Going
Entrepreneurial

Visualizing my marketing strategy clearly

Where Is Your List of Clients?

A common question that a new entrepreneur will invariably face is “Where is your list of clients?” The expectation when that question was asked of me was that I would write at least 50 (preferably 200) client names on a roster who were ready to sign.

This was a strong wake-up call for me to be really clear on my target market. Because they wanted names and phone numbers, it could not be a theoretical answer. They wanted me to be able to come up with a ready-made list, and to continue to go back to my sources to regularly mine for additional clients.

Before choose to let go of your day job, this would be the one question that I would choose to answer. It will be a litmus test for you to determine how much preparation work you have done to date on your business from taking it from theoretical into reality.

How Will You Deliver Your Own Clients to Your Doorstep?

Once you have that list of names of potential clients, you need to ask yourself how they will become your paying clients. Consider the following questions:

• How will people learn of your business (rule out "word of mouth" for now)?
• How many products/services need to be sold each month to reach your targeted income?
• How much time will you spend each week to cultivate new customers?
• What specifically will you "touch" these potential customers each month (or choose whatever frequency makes sense)?

The more clearly you can visualize how you will regularly bring customers to your own doorstep, the more realistic your entrepreneurial plans become. Many times, entrepreneurs focus on the “operations” portion of their business delivering the goods each day. But a large portion of their success will also be determined by how regularly they can keep in touch with their prospects and customers.