How to Find Customers In Your First Few Years As A Small Business

Finding customers in the first few years of starting your small business can be one of the most difficult things a small business can go through.

To draw insights from proven strategies, we look to the founders of SoFresh, Olagoke and Abimbola Balogun.

The story of their early years and how they found customers in the first few years provides some guidance into what other business owners could do.

“We had just moved to Lagos about a year before we started the business. We launched the business in a 45 sqm shop space with one employee, who lived with us. We had an initial capital of about N3,000,000. At this point, we probably didn’t know more than 10 people in Lagos, and these were friends we grew up with in Ilorin and a few church folks. We basically started from a pretty clean slate.”

“After about 2 months, we were soon hit by reality, people weren’t just coming to the store to buy. We would open for 14 hours daily and make just a sale of N3,000, sometimes less – with the outlet full of fresh produce. As the days went by, it even became increasingly difficult to get people to come into the store to buy apples or oranges. They’d rather go across to the open retail market at Ogba, just a stone’s throw away even though it was the same price.”

“So Goke took to the streets every day; he did door-to-door marketing, sharing flyers, and talking to people. Back then, we didn’t have Instagram and other social media channels where you could reach thousands of customers with a click. So we had to do the work in the street. People were also not generally talking about healthy eating as much, so we were loners, so to speak.”

“Bims stayed back to work at the store, welcoming and serving the new and old customers. Sales remained low and soon the bills started pilling, local government levies (legal and illegal), State agencies dues, State & federal taxes, ‘omo-onile’ and ‘area boys’ settlement, running the generator for about 10 hours daily, rent had to be renewed, and staff had to be paid. We barely covered our costs so we started subsidising the business from our personal incomes. But we kept records; Goke is a stickler for records.”

“Three to four months down the line, our marketing efforts started yielding results and sales started growing; the employee count rose to about five, excluding us.”

3 Practical Ways To Find Your Customers In Your First Years As A Small Business

Below we highlight three (3) practical ways you can find customers in your first years as a small business from the story of SoFresh:

1. Door-to-door marketing campaigns

In today’s increasingly digital world, it’s easy to overlook the effectiveness of physical and door-to-door campaigns, especially if you operate a brick-and-mortar business.

These campaigns have been proven to be successful because they reach an audience that is not online.

When you speak directly to people about your products or services, it’s often easier to gain their trust than with online marketing, particularly in a low-trust environment.

2. Online marketing

In today’s world, online marketing is undoubtedly the best and quickest way for small businesses to find customers.

You can engage with your customers by posting and interacting with them on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or your website. You can also promote your products and services through advertising on Google and Facebook.

These platforms provide the opportunity to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviours, increasing the likelihood of reaching potential customers who are interested in what you offer.

3. Influencer marketing

During a 2017 interview with BellaNaija, SoFresh’s founders credited influencer marketing as critical to finding customers during their early years of business.

In their words, “Influencer marketing was very successful for the So Fresh brand. It gave us brand recognition, believability and boosted sales. I will recommend it for businesses. As a small business, be creative about it. Don’t overspend on influencer marketing, be very deliberate. Find a value you can offer to the influencer even if you don’t have cash. It could be expensive, we’ve declined some because they weren’t yet right for us.

However, a very easy way to get influencers to market your products is to consistently produce good quality products and excellent service. We’ve had big influencers market for us that we haven’t even talked to or met. When your products are good and you keep at it, people will market for you.”

Need help finding customers in your first few years as a small business? Contact Mr Ted Iwere today!!!

PLUS: Whenever you’re ready, here are ways you can work with us in starting, growing and scaling your business:

1. Do you want direct advisory and mentorship and would like to work with me one-on-one? 

The Accelerator, our exclusive 12-month programme, is for entrepreneurs who are looking to increase their profitability, create more balance in their lives and are ready to become wealthy by building self-managing, owner-independent businesses. Click here to apply now

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