How to Get Your First Customer

Why you probably already know who they are

You have done the free test and know whether you are a Magnet, Maker or Monitor. You have found a problem you would enjoy fixing. You have been out networking and listened to other people’s problems.

Maybe someone at that event asked you for a quote. More likely, you met some nice people, had some nice chats, and went home without an order.

Do not be discouraged. Your First Customer is probably someone who already knows you and trusts you. Find them before you spend time and money on a business plan, an expensive website or social media marketing.

You know more people than you think

When I ask entrepreneurs how many people they know, most say “not that many”. So I tell them about the Dunbar Number.

The anthropologist Robin Dunbar found that most of us, even the shy ones, keep around 150 meaningful relationships. Each of those people knows around 150 more. That puts thousands of people within one introduction of you. Your First Customer is in there somewhere.

At Beermat Monday I put it like this: if someone walked into The Old White Bear and you recognised them, they are in your network. If you liked them, you would wander over and say hello.

Make your list

Now go into Monitor mode. Trawl through your memory, LinkedIn and your other social media for people you remember fondly.

• If you are young: school and college friends, and the teachers you liked.
• If you have a longer career: colleagues and customers you enjoyed working with, as people as well as professionally.

Put them in a spreadsheet. Don’t worry about reaching 150. Start with 20 people you would genuinely enjoy catching up with. For each one, note what they do now, anything interesting they have posted about work, and the best way to reach them: email if you can find it, otherwise a message on LinkedIn, X, Facebook or Instagram.

Ask for advice, not an order

Do not open with a sales pitch. Nobody likes being sold to in a first message, least of all by someone they have not heard from in years.

Instead, remind them where you last met, say you always valued their advice, and ask if they would like to catch up: in person if you live nearby, or on Zoom or Teams. Tell them you are considering a new direction and would value their view. Then wait.

Play the numbers game

Some will not reply. Do not take it personally. They may not remember you as fondly as you remember them, or they may be going through a hard time.

To thrive as a Local Hero you need a thicker skin, and professional salespeople learn this fast. They also learn the numbers game, as I explained with speed dating in my last article. Contacting 30 people is 30 times better than contacting one. If nobody replies, contact another 30. There are no magic shortcuts.

But I am confident some will say yes, especially the positive people who enjoy helping others. That is exactly the kind of person who makes a good First Customer.

The conversation

When you meet, explain that you are thinking about a new phase in your life and ask for their honest opinion.

First, the idea. Take the example from Article 2, maths tutoring for young people who are struggling. They may well have seen the problem themselves, perhaps with their own children or a friend’s.

Then ask the big question: based on what they know of you, would you be a good person to do this?

The answer you hope for is that you have the skills, and that you are “a safe pair of hands”. You turn up on time, do a good job, get results such as better grades, and charge a fair fee (I will cover pricing in a future article). Being a safe pair of hands is the key attribute of a Local Hero.

If you are lucky, they will hire you themselves, or introduce you to a friend who needs you. Then you have your First Customer, and you are well on your way.

Your one thing this week

Write down 20 names. Then send the first five messages.