What People Say About Us
How do you attract new business?
You can advertise, promote and shout your message as loudly as you want and spend a tonne of money in the process. You can design and promote a great website, take out print ads in different media and still not really connect with your prospects the way you really want to.
Yet right now, wherever your business is and what ever you do, the simplest way of gaining new revenue is to engage with the clients who already like what you do for them.
Here are a few stories that we have collected for you.
Enjoy them and learn from them.
Maybe you could ask us to help with implementing something similar that works for you.
Family Run Restaurant, Ilkley
Busy and successful, this restaurant was enjoying the benefits of seeing all tables taken several times over on their traditionally popular Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. They had little awareness of who was eating with them, i.e. they held no information about their customers other than the name taken for the bookings.
“By implementing a simple information card given to all our diners to complete - between requesting and receiving the bill – we are now able to email them with details of special events, engage with them over birthdays, ask when they most like to eat out, and begin a relationship with them outside of the times they are in our restaurant.
One section of the card is showing us just how much business is coming from referrals from other previous diners, and this means we can now thank them with different incentives and simple thank-you notes, creating more business again for the future.”
Wealth Management Adviser, Skipton
Based in rural offices and with a history of serving the accounting and tax interests of wealthy business owners, this sole trader was seeking new business but nervous of asking his clients in case they misunderstood his request.
“Thanks to the adviser who came to see us I have made some real in-roads into this process when I was unsure it would work. Each time I see an existing client for their annual audit or for a review of their inheritance tax situation, I take a few minutes to explain that I can continue to service them better if I can avoid the need for advertising. I show them a sheet that has been designed to capture contact information for five people and businesses they know and would willingly refer me to.
All I do now is call the first person and explain that they were referred to me by my client, and chat about my work and ways that I may be able to be of service. This process has greatly increased the number of people I am now seeing and a new client is typically worth £4,000 to £6,000 each year to my business, so the financial impact of the help of YBS has been amazing. I feel so much more confidence around this issue of asking for business and it is because I have a clear structure for doing so.”
Home Décor Business, Harrogate
Specialising in whole house projects rather than single room decoration contracts, this business has been established just two years and is seeking to re-affirm it’s identity within the local community.
“Before we had the help and the Diagnostic service visit from your YBS advisor we had never really found a way to get a standard response from a customer at the end of a project. We always wanted them to tell their friends and neighbours about what we had done for them, but never had a mechanism for this, let alone one that worked!
Now I discuss with each prospective client - right at the start of my work with them and as part of the agenda at the design brief meeting - that an essential aspect of the way we operate is by requiring and expecting specific referrals and introductions from them. I ask them to bring people to the property in the last stages of the decoration and makeover and this is giving us new business where we then repeat the process at their own design brief meeting. A typical contract for me is between £15,000 to £35,000 per project and so the impact of this new approach is very strong for us.
Thank you so much for opening our eyes to such ideas.” |
