Finding new customers might be the bread and butter of the start-up, but do you know what is the difference between the successful start-up and the one that fails? Successful start-ups retain their existing customers. It's cheaper, it's smarter and it's guarantees you won't fail. Here are some tips on how to do this:
1. Find customers with unresolved problems - most of the time a start-up starts it's journey towards business success with the idea to solve a certain problem or problems which can't be solved by other companies. Most of the times this certain problem is a problem which the founder had at some point of his life. For example - a friend of mine worked in a company (when social networks weren't considered marketing instruments) which needed to address it's customers in more ways than just email and through their website, so the project was given to him. After he came up with a nice social media strategy for the company, he continued to look for other companies which needed the same service - there were more. So, he quitted his job and is now the CEO of a successful social media agency.
2. Refine the solution until it's perfect for the customer - the next step after finding the cure for the customer's incurable pain is to work on it and refine it. Find out what the customers need exactly. Listen to them and try to see why the pain is so important to them, because most of the time it is just a part of an important process. Solving their problem might close the case, but try to make your product not just a simple answer, but an answer which improves the process as a whole.
3. Make the basic version free - I know it doesn't make any sense to you, but it does a perfect business one. Here's the deal - when you let customers use a simple version of your product for free, you receive a lot more benefits. The most important of which is the advertising. When a customer uses your free product and finds out it is actually pretty nice and useful, he or she will let his/hers friends know about it. The friends will tell their friends etc. The useful free stuff generate heap quite quickly. Some of those people will be ready to pay for a more advanced version of the product or for additional features. Thus you make your customers your best salesmen.