidence and faith of my customers and directors of the company. I conducted a customer, dealer seminar in a remote district of Bihar about 15 years before where we kept our PCO machines on display. Our dealer had sent almost 300 invitations to prospective customers allotted new PCO connections in that particular area. 

But as the luck would have it, only 29 persons turned up due to heavy floods which are common in that part of our country. Our team took almost 16 hours to cover a journey that normally takes 3 hours to reach to the destination. I was disappointed to see such a small gathering because our company had spent lot of money to organize that seminar. However we attended as we do usually in such meetings starting with standard opening speech by dealer, a welcome to chief guest and manager of the company (me in this case) and thanking all who attended and invite to see demo by engineers of the team. 

All went well, speeches over, demonstration over, lunch taken but no bookings as we usually expected in such seminars. Suddenly a new development took place when a particular invitee approached our dealer and asked him to provide a telephone instrument as gift along with machines as a condition for bookings. That would have cost us almost Rs 800/ each booking as the model of instrument they demanded, priced that much. Our dealer threw the ball in my court, I thought for a moment and said yes thinking that out of 29 present, we could at the most have 4-5 booking so even if I would have to pay from my own pocket, it will be 3-4 thousand bucks. I was wrong, every single person present there booked a machine and booked on behalf of their friends also who did not turn up due to floods but authorized their friends to do so. 

We had 41 bookings that day and expected to get many more in coming days if the telephone instrument offer was there. I remained in that meeting up to 4 PM before left for railway station to catch my train at 5 PM. There was no mobile service in that town of Bihar until then but when I reached to my office after a gap of a day, I received shocking news that the number of bookings had reached to 76. I was bit worried now because if my director marketing refused my decision I shall be ruined. That amount associated was almost equal to my 23 days salary in 1998. However, I opened the door of chamber of my marketing director’s office and wished him. He asked me about different things including flood position and my journey to Delhi but not a word of my commitment about telephone instrument to all customers on bookings of PCO machines. In about 10 minutes time when I had taken a few heavy sips of the tea, I started slowly- Something has gone wrong there, I tried to consult you before agreeing to it but it happened so suddenly …’ he stopped me with a smile stood up and extended his hand to congratulate me for having taken a very good decision. 

Our director knew his job 

This was due to his insight and knowledge of ground realities marketing and marketing professionals face while in actual field. We sold most number of machines in that particular allotment of PCO connection beating our nearest rival the Visiontech from Hyderabad by a big margin and the company from Meerut that ruled the area was totally wiped out in this particular case. I went back to meet all my newly acquired customers in coming months along with team of engineers to keep a vigil on subsequent problem which we faced due to lightening cases in that area which caused frequent damages in power supplies and burnt motherboards. We managed to find a solution of this problem by providing an extra protection and guiding PCO owners to provide proper Earthing or grounding. That made our machine number one brand in not only Bihar but also allover Northeast area and West Bengal where rainfall is more than usual.  

We must honor our promises

Back to my old line, you might earn lesser profit but never lose trust of your customer, respect your own words and promises you made with your customers. Never forget what you told to your customers when you met them for the first time, never forget whatever is promised in your letters those you sent to your dealers, never forget what is written in your brochure, never make false promises through TV or radio adverts, that is not going to help your cause. Do not leave the decision on your customer, even a customer, however ordinary looking in the beginning can bring about a downfall if your promises not fulfilled with honesty. 

Do you remember the saying- You can fool a person once or fool ten persons on ten occasions but cannot fool all of them on all occasions. So, if you are trying to do that, you are perhaps fooling your own self. Stop doing that, try to be a  person who has commonsense and has understanding of at least as much as a common customer has, that will help you most. You should check with your employees who are there with you to assist you in such matters. Perhaps they have something to offer to you because they have proper training to do their job, never overrule them but think before rejecting a suggestion or overturning a decision which you may regret later.

Work is more important than hollow words

It is simple as that, what you do for your customer is the most important help you can offer to your customer and that is not an act, you did out of mercy but that is his right. If you would do, a small favor of your customer that will be more remembered than your thousands of assuring words. Let me explain it by an example, my car was not gaining proper speed despite all my stepping on gas-paddle. I thought my engine had lost its capacity and needed an overhaul. I had my car checked at my regular garage where I was given an appointment for ten days later with an estimated cost of repairing. Meanwhile I took my car to my nearby shop for a temporary adjustment, my car was okay within three minutes and what the local guy had done to fix it, he only adjusted a nut at air-cleaner and that was it. He also suggested me to change air-filters to make things smoother and the best part was he did not charge me a single Paisa for all this. Now he looks after my car for almost all jobs. Where else do you think should I go?

