How to Find Customers for Your Home Business

A Home Business Article Contributed by Elizabeth Fox-Wise

A Home Business Usually Can't Rely on Hanging a Sign out to Find Customers

Finding customers for your Home Business might, perhaps, be the hardest thing you will face as a home business owner. For all start up businesses this is the largest hurdle, but being a home based business adds more hurdles. A Home Business, by definition, is a business that is being run from your home. By the nature of that fact alone, most home businesses are run very low profile. Typically you do not hang a large sign outside to draw in drive by customers.

If you do choose to put a sign outside of your home advertising your business, most residential areas do not get the traffic that business areas do. Because a sign outside is not very effective at drawing customers to a home business, and because most home businesses to do not cater to walk in traffic, the majority of home business owners will choose not to put a sign outside of their home.

So How Can You Find Customers for Your Home Business?

The First thing you have to do is Develop A Plan! Think about who would make the ideal customer for your home business. If you sell to businesses, consider what department within the business is most likely to need your products or services, and what individual (what job position) would be the "decision maker" the one who will make the decisions for purchasing. Then try to thing about how that person would normally find products or services like yours.

Where would they look when they want to buy a product or service. Finally, find a way to put your information your home business, or yourself in those areas that you have deemed them most likely to look.

Realize that there are Many Paths to Success! Sales will often come about when prospective customers hear about your products and services in many ways and from several sources. The more often they hear about you and your Home Business name, the more likely they are to consider what you have to offer when they are ready to buy. Everything you do and every contact that you make is laying the groundwork for future sales for your home business.

Work your Local Newspapers! This is a great source of information about your potential customers. Find out who just bought a house, had a baby, got a new job, started a business. Identify those who would be good customer prospects for your home business and send them a personal letter letting them know why your product or service would be perfect for them.

What Else Can You do to Find Customers for Your Home Business?

Watch for events that might bring your potential market together. Contact the Organizer and offer to give away your product or service as a prize during their event. If possible, arrange to bring the prize and the start of the event and use the opportunity to network with potential customers.

Attend meetings and seminars that you thing your prospective clients would attend, and basically get out in the community and talk about your home business. Give yourself all kinds of exposure and you will see that growth comes from some unexpected places