12 Sure Ways to Get More Customers by Abdillahi Abdillahi

Whenever you start a new business you ask yourself one of the most important question "How can I get customers?" Or if you have some customers already you say it like this "How can I get more customers?" .There are many ways which you can promote your services or products but it seems not every company owner is utilizing from them.

I was on MSN messenger the other day and there was a friend online who was reading some of the articles I have written so far. As he was telling me that he found them interesting etc I suddenly asked him this question "What do you like to read about?" And he answered the question like this "I like to read about the internet and computers but what I really want to read about these days is how to get customers, a short article. I then said "Well you know what you just gave me an idea of what to write about my next article .I will be telling you some tips which I think will work if implemented well and bring customers to you .

This friend I'm talking about has recently started a web hosting company and he is trying the best he can to make it the best company and take his share from this industry. So that is how I got the idea of writing this article.

It is really hard to promote a new company into a crowded industry such as the web hosting industry where people start new companies daily. Like I said before there are many tactics which are legitimate and as a company owner you are supposed to use them for your company and see the outcome.

As you can see now, Today in this article I will explain some tips which you can use to get customers or more customers .There will be 12 tips as the title of the article says and most of them will not cost anything if you want to use them for your company. But You know when you want to start a business you will have to invest some cash into it and see how it goes so that is why the tips which will cost you something worth all the money you spend on them.

All the 12 tips I covered here can be used for any business type even though I wrote them for the web hosting companies. All right why don't we start explaining the 12 sure ways to get more customers ? Ok then here we start doing so.

1.Referral Program.

This is one of the best ways to get customers or new customers. You can setup a referral system which your current customers can sign up to refer customers to you. You give the customer a special tracking url which he can then give it to any one he wants to sign up through his special tracking url.

So whenever an existing customer's url is used then that customer gets a commission like 15 % of the price .Also you offer his is own account where he can track the statistics of his campaign etc. It is better to automatically sign up any new customer the referral program so he or she can start referring customers to you right away without having to go through another sign up process than the first sign up process which is when filling out the order form.

For that reason ask the person whether or not to sign up for the referral program with the same information provided with the order form . And for the management and the tracking url which we I mentioned above you can use many ready programs and scripts which will just do that and more .Some billing soft wares allow you to sign up affiliates and give them that special tracking url .

That is the number of tip and it works well because I have seen it and used it for my company and recently I made some research and asked some hosting companies how they got most of their customers and most of their answers were through referral system. So start setting up a referral system and see how it comes out.

2. Word of Mouth

This is very similar to the referral program except that the existing customer doesn't get any commission and no special tracking url.This one works very well too and I saw companies got customers in that way. In order to make an existing customer refer new customers to you ,you should be providing good service to him and he should be happy .So make sure you do the best you can make your existing customers happy because happy customers mean more business is on the way and that they will not hesitate to refer new customers to you.

Ask your current customers what they think of your service and if they are happy or not and if they say that they are happy then ask them to write a testimonial or a review about your company etc. So basically your existing customers will refer new customers to you if they are happy with you .

3. Weekly and Monthly Special Offers.

This is another good one to get more customers. You can offer special monthly offers and see how the sales will soar. For example if you sell 100mb for $10 monthly then you can make it a special weekly or monthly offer and sell it for half of the price. And as you can see if anyone orders that package from you he will save $5 which is a good thing and that is why most people would be interested in.

Of course to get a good profit you might need to set special rules for those offers like saying applies to monthly payments etc even though I don't think it is good thing to do because this might make some potential clients to say away because they might want to order that package and prepay for six months or one year service and if they make the payment for example one year in advance they will save $60.

That may not be good for you but it is for them but allowing them to make payment in advance like that will get you more customers. You can also set a date which the offer will expire and won't be available anymore .So make weekly or monthly special offers and watch your sales soaring .

4. Offer Huge Discounts.

Yes it is true .This one is like the weekly and monthly offers as customer would save some money by ordering any package with the discount on it except that it might be only for monthly payments. Offering huge discounts will get you more customers.

You can offer discounts in many ways like saying order for six months service and get 30% discount etc. Make sure you don't offer too many discounts as you would always want to generate profit .You can start offering discounts at the end of the month but why wait when you can start now and observe the results ?

5. Give Bonus with every order.

Well this is a good one too and it is easy to use it for your company . I have saw many companies giving out some good bonus for just ordering anything and you can do the same for your company . You can give a bonus to the client whenever a customer makes an order . There are many things that you can give out as a bonus to for example sending a url where he can download a special e-book , template etc for free .

You can give anything you want as a bonus but it is good to keep in mind that the bonus should be something you think would be good for the customer or he would interest in etc and not something that will make him say what that is what they call a bonus?
Also it is good to give the bonus after you receive the payment and set up the account so you can feel you didn't just give a bonus in case no payment is made. Start giving out bonus and see how your business grows .


6. Join Forum Discussions.

You should join forum discussions where the kind of services you provide are offered. For example if you have a web hosting business you can join many good forums where web hosting is discussed . In the forums you can post your weekly or monthly special offers but don't just go to the forums when you want to post an ad .

You should join the discussions and contribute and help the other members in the same time get help and free advertisement for your company with your signature. Whenever you post an ad on such forum other members and guests will see your offer and might just contact you for business .

So go and join those forums and get free advertisement for your company and remember don't just go there when you want to post and ad but be active and make a part of the community.