So, you need to keep helping your customers to keep them associated and instruct all your concerned departments to take special care of your customers because they are the actual people who pay all of you. Once they stopped visiting your premises, you all will be jobless. My local garage owner is wiser than my car dealer is where I bought my car from, because he earned on one time basis only while my favorite garage is earning 5-6 times a year.      

Survival of the fittest

Whenever new entrants in business see at established business they feel that to be successful like them is a tough job, yes it is, but not impossible unless you are not willing to put efforts. Had it been that tough, how the other people in business would have succeeded? Naturally, you shall have to give them a proper competition to come at par with them and why limited to par, why not better than them? Yes why not, if you are keen and willing to make a customer base. If you are not well versed with fundamentals, chances are you will not succeed, but then professionals are there to help you out, utilize their services. However, the end line is that you should know all about your business. Before giving your business an all out try, you should know its basics. You should know the ways of your industry. You should have a clear vision to look into future. You should know your business like back of your palm. Do you know that all professionals keep themselves updated by adapting various methods! Doctors keep studying various medical journals and even the medical representatives help them learn about new medicines and combinations of basic salts. Your aim is find maximum customers for your business but before doing that you shall have to know about their basic needs and while learning about their basic needs you shall have to learn about that particular product to help your customer in very best way. Only the best will survive, rest will be filtered out, so try to be the best. This has already happened in West and it is the fate of our country, consider it best time to upgrade yourself NOW, before it is too late. 

Try to be expert of your own field

Once you have decided to enter into a particular field of business, go all out to master it. Although it is very easy to talk big telling others to do this or that or what one lacks in a particular field or what they need to do in marketing, publicity, technology etc. It is better to think in terms of self-development rather than keep suggesting that the companies you are working, as a dealer needs to improve. Let them do their job, it is you, who should be your own priority. It is not wise to think that you are the best and need no further upgrade to keep up with the trend. No one is perfect, one has to keep learning until his last moment and at least this is true for a businessman. To be best is to keep trying, you should do your part of the job as good as you can do and the results are bound to come.  

How to do it

The last word in creating a customer base read as – ‘You can do it if you are doing it collectively, as a team’. Your servicing, accounts, marketing, maintenance, spares sections all must operate as a well-oiled machine, together to bring as many customers as you can. You, as in charge of your business need to keep a close watch on them to see whether coordination is working as desired or it need to be improved. Although you do everything according to a rule-book but that alone is not sufficient but you will have to follow a strict teamwork to achieve your targets. No personal egos should play their roles in achieving your set targets. 

Keep helping your customers by providing them proper service, good products and right prices. They will keep coming back bringing more customers with them. Most businesspersons who have done it successfully know this mantra and most of them have never gone to a training center for learning this. Your customers are not aware about your working process departments etc. For them every one associated with your business and present in campus is part of you, therefore everyone should help them to keep them interested. You should talk to your employees to let them know that it is duty of everyone to treat customers as helpfully as possible. 

Back to original question

You have everything now but there are still no customers and as we know, there is no business if there is no customer. So what you need is, as many customers as you can get but how! One way is to get them through advertisement. You need not go for costly advertising if you have no big budget for that. Have you tried power of postcards? This is the simplest way of reaching to local area customers. You can do it by taking a local telephone directory and send as many postcards to people living in that particular area. You can also get pamphlets printed and have them distributed through local newspaper hawkers. There is another way of advertising through classified items in local newspapers. Be very careful with your content for your publicity material, it should not be over boasting which can keep your prospective customers at bay. In fact, 90% publicity job is related to your mind where it comes from and only 10% is labor work that it takes to write, print or distribute. So take every care that you give your prospective customer what he needs, it could be very much area specific, mental standard or financial position of your targeted customers.   

Conclusion

Your customers are like your family jewels which need your best up-keeping. Your existing customers are your best assets and if you are able to maintain good relations with them, you shall be able to get many more through them because mouth publicity works wonders for a business establishment. Remember a golden rule- This is buyers market where customer is the king, mold yourself according to your customer but never forget good business ethics, your customer also knows values of good business policies. I must end my post with few suggestions- Be customer friendly, provide him best services and think for him because that is also like thinking for your own self. 

Image source wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_filter