Free Advice: How to Grow Your Business and Get More Customers

Every business owner I talk to asks me the same question: how do I get more customers? They expect a complicated answer. It isn't complicated. It's work — but it's simple work. Here's the advice I give every one of them, free.

Be the name they think of first

When somebody needs what you sell, they call the name that pops into their head. That's it. That's the whole game. So you have to show up — again and again, in the places your customers already look — until your name is the one that pops. The business that stays in front of people wins the call. The one that goes quiet gets forgotten, even if it's better.

Take care of the customer like family

A happy customer is worth more than any ad. Treat people right, do what you said you'd do, and fix it fast when something goes wrong. That customer doesn't just come back — they send you their brother, their neighbor, their friend from work. I've built my whole career on that. You can't buy trust like that. You earn it one customer at a time.

Your reviews work while you sleep

Before anybody calls you, they look you up. Your reviews are your reputation talking when you're not in the room. So earn them, and ask for them — every happy customer, every time. "If I took good care of you, would you leave me a review?" That's all it takes. A page full of real people saying you took care of them will sell for you day and night.

Answer fast. Follow up. Never go quiet.

Here's where most businesses bleed money: somebody was interested, and nobody followed up. Or they called and got a machine. The first one to answer usually wins — and the one still standing there, politely checking in, wins the rest. Most of the customers you want are customers you almost had. Go back and get them.

Stay in their world

Your customers live somewhere — real streets, real neighborhoods, real waiting rooms, real phones. Be there. Not once. All the time. Growing a business isn't one big move. It's showing up, taking care of people, and doing it again tomorrow.

That's the advice. It's free because the doing is the hard part — and the doing is what separates the businesses that grow from the ones that wonder why the phone isn't ringing.

Never quit. Never give up. Keep trying.

— Michael