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Practice Management > Building Your Business

If I gave you one new customer, would you give me $200?

By Marvin LeBlanc

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Attention: Small business owner or struggling salesperson:

Are you sick and tired of looking at the wall while making phone call after phone call, only to find no prospect wants to talk to you about your offering?

Are you an experienced business owner or salesperson that used to generate business by knocking on doors or shaking hands at networking functions? Do you find that somehow in today’s fast-paced world that’s not working for you? 

So are you ready to try something different? Here’s a valuable gift, from me to you:

Visit a coffee shop close to your office. Or perhaps stop by a popular mom and pop restaurant. Think of any place you know where the patrons of a business are prospects that you would like to obtain as new customers, a place whose customer base might have a need your product/service can meet or exceed.

Visit one of these places and approach the manager and offer them $200 (or whatever amount you want). Have the coffee shop manager agree that you’ll pay $200 worth of coffee for the next 35-40 people that walk in. The only stipulation is that the manager allows you to: 1: say hello to the patrons, 2: tell them that the coffee is on you today and 3: share your business card with them AFTER they give you permission to hand them the card. 

Don’t shove your card on them. They will smell your commission breath. Just have fun. Don’t be pushy. Be personable!

Now slow down and honestly think about this: If you casually shook hands with 35-40 people in this laid-back environment that you created for yourself, how many of these people will eventually become your client? One person? Two people? Perhaps more? I’d be willing to bet that just one new customer is worth more than $200. Over the course of your career you probably have spent thousands of dollars on advertising and marketing. Most of it probably did not work. 

This does work — try it now! And by the way, you have my permission to send me $200, or at least your story about how this simple concept worked for you. 

Until next time…I wish you Peace, Love and Gumbo! 

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