A new month means a new target and a new opportunity to get your finances in order to attract new, creditworthy customers-but how do you do it? How to get new customers is one of the most common questions SME’s ask, and we have some answers for you! There are various ways and marketing strategies to attract new customers such as; advertising, social media, field sales representative visits, cold calling, etc. but none of this would matter to a potential customer if your company isn’t in the best position to do business with. What some businesses may not realise is that they are one company of possibly thousands in an industry, and they need to not only hunt for new customers to keep their business going, but to be appealing enough to customers for them to be chosen over everyone else. Half of the battle is making customers want to use your company for their needs, and the other half is closing the sale.

If you haven’t already, now could be a good time to look over your businesses’ finances. Is your cashflow stable? Is everything running smoothly? Cashflow is at the heart of any business, and you need to keep it running for the business to survive so it should always be your top priority. Looking at your own company credit report can also help you. We take the information you file with official sources such as Companies House and add it to wholly owned data from Creditsafe to create your company credit report.

By regularly checking your company credit report you can see what potential customers see when they look at your company. You can check your credit score, credit limit and your trade payment data. You can also see where you rank in your industry for the amount of Days Beyond Terms (DBT) you take to pay your bills and compare this to your industry average. After checking your credit report you can see where you need to make changes in the business to get it up to scratch. See our article on ‘Five steps to making your business more financially attractive’ for tips on getting your credit report looking better!

Once you have taken the first step to making potential customers choose your company, you can then go searching for new business. Apply the same rules, if not more to potential customers as you would to making sure your own credit report is up to scratch. Creditsafe own information on 120 million companies worldwide and are trusted by over 80,000 customers; believe us when we say due diligence is vital before doing new business. Only deal with creditworthy customers and you will be more secure in your own business. The most important thing you need to make sure a company can do is to pay you; if they don’t pay you it could affect your cashflow. Check their credit report and their finances.  You are able to see if they pay their bills on time, if they have any bad debt or CCJ’s and if their business has been doing well or declining over the last five years. There is also a Payment Trend tool which allows you to see if they have been getting better or worse at paying their bills. Use this information to decide for yourself if a company is up to your standards to do business with.

Creditsafe aren’t just a credit checking company, so if you’re struggling to find new potential customers, use our Marketing Prospects tool. It gives you up to date data lists of pre credit checked potential customers and their contact details. The lists are customisable, allowing you to choose specific groups of people to target through your marketing campaigns to ensure you are reaching the decision makers. No marketing campaign will do well if it’s not reaching the right people. The data lists can be customised on over 22 different variables including turnover, net worth, credit rating and limit, etc.

Request 100 free marketing prospects from Creditsafe totally free today and see how many more potential customers you could reach!

Once you have your company credit report looking spick and span and you’re searching for new business in the right places, you should be starting the new month off with a bang! Visit our website to see what else we could help you with today.