Ask yourself this question: Who most likely either buy from you or send you referrals? Yes, those who know you or you know. How do you approach to tell them about your business? Making a list of people who you want to contact is a start. Here are a fewe questions to stimulate thinking:

1. Your friends and their friends
2. People from schools: classmates, teachers, club members…etc.
3. People you know from work: co-workers, employers and customers
4. People from organizations that you also belong to: churches, special interest clubs…etc.
5. People who are your contacts in trade associations you’ve been a part of over the years.
6. Tradespeople you know: lawyer, pharmacist, doctor, dentist, plumber, insurance agent, hairstylist, mechanic and even your babysitter or nanny.
7. Neighbors, past and present
8. People you know through sports and hobbies, such as hunting, fishing, running and golf.
9. People you know because of your home: lender, real estate agent, builder, installers, handyman…etc.
10. Contact you have through families: your own and your spouse’s

We all know alot of people to tell about our business. Now, how do you scan through this list to land your first customers?

• Send a personal letter and follow up with a phone call a week to 10 days later. In this letter, announce your new business. Offer a free consultation or a special discount, something to create interest and excitement in what you’re doing. Perhaps you could offer to pay a “word-of-mouth” fee to those contacts who send you referrals who buy from you.
• Use the telephone. Call some folks to “catch up.” Find out what they’re doing and then share about your business.
• Set up breakfast, lunch or coffee meetings. Set it up as a “feedback session” where you present your product or service in a low-key manner as a way to solicit feedback from the person. At the end of the meeting, ask the person for referrals to people who might benefit from your offering.