“As a matter of principle, I never attend the first annual anything.” - George Carlin

As an entrepreneur, one of the toughest roadblocks you run into when first starting out is building your reputation. Whether you are in a service industry or selling your own new product line, how do you persuade prospects to become clients? At times, it can seem like an impossible task, but take heart, there are things you can do.

My first piece of advice for any new business owner is use the people you know! Whether it’s friends, family, past employers or neighbors, make sure everyone you know (and everyone they know for that matter) is in the loop about your new business venture. I would suggest sending out an e-mail to everyone on your contacts list giving them a breakdown of what you’re doing and asking them to pass it along to anyone they know who might be interested in your service or product. You’d be amazed how fast your contact list can multiply by just asking the people you know to pass your information along.

You can even include a special Family and Friends offer or discount. Remember, it takes a lot of work and money to get your business off the ground. Even if you only break even or lose a bit of money on these sales, the portfolio and/or great references or testimonials you gain will be priceless in the future of your business!

Ok, so maybe you got a few sales or projects out of that and you have a few solid references under your belt, now what? I would suggest before you throw a bunch of money into conventional advertising that you take a little more time to really build a first class client list.

I’ve found one approach to tapping into a group of potential clients that is a little friendlier than your run of the mill cold-calling assault. Reach out to prospects that you already have something in common with or a connection of any kind.

For example, when I began marketing my website design business, it was essential for me to have a solid , substantial portfolio before I could expect company’s who ran across me through conventional advertising or search engines to trust me enough to put their company’s online image in my hands. So after contacting friends and family and completing a few projects for them, I took it a step further.

I reached out to small businesses and entrepreneurs locally. By specifically approaching that group, I had at least two things in common with these new contacts: location and the struggle of starting out. I found this extremely effective and made some great connections by being completely honest and open with them about what I was doing and what I was hoping to accomplish. And of course, I always included information about how a website could help them in their marketing efforts.

Once I had pretty much exhausted those possibilities, I racked my brain for another group of prospects I could approach. I thought of what groups of people I would have some sort of natural rapport with and whom I would be fairly comfortable contacting out of nowhere. For me, this target market came to mind on a Saturday afternoon while at a horse show. I grew up riding horses and still enjoy my horse time! I then realized that there was a large percentage of barns I was familiar with that didn’t have websites.

So from there, I began contacting each and every barn that had an address, phone number or e-mail address listed! I got a decent amount of business out of my efforts and managed to build a solid portfolio to boot.

Starting out in the business world is always a challenge. When it comes to small business success, reputation and references are key. Don’t get discouraged, just find your own group of “friendly” prospects and jump in!

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