Where you'd least expect ...

It's funny how things happen. Last week I left the house to market my services in one way and ended up getting business in a completely unexpected place.

As with most people starting up a new business, I tend to get caught up in working on jobs or on the administrative tasks of running a business. I have to make a point of making time to go out to sell my services. That in itself can be a challenge when everything else is demanding your attention. But reality is such that if there's no sales, then there's no business. So I make a point of scheduling time to call on potential customers as often as I can. Last week, one of these outings turned out to be a real learning experience for me.

We had beautiful, unseasonably warm spring weather last week. So I decided to go out and call on a number of businesses in the area. I chose an area, made list of the ones that were my target customers, Googled their locations and off I went. I made my way from one to the next not having much success. In most cases the owners weren't there or they were too busy to see me. Maybe everybody was out enjoying the nice day like me!

Along the way, I stopped at a couple of other places "on a whim". Neither of them fit the description of my preferred customer, but it turns out that I'm glad I dropped by. I got bookings for my services in each of the unplanned places I stopped and was called to do a job first thing Monday morning. You can't beat that! It turned out to be a very productive day in every respect.

It also made me stop and think about some of the other times I've had success that way. It happens more frequently than I'd imagine. I'll be in the area and just feel like calling on a business or leaving my card on the door. I'm more likely to get business from that call than any of the other planned calls I make.

What's probably more significant, is that in both these cases, neither client was even close to my target customer. One was even in an industry that I would consider the last one in need of my services. As it turns out, in that new customer I have discovered a whole new target market that I wasn't even aware existed. It may end up being a more important source of business for me than my initial target market.

So I guess it never hurts to go with your gut sometimes or to explore avenues that you wouldn't normally. You never know what you'll find in the least expected places.