When it comes to growing your business, you can never stop doing this one thing: you must continually expose your product, service or ideas. And sometimes you have to think outside the box… way outside the box!

The different ways you can get your offer out to others who need to see or hear it are virtually limitless. Think about it – TV and radio commercials, newspaper and magazine ads, on the Internet, social media, flyers, talking to other people… just to name a few.

A lot of people spend big bucks on advertising, but they overlook one absolutely free form of exposure. This type of exposure will help you build your business, meet new clients and recruit staff for your company.

Let’s say you are opening a restaurant. You’ve got your start-up financing for your restaurant. The money funds everything you need to begin operating – equipment, tables, chairs, tablecloths, silverware, menus and signs. It pays for all the initial food and uniforms for your staff. But by the time you open, you have spent all your money on equipment and staff and you have nothing left for advertising.

What are you going to do? How will you let people know your restaurant even exists? You may think, “Well, I hope people will find it.” No! People won’t just happen to wander in one day. You will go out of business if you don’t find a way to bring people through your front door. So what would you do?

You would have to talk to everyone you know and let them know about your restaurant. If you picked up the phone and called everyone – family, extended family, past coworkers, old high school friends, church members, old bosses, the plumber, the family doctor and dentist, mechanic, hairdressers, friends, manicurists, acquaintances from your kids’ school, teachers – your business would be off to an AMAZING start.

People miss tons of business simply because they do not promote their product or service to their own list of resources. But those who do use this form of exposure often have a surprising number of new and returning customers… and it’s totally free!

A friend of mine used this form of exposure in a very strategic way. She is a manicurist, who needed to expand her business. Starting out, she exposed her business every day. But once she got a steady client flow, she fell into a common trap and stopped exposing her services. And as her clientele dwindled, she blamed the economy.

I met with her one day, and told her, “Brenda, you can use the economy as an excuse and go broke like everyone else out there, or you can get back to exposing your business aggressively.” We brainstormed several ways she could expose her business and bring in new clients.

Brenda called a bank manager (because banks typically have lots of female employees) and offered a free manicure as an incentive for the employee who got the most accounts, loan applications or department referrals. The branch manager loved it because this incentive was great for the bank, and it didn’t cost them a dime!

Brenda got her name out to that entire bank branch and brought in brand new clients, all from one phone call. As a result, Brenda increased her income by $1500 in the first 30 days.

So, how are you exposing your business today? If you are not continually building your client base, seeking new referrals and increasing your exposure, your business will not grow. You should constantly be adding to your list of resources, meeting new people and building new relationships. You should always be thinking about different ways you can attract new clients, those you would normally not have access to, just like Brenda did.

You can begin to activate your list of resources and increase your exposure today by sharing this message with your friends, family and coworkers. Sometimes getting out of a business rut is as simple as doing something just a little different! Begin by sharing this link on Facebook and Twitter.

I would also love to hear your ideas of how to increase exposure for your business, so please hit me up on social media!

In great faith,

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