Delegates attending a recent Site (Society of Incentive Travel Executives) Annual International Conference in South Africa get the opportunity to meet potential clients from different parts of the world during an evening function. Annual conferences are held in different parts of the world, giving Site members incredible opportunities to network and expand their business associates worldwide. Pic courtesy Janek Szymanowski.
Whether you are launching a new business, or running one that is established, you need clients and/or customers. While it is you who supplies the services and/or products, it is your client-base that will ensure you keep going and ultimately make a success of your business.
While it does sometimes happen that people start up businesses as a result of a particular organization, or even an individual, needing something specific, in this day and age it is rare to only have one client. Those who do are usually kept on a retainer and they have to fulfill certain requirements before regular remuneration is released. So it’s often more like having a full time job without the built-in perks of things like medical insurance and pension funds.
So where are your new clients and customers going to come from?
First and foremost you are going to have to identify the type of clients you need for your business to succeed. Then you can decide where and how to find them.
For the purposes of this discussion, let’s presume that you are going to offer a specialized administrative, management or accounting service that is relevant to the pharmaceutical industry. Whichever avenue you explore for clients, you can narrow it down to those who are interested and active in the kind of pharmaceuticals that meet your target market.
Networking
Networking is a form of interaction with people who have similar interests and/or operate in the same industry as you do. By regularly meeting with and talking to others, you can not only increase your knowledge and keep up to date with business trends, but you will find that you are continuously exposed to new opportunities – one of which could be a source of one or more new clients.
Most industries have societies and associations that are run to assist specific industries, and people in that industry are encouraged to join. Many hold regular meetings, conferences and social events for their members.
In the US there are dozens of pharmaceutical associations based in different parts of the country, and specializing in different areas (for instance geriatric or hospital pharmacies). In addition, you may want to join an association that is focused on the service you offer; an accounting association or an association that services the conference or exhibitions industry (depending of course on the specific service you offer).
Word of Mouth
This is one of the most powerful marketing tools, and one that you should always be aware of. However, most people do not rely solely on word of mouth referrals. Instead, by building up a solid reputation in business, many find that recommendations from satisfied existing clients and customers often do boost their client base and ultimately increase sales.
Meetup
There are Meetup Groups all over the world where you can get together with people who have common interests. This is also a form of networking, where you can learn more about specific issues and discuss them with similarly interested people.
You can easily find a local Meetup Group on the Internet, and decide what interests you most.
Here is a handful of examples of Meetup Groups that are interested in pharmaceutical issues:
- Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Meetup Group which supports members in the medical and biological sciences and is based in New York.
- The New York Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Meetup that meets to discuss topics relating to the growing pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.
- Sales People anonymous, another New York-based Meetup Group, but one that is focused in the field of sales and attracts professionals from a range of industries from pharmaceuticals to car sales.
- Bay Area Lifetech Group that meets regularly in San Francisco to discuss creating therapies that benefit the health of society at large.
The list goes on and on…
Conferences and Exhibitions
Attending conferences and visiting exhibitions (many of which are set up alongside specialized conferences) is another great way to network and meet or access your target audience. But first you need to be sure that people from your target market will be attending, particularly if you are going to be paying to either attend the conference or rent a booth at an exhibition, or even simply travel some distance to get there.
Often associations invite members to attend conferences, and often for a lesser fee than those that are organized on a more commercial basis. Also, some associations open their doors to non-members in an attempt to increase membership long term. You may want to take advantage of these offers.
If you do opt to attend conference, or in fact participate in any type of networking exercises, be sure to have decent business cards that you can give to potential clients. A scrap of paper with contact details isn’t going to cut it; you want them to remember you as well as know where to find you. Furthermore, people are more likely to keep well designed business cards than scraps of paper!
Also bear in mind that if you are offering products, rather than services, exhibitions are often the preferable option since you can display samples and even sell from a stand or booth.
Craiglist and other Classified Advertisements
You can use Craiglist and various other classified advertising facilities to find clients or advertise your products and services. Craiglist is a popular option which now has more than 700 local Internet sites based in 70 countries worldwide. According to their mother web site, users self-publish about 50-million new classified ads every month. Of course only a small percentage of these be geared to your particular interest or specialty, but the figures are awesome.
Search Campaigns
In this current day and age, just about everybody uses the Internet in some way or another. Perhaps the most popular tool is the search engine which practically all of us use to find everything and anything, from information, to people and products.
While many people still use the Internet as a kind of vast shop window, getting ideas and checking out products BEFORE they make a commitment, market research shows that more than half of businesses buying from other business use search engines to source initial information before they make their purchasing decisions.
You could search for suitable clients using one the top search engines (Google of course being the favorite), and then contact potential clients and tell them more about what you have to offer. But the more usual approach is to set up a good search campaign that will attract your clients – or buyers of your products – while you sleep! If you’ve never done this before, you might need some assistance getting it right.
Blogs
It’s up to you to gauge the type of blog posts that your potential customers and clients might want to read. Many people have set up blogs that cater specifically to their clients, maintaining continued interest and ensuring they stay loyal to the brand.
If you don’t have (or think you don’t have) writing talent, it is a simple matter to outsource the writing of blog posts to professional writers. You can also outsource management of the blog site if you need to.
Even big business has recognized the value of blogging.
Forums
There are forums all over the Internet, most specializing in different interest areas. If you don’t know where to start, go back to Craigslist. You will find that there are about 100 topical forums that more 120-million user post messages to.
But there are forums all over the Internet, and it’s an exceptionally good way to network online.
When you set up your business web site, consider the option of adding a forum. Get it right and you’ll find new customers showing up on a daily basis.
Social Networking Groups
Today the top social networking groups, particularly Facebook and Twitter, cater not only to “social” networking, but they also provide the opportunity for people to use their sites for active marketing of products and services. By creating interest on these sites, it is possible to boost your client base in a phenomenal way.
It works for some people, but not for others, but to make it work, you should be aware that consistency is key. For instance if people are following you on Twitter, and you don’t have a continual presence that offers something new and exciting on a regular basis, chances are that a whole lot of your “followers” will lose interest.
Joint Venture
Joint ventures are strategic plans that involve forming temporary partnerships with other individuals or businesses for a single project (rather than business as a whole).
Often people starting out in business like to establish joint ventures with those who have more experience than they do, to minimize the chance of failure. If you go this route you will share costs – and clients – but will also have to work with your “partner” and make decisions you both agree to.
Referral Incentives
There are many ways that you can use referral incentives to increase a client or customer base. One popular option used by companies doing business on the Internet is to get involved in affiliate programs. For example, you could decide to open an online book store on your web site, and recommend books that have something to do with pharmaceuticals or other medical issues. You recommend certain books, and then direct potential clients to Amazon.com or whichever site or sites you have signed up to do business with.
Alternatively you may prefer to get involved in more personal referral incentive schemes where you personally recommend the services of particular companies that have undertaken to pay you a commission on any sales made as a result of your recommendation. In this instance you will be face-to-face with people, which is often a much more persuasive option.
Of course you may also offer referral incentives to people to increase your own client or customer base.
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