Many small business owners are longing for more prospects right now. They are contemplating giving up because they don’t have potential for more income or they’re pondering the plunge of launching their business for the first time. Either way – you are soooooooo close to more business – it’s scary.

Finding prospects for your product and or service is not as hard as most people make it out to be. In most cases you don’t need to unload your income on advertising avenues that are nothing more than bottomless pits. You can usually find them right under your nose and more likely than not you can uncover them without the use of money. All you need is time and hard work.

Here are a few suggestions to help you find some prospects right now:

Quit Cold Calling

Whether you could call on the phone or face-to-face why not try contacting people that already know, like and trust you. The people that know, like and trust you will; read your emails, take your phone calls, read the mail you send them, return your calls, etc. Most of us overlook contacting friends and family from the past, the far past. Look here first.

Be pinpoint specific and ask for referrals now

If you’ve ever asked for a referral, you’ve probably got the response, "Not right off the top of my head." as an answer to your request. Last year I asked a client for a referral like this; "Who’s your courier company?" I got the answer, and B-A-M a new client. Be specific when you ask for a referral. Ask for; a neighbor’s name, best friend, who works across the hall, etc. Pick up the phone, call a customer and be specific when you ask for a referral. It works.

Introduce yourself locally

Old-school marketing at its best. Now don’t confuse this with cold calling. Take a handful of business cards and introduce yourself to local businesses, just let them know what your business is – nothing else. It’s no different than meeting someone at your child’s soccer game. You simply exchange cards. It’s strange, but when you go "introducing" and not "selling", people defenses are dropped and you just might find a prospect or two.

If you have a small business, distributorship or are a sales associate, try these 3 tips right now and see if you don’t find a few more prospects.