A big part of my professional background is in fundraising and arts marketing. This means that I’ve been trained and had lots of experience with the reality that it takes more than one “touch” or contact with an individual before they make a donation, purchase a ticket or, in most cases, utilize a product or service. It might help to keep in mind that it’s going to take more than once, in order to “reel in” a potential customer or client.
Now it may seem like people come to you from out of the blue to make purchases or utilize your services—at least some of the time. But in truth, they’ve probably heard about your business, seen a marketing piece, or come in contact with information about your business at least three times before they actually become a customer. For many people, and especially with large ticket items or long-term contracts, it can take much more than the “rule of three” touches before they come on board.
This means that as a business owner, you need to be constantly and continuously cultivating and reaching out to prospects and individuals in your potential market. Expect that you will need to follow up with individuals you meet or those who express interest in your home business. And, I don’t mean just following up once with a “nice to meet you” phone call. There’s a reason that people who sell real estate or insurance are constantly touching base with prospects and clients—they know it’s going to take a lot of contact before a person actually “buys” and a lot of contact to make sure that when they are ready to buy, the first person they think of is agent XYZ.
So, if you remember that cultivating clients or customers in your home business is not going to be a once-in-a-while or one shot activity, you’ll be able to focus on finding ways to turn strangers into customers!
See Also: Nurturing and Cultivating Customers and The Care and Feeding of Prospects