Finding new clients locally

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(FORTUNE Small Business) -- Dear FSB: What's the best way to obtain new customers for a local commercial sign installation business? Do direct mail campaigns work with commercial customers?

- Bryan Covell, Elizabethtown, Ky.

Dear Bryan: Acquiring new customers is one of the biggest challenges facing any business, and there are a number of ways to go about it.

Start by identifying your best prospects. Typically, they are businesses that are most similar to your current customers, says Willis Turner of Richmond, Va.-based marketing consulting firm Huntsinger & Jeffer.

You might consider employing a list broker to help you compile a target list of customers. Then, craft a personal letter or hire a direct marketing agency or graphic designer to help you design a mailing to raise awareness about your services.

Direct mail campaigns can indeed work with commercial customers, confirms Scott Robbins, CEO of the Spring Hill, Kan., consulting firm Midwest Direct Marketing.

Although the average response rate nationwide to direct mail is around 2.5%, the success of your campaign can vary widely depending on how refined or targeted your approach is, Robbins says.

For example, coupon and free offers will generally garner a better response than a grand opening "awareness" campaign. You could, for example, offer a free installation with the purchase of a certain-sized electronic sign. (If you don't sell signs yourself, is there a local signmaking business you can partner with?)

Robbins also suggests placing a deadline on the offer to entice immediate action. However, the best way to attract new clients may be the tried-and-true method of putting shoe leather to the pavement.

Rob Praemessing, owner of the Chesapeake, Va.-based Talley Anchor Sign Company says he hired a few new salesmen this year with that goal in mind.

"Our best results have been cold calling," Praemessing says. "Going to shopping centers and businesses, dropping off cards."

Praemessing says he's also been getting in touch with old customers the company has not heard from in some time. Also a treasure trove? General contractors and people who manage shopping centers.

"In the end, it's all trial-and-error," Praemessing says. Keep testing and refining your approach, and remember that marketing needs to be an ongoing part of your business operation.