Whether you call them customer, clients, or patients, you need a constant stream of them to stay in business.

Most retailers I know say that they want to find the "best way" to bring in new customers. There is a thought out there that there is a "secret" method of new client acquisition. While there are some methods that cost less than others, it is better to diversify your prospecting methods.

Let’s assume that you’re in a business where customers contact you. In other words, you aren’t making cold calls. There are a variety of ways to prospect; advertising by different media, referrals, personal contacts, joining local business referral groups, joint-ventures with other businesses,. sending newsletters to customers, instituting a customer loyalty program, having a private label credit card for your business, offering extended financing terms, The list goes on and on.

For a short time "FAX broadcasting" was the way many businesses prospected. The cost as very low, FAX lists were easily available, and there was almost no effort involved. Companies sprang up that would send out your FAX for pennies each. For many, there was no need for any other prospecting method.......until it became illegal to send unsolicited FAXs to prospects.

Within a day, new business dried up. If you didn’t have another prospecting system already in place, you were in serious trouble.

Years ago, my dentist was just starting out and he told me that I was the only patient that week. Telling me that wasn’t wise, I thought. But years later I went in and he had a full waiting room. I asked him about the turnaround. He said "I have marketing systems in place to generate about 30 new patients a month." I said "What’s your secret system?".

Here’s the secret he told me; "I don’t know a system for bringing in 30 new patients a month. But I know 30 ways to bring in one new patient a month." And he does all of them.

And so can you.

What can you do that will generate one new customer a month? Writing articles for publication is one way. Just like this one. Your local newspaper is begging for human interest stories. They have to fill up the newspaper every day. You can help them. These articles don’t take much time, and they create credibility when customers see your advertising.

Putting a sign on your car is another idea. One reason people don’t do it, is that they expect it to generate a hundred sales a month. When they only get one, they assume the program doesn’t work. But it did work. It worked to bring in one customer.

If you send "Thank you" gifts to new customers, you’ll get a few percent of them to buy more from you, or refer others to you. If you look at these methods as just getting a return on investment, they tend to look very profitable. How much are you willing to pay to bring in a dollar? Anything under a dollar is profitable. Most millionaires didn’t get that way from incredible percent gains over a short period. They made small consistent gains that they just repeated and re-invested. The same with marketing. Continue to re-invest most of your profits from new customers into new and better methods to bring in more new customers, and you can’t help but succeed. Good luck.