Transcript

Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi.

What would you do if you had to get local customers but you didn’t have any kind of physical storefront?

That’s exactly the problem one woman is struggling with.

Keep watching this Q&A video to find out what advice I have for her.

By the way, for more useful tips on running a local business, be sure to check out my blog at CarmenSognonvi.com.

I recently got an email from a subscriber named Deirdre, and here’s what she wrote:

How can I connect with a local market when I don’t have a storefront? I’m a health coach. I want to develop a local business, but I’m not sure where to best find people who would want this service. I’m trying to focus in on a few key activities, rather than hitting a lot of activity without much return. Do you have any ideas?

Deirdre, this is a great question.

As you know, one of the advantages of having a local business is that your storefront and signage serve as a billboard that markets your business 24/7.

You’ll get a certain amount of business just by having people walk by or drive by your store everyday.

Since you don’t have a storefront, you’re missing out on that natural source of customers, which means you need to get creative.

There are a lot of things you could try, but if you want to hone in on one single strategy that will get you the biggest bang for your buck, here’s what I would suggest:

Put all your effort into developing relationships with strategic partners.

Figure out which businesses in your area target the same customer as you do, but offer services that don’t compete with yours.

For example, yoga studios, gyms, martial arts studios, chiropractors, health food stores, birthing centers, maybe even doctor’s offices and hospitals.

Get to know the owners of these businesses and as a first step to building the relationship, offer to put on a free educational workshop for their customers.

To make it as relevant as possible for each business’s customers, tailor the name of each workshop to that particular audience.

For example, if you do the workshop at a yoga studio, title it “7 Weight Loss Secrets Every Yoga Student Should Know.”

If you do the workshop at a birthing center, title it “7 Weight Loss Secrets Every New Mother Should Know.”

Your goal with the workshop shouldn’t simply be to raise awareness about your business.

Your goal should be to build a list of leads and prospects that you can market to over time.

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Lisa Sasevich, but she’s an expert at helping people turn speaking engagements into sales.

She’s got a great article on her blog with advice on what to do at an event when you don’t want to come across as “sales-y” but you still want to collect leads.

I’ll link up the article below, but here are her top 3 tips:

1. Free subscription to your email newsletter

Pass around a sign-up sheet to collect names and email addresses from audience members and invite them to subscribe to your email newsletter.

2. Prize through a drawing

Collect business cards from audience members and raffle off a free coaching session with you.

You need to describe the prize they’re getting, so use the opportunity to talk about the tremendous benefits they’ll get by coaching with you.

If you do a good enough job selling yourself, people will be excited to book a coaching session with you even if they don’t win the raffle!

3. Free call or webinar

Let the audience know that you’re going to do a free call or webinar later that week on a related topic.

Collect their contact information so that you can send them an invitation.

Doing a free workshop like this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to building a mutually beneficial relationship with your strategic partners.

For 5 more ideas on how to cross-promote with other local businesses, check out the video I did on the topic.You can click there or on the link below.

If you found my answer to Deirdre valuable and you have a question of your own that you’d like me to answer in a future video, just send it to info@carmensognonvi.com.

Before I get to our question of the week, I want to let you know that if you found this video useful, I would encourage you to sign up to get email updates from me!

You’ll get more great tips on how to run a successful local business, along with occasional special offers from me.

If you’re already on my blog, just fill out the form below.

Or if you’re watching this video elsewhere, go to carmensognonvi.com/newsletter and sign up there.

Ok, now it’s time for our question of the week!

What advice would you give to someone who wants to reach local customers but doesn’t have a storefront?

I’d love to hear your ideas, so leave a comment below!

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