Step Three and Beyond - Finding/Getting and Keeping Customers

Anyone who is in business is basically spending most of their time doing these three things.  It is an ongoing process for anyone from the newest small business owner to huge corporations like WalMart or GM or Macy's.  The way you find them, get them to purchase your products and keep them coming back is basically your marketing, plus your customer service that we talked about before.

So, to begin, you need to look at what we discussed before about your ideal customer.  For me, generally speaking, it's the candy wrapper business owner, but can also be the small business owner who uses digital graphics and artwork to create their products for their own customers.  As my products are completely digital and sent to my customers as a download, they can be anywhere in the world.  This also means that my methods of finding/getting and keeping customers will be through a website, emails, blog, discussion forums and other available internet services.

The next step for me then is to create a website (http://s2.webstarts.com/cjsgraphics/) and as I'm starting from scratch, it's a freebie that I found while searching on the internet.  It is a humble beginning, but it's also the way I originally began 10 years ago.  Right now, rather then spend any money on a domain name and hosting, I'd rather spend it on the things I need to create the best product I can for my customers.

So, while marketing is important (and will be an ongoing process), the quality and quantity of my product is more important.  Without a quality product, there won't be any customers at all.

It is much easier and less expensive to have existing customers returning than it is to constantly find new ones.  Therefore, the quality of the product is extremely important and where you time and effort are well spent.  Also, keep in mind, these happy customers can do some marketing for you.  People are very skeptical, not only because of wanting value for their dollar, but also afraid of scams and fly-by-night small businesses.  Therefore, a referral from a satisfied customer can carry a huge amount of weight in a potential customers making a final decision on whether or not to purchase from you.

Right now, for me, I've been working on my little, beginner website and will continue to do a bit each day; I've sent out an email to past customers, letting them know that I'm starting again; and once I'm a bit more organized, will start posting on some forums that I had been active on in the past.  Some customers will return, some won't, but that's ok, I have to start somewhere right?

Take care, Terri