How to Get More Customers Calling You Today (Without Waiting Months for Results)
Many small business owners get their first sales by word of mouth, from friends, family, and personal connections. That's a great start, but eventually those wells run dry, and panic and desperation kick in.
💬 “How do I get my phone ringing right now?”
💬 “What can I do today to bring in paying customers?”
💬 “Is there a quick way to get highly qualified leads without wasting money?”
We hear you, and we’ve asked those questions, too.
Short answer: No. There’s no magic button that instantly fills your pipeline (and that’s why we focus on a long-term, sustainable approach!)
BUT, there are proven strategies to get leads moving quickly—without the guesswork. We’ll run through the best options for quick lead generation below, and then we share big bad tips for building a sustainable pipeline of qualified leads.
If you’re overwhelmed thinking about marketing your small business, we can help. Set up a free chit-chat to walk through a simple marketing strategy.
Tap Into Your Existing Customer Base
The number one way to get more customers NOW is to go back to people who have already used you (and like you!). Reach out with a special offer, follow-up, or just a quick check-in to stay top of mind—that could be the refresher they need to come back and buy again.
A happy customer is also your best salesperson. Ask for referrals, reviews, or a quick testimonial to get leads flowing in. AND make it even sweeter by offering a discount or bonus for both the new customer they bring in and the promoter. A little incentive goes a long way.
BIG BAD BONUS TIP: People love supporting businesses they trust. If you have a strong relationship with your customers, or a sense of community, be open about what you need whether it’s referrals, testimonials, or new clients. Authenticity beats desperation every time.
Let’s look at 3 ways to get in touch with your existing customers:
Email Marketing
✅ If you have an existing email list, pull it out now: Reach out to your existing customers to drum up sales if your product or service is something that can be repeated. You can play on scarcity and urgency (in a non-cringe way!) and tell them about specials, deals, or promotions you’re running to get people walking in the door or making a purchase right away.
📝 If you don’t have an email list going yet: Start to build your email list ASAP. It’s fundamental in modern marketing and an important part of your ongoing, long-term marketing strategy. Plus, it’s owned by you, not another platform or service provider who could abandon you at any moment. Collect email addresses from customers when they make a purchase or ask them to opt-in for your newsletter when they visit your website.
🎧 Check out our podcast episode on email marketing for specific insight on how to do good email marketing.
2. Make Some Phone Calls
☎️ If you didn’t collect email addresses, but you’ve got phone numbers, use them! Like email marketing, reach out to existing customers to see if they’re ready to return, tell them about new and exciting offers, or updates to your services.
A great example of this is when the hair salon calls six or eight weeks after you visit to ask if you’re ready to schedule your next appointment. (With a little more prowess, you’ll even be able to automate this process, streamlining your marketing. You can set it and forget it, making it sustainable for the long term.)
3. Post on Social Media
📱Make an offer to your social media followers, encouraging them to take action quickly. Highlight a limited-time deal, exclusive discount, or special bonus to create urgency and drive immediate engagement.
Use clear, action-driven language like “DM me to book now” or “Only 5 spots left—grab yours today!” (only if this is true, of course!)
If possible, include a compelling visual, a customer testimonial, or a behind-the-scenes look to build trust and excitement. Then, engage: respond to comments, answer questions, and make it easy for prospects to take the next step.
Listen in on our podcast episode on building a social media strategy to amp up your approach, or follow along with the blog to create a social media strategy that works for your brand.
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Find New Customers
Time to bring in some brand-new customers? This is a longer, pricier, and trickier route. But if your well is running dry, you can’t just sit there. It’s time to get scrappy and strategic.
Here’s how to bring in new bodies without torching your time or budget.
Run Targeted Ad Campaigns
🎯 You can run paid ads on search engines or social media platforms to get in front of your target audience quickly—but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you could burn through cash real quick (especially if you opt for more expensive search terms).
Ads work best for fast-turnaround sales, like moving old or unwanted inventory, booking last-minute slots, or turning up the sales during a seasonal push. If you go this route, create a clear plan and budget before you dive in.
2. In-Person Outreach: Build Connections Face-to-Face
👥 Sometimes, the fastest way to get new customers is to literally put yourself in front of them. If you’re a personal trainer launching a bootcamp in the park, don’t just hope people show up—go where they already are. Drop off flyers at nearby coffee shops, gyms, and community centers.
Just by starting the conversation IRL you’ve got a competitive edge. Talk with local business owners, introduce yourself to potential customers, and make connections.
