FT Guide to Business Start Up 2021-2023, 32nd Edition

Chapter 13

Getting new customers

The simple truth is that if you do not make any sales, you do not have a business. This chapter looks at how you get new customers by selling direct yourself, rather than relying on an online platform, for example.

Every part of your business will be involved in selling, in the search for more customers. This extends from answering the telephone to your written material, to any person or activity in your business that may one day come into contact with an existing or potential customer. Train everyone who answers the telephone the correct way to do it: they must be prompt, polite, friendly and helpful. If necessary, provide them with a script to follow. But also read Chapter 11, ‘Names and brands’, which gives ...