Let me share with you a strategy for filling your appointment book when you first start out. Normally, at this stage you have more time than money. It’s a Catch-22 situation. You need the money to market. But you haven’t got any money to market with until you get some appointments.

There is a way out of this trap, but it tends to work much better in the domestic market than the business market.

Let’s assume you are offering computer training for home users or one-man businesses.

Do the following:
1. Advertise your services in your local paper, offering “Free PC Tuition for home users or small businesses.”
2. When someone calls, explain that you will offer 2 hours free tuition in return for introducing 2 of their friends or colleagues who want the same.
3. Sell them on further appointments at your normal rate. You should have developed some trust and goodwill by offering this free initial appointment. It is likely you will get further appointments if your price is not too high.

Within a short space of time, you can imagine how this might snowball. Your diary could be full within a couple of weeks!

You may have concerns about doing 2 hours work for free on the first appointment. But acquiring clients always has an associated cost. To get the same number of clients using conventional methods, you would need to spend a good deal of money.

The reason this approach is less successful in the business market is because most business people know there is no such thing as a free lunch. They will always be looking for a catch. Consequently, they are likely to turn you down.

You can try to counter this by telling them straight: “I’m looking to get my name around because I am just starting out and have no clients. I hope that by doing a good job, I may get asked back at some future date.”

By saying “at some future date” you are reducing pressure on them. They may not want the initial appointment if you are expecting an immediate paid appointment soon after your free offering.