Hi all I've been following the threads about coming out of contracting and getting a proper job! Thought I'd share some thoughts with you.
All the business I get is from word of mouth referrals, I find this is a lot easier than getting out there tendering for jobs etc. I know at one stage a few years back I thought my business was going to dry up so I set about finding ways to generate referral business. This is the easiest way to find new work because someone else recommends me. This gives me immediate credibility and also allows me to jump up the queue of preferred suppliers. Here in the UK we have various networking groups like the Business Link and Federation of Small Business. What I did was join the local chapter of a worldwide networking organisation. Costs me about £700 per year which is far less than the cost of advertising in the phone book! In my local group I have 20 other companies all of whom introduce me to contacts they have. As an example one of my products is aimed at lift(elevator) servicing and I asked the group if someone could introduce me into the largest lift installer in my home town (nottingham). Turns out one of my fellow member's brothers is the national IT manager for that company and I now have a meeting with him. If you are struggling to find new work ask yourself if you have a word of mouth referral strategy, if not then you really need one! I've just started asking my existing customers to write me a bit of a testimonial at the end of each project and if they could recommend me to anyone else. The testimonial is as much about advertising my customer as me so they also get exposure. I also have various strategic partnerships with IT hardware companies, they are an excellent source of referrals. If you want to know more about how I find work for myself then take a look at the BNI. Either http://www.bni.com (US) or http://www.bni.eu (Europe) There are loads of Podcasts and advice about networking and referrals on the site with links to other sites. btw my customers don't care if I develop solutions in Vis Fox, they only care if the solutions work so I don't get hung up on moving to other products. We need MS to sort out this vista nonsense for us and we're set for another 10 years! I'd be interested to know what you think about this. Graham Brown CompSYS Software Solutions BNI Member. The Business Referral Organisation ps I'm not a salesman for the BNI/Business Link/Federation, I don't make any commission and I'm not an affiliate!! _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
