One of the best and least expensive ways to market your detailing service is by networking with people. The problem is that most business owners don’t network with the right people. They join organizations that have a mixture of different industries. I’ve never liked this approach. I once joined a BNI (Business Networking International) and found that it was a huge waste of my time. I was networking with some people in this group who really didn’t have any interest in my business.
Then I discovered a better way to network. I listened to an audio called Networking with Millionaires by Thomas Stanley.
One example was a financial planner who had become a member of the food service industry. Now you’re probably thinking “Why is a financial planner becoming a member of the food service trade organization?”
Well, ask yourself this: How many other financial planners do you think were in the food service industry? You guessed it; none. Now being the only financial planner within that organization, who do you think most of these members came to when they were ready to invest some extra earnings? The lesson here is simple: if you want to network effectively, target well defined niche groups.
A few weeks ago, I joined my local Meetup group. If you’ve never heard of Meetup, go to www.Meetup.com. Meetup is a combination of Web 2.0 social networking and local area networking. So you can go to the site, look up your town and see all of the local organizations in your area. It’s really an amazing medium for meeting people in your target market. You’ll find Meetup groups in your area for just about every topic under the sun.
Look for car enthusiast Meetup groups in your town. These are people who are truly passionate about the vehicles they drive. You might find Mustang enthusiasts, Corvette enthusiasts, or even Rolls Royce enthusiasts. Using the site’s search engine, I found some organizations like this one http://carclub.meetup.com/9/ in the