People are far more likely to trust (and buy from) a real person they’ve met than a random website on the internet. Be present, be memorable, and make it easy for your warm leads to say yes. Go old school and hand them a business card! (Yes, they’re still relevant. Listen to our podcast episode all about business cards in 2025!)
3. Use a Lead Generation Service
There are companies out there that will promise to send you ‘ready-to-go’ qualified leads—for a price. While this can work, it’s rarely a magic cure-all and often comes with high costs, mixed quality, and leads that may not be as exclusive as you think. If you go this route, do your research, read the fine print, and don’t rely on it as your only strategy.
4. Partner with Other Businesses
🤝Two audiences are better than one. Try teaming up with a complementary business to cross-promote, co-host an event, or launch a special offer together. You get access to their customers, they get access to yours—everyone wins. Just make sure it’s a natural fit, so both sides bring real value to the table.
5. Cold Outreach (It’s Awkward— But It Works)
Sliding into DMs, emailing cold lists, or reaching out to your competitor’s followers might feel cringy, but at the end of the day, it’s just letting people know you exist. If you’re clear, respectful, and offering something valuable, you might just get a response.
Worst case? They ignore you.
Best case? You land a new customer.
6. Get Listed Where People Are Already Looking
Customers are already searching for businesses like yours, so your job is to make sure they can find you. Create profiles or listings on sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, Thumbtack, or industry-specific platforms. Some are free and some charge fees. Use all the free stuff first, and be strategic about where it makes most sense to show up and use your budget. A well-optimized profile with solid reviews can bring in steady warm leads without extra effort.
🔥 HOT TAKE: Build a Sustainable Customer Acquisition Strategy
Sure, the quick fixes could help if you need customers right now, but they won’t keep your business thriving long-term. For long lasting success, you’ve got to bake quality service, top notch products, and an effective marketing strategy into the foundation of your business.
At Big Bad Marketing, we’re it for the long-game and we’re here to help you do the same:
❌No gimmicks.
❌No tricks.
❌No schemes.
We help you build a sustainable customer acquisition strategy—one that brings in steady, high-quality leads for the long haul. Ready to empower your business? Click below to get started.
Here’s how to build a sustainable customer acquisition strategy that actually works:
Keep Your Customers Happy (They’ll Do the Marketing for You)
When you’re just starting out, word of mouth is your MVP—and it’s completely free. Happy customers don’t just come back; they bring friends.
✅Do BIG BAD work.
✅Under promise and over deliver.
✅Make it easy for people to rave about you.
Your customers will do the heavy lifting to spread the word about your business thanks to your top notch approach. You can make this even easier with good reviews, and a solid digital footprint for your business. We covered this in our Digital Reputation episode—worth a listen!
If you do a bad job— like actually bad— word will travel, too. So, blow people away with your work, your service, your follow-up, and all the things. Because when you do it right, your customers become your hype team—and that’s marketing money can’t buy.
2. Blogging, SEO & A Damn Good Website
🏪 Your website is your digital storefront, and it’s open 24/7. It’s where your customers go to learn about your products or services, make a purchase, and decide if they trust you. If you aren’t optimizing your blog for search, doing small business SEO so prospects can find you, or creating a website that’s user-friendly, easy to navigate, and clearly answers customer questions, then you’re losing leads before they ever find you.
Developing your business blog, SEO, and website take time (ahem…we are talking about a sustainable customer acquisition strategy here) but if you want people to find you without paying for ads forever, using sketchy marketing schemes or relying on word of mouth alone, this is how you start laying that foundation. (And yep, we go deep into whether your business needs a blog and how to DIY business SEO on the podcast!)
3. Grow Your Network
📣 If you want more people to know about your business you’ve gotta get out there. Go to networking events, sponsor local happenings, get your voice on podcasts and show your face at local occasions. Put your brand up anywhere your ideal customer is already hanging out. When you show up in the right places consistently, people start to remember your brand which builds trust and momentum.
4. Build Your Audience
What’s one of the most valuable marketing assets you can have? A list of people who already know you, like you, or have bought from you. When you own that list of email addresses, phone numbers, or other contact info, you’re not at the mercy of social media algorithms or ad budgets. You can reach out directly, anytime.
Whatever your list format, focus on building a group of people who want to hear from you. Offer something helpful (a discount, freebie, lead magnet) in exchange for their email address and keep showing up with content that actually adds value. Like this:
Generating Leads: Now And