Tips to increase the client portfolio of a business

On January 6, Juan Carlos sent us the following question to the Diary of an Entrepreneur: I am a Brazilian coffee distributor, how can I make contact with interested companies?

What Juan Carlos is looking for is to increase his range of customers potentially interested in his product. In this case, we are talking about a sale that is not direct to an end customer, but, for example, to warehouses, food stores, convenience stores or restaurants and cafes that can incorporate you as a supplier.

How to expand that network of contacts that could eventually become customers? Do social networks serve this purpose?

Yes, they work. An Instagram account, for example, can help publicize the product in an attractive way. In the case of Juan Carlos's coffee, yes, it should be clear that it is not available for retail sales, to avoid receiving messages from people wanting to buy directly and in small quantities. It should also promote the businesses that sell their coffee directly to the end customer. For example: “Are you looking to get to know our café X? You can buy it at Warehouse Y (address) or Cafeteria Z (address).” In this way, the distributor supports its customers and at the same time encourages the consumption of its product.

As the age segment of the business is rather older, Facebook can be even more useful to reach these potential customers. In addition – and as we explained earlier in the column on how to increase online sales – this platform gives the possibility of interacting in different groups in order to spread the product: from groups of merchants to coffee lovers or associations of entrepreneurs.

Going one step further would imply having a sales force, highly recommended when what is being offered is a tangible product, such as coffee: you can be that agent yourself and present yourself to different businesses; the important thing is to have a good story to tell, to show the product well, to bring a sample if possible: people like to see, touch, smell. It must be an effective visit, lasting an average of five to ten minutes; only more if a sale agreement is finalized. The ideal would be to visit about 30 shops a day.

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To achieve this, it is essential to carry out a preliminary study of neighborhoods where potential buyers are concentrated: shopping streets, gastronomic spaces, etc. Reviewing each area with Google Maps – whose maps detail the name and category of some businesses – can be very useful to build an efficient route.

You don't have to limit yourself. Do I want my product to be in a convenience store? I don't lose anything by asking the local manager to give me the contact of the person who sees the relationship with suppliers and trying to schedule a meeting. The same with supermarkets and retail stores. Today, large companies are increasingly open to giving space to the products of micro and small companies. In the specific case of coffee, in addition to visits to restaurants, I would suggest including in the tour gourmet shops and, for example, Venezuelan, Colombian or Brazilian businesses, which have a deeply rooted culture around this drink and might be interested in knowing a new product.

From experience, I believe that face-to-face conversation is very useful in this part and can help grow the business much faster. It is perfectly possible to promote yourself only virtually, but going out to the street at the end of the month will allow you to close more sales and have a greater reach. It also helps to have more feedback on the interest and needs that exist in the field. Perhaps Juan Carlos is only selling “normal” coffee, but on his tour he discovers that decaf is in high demand; In this way, he can increase his range of products and expand his clients.

Attending all the entrepreneurship fairs is another fundamental step, since in these instances you can not only increase your network of contacts, but also, from a stand, you can carry out -in the case of coffee, for example- tastings for people to know and try the product; that is to say: it delivers a double profit, since it is possible to make links with distributors and at the same time present the coffee to those who will be the final clients.

I also recommend calling or sending a presentation of the business to all radio and TV programs, and to all print media that have segments promoting entrepreneurship. In summary: all space and action is welcome when it comes to spreading our message and achieving the goal, which is to have a robust and stable client portfolio over time.

We invite you to leave all your doubts and concerns regarding your endeavors, which will be answered weekly by Verónica Oliva in this section.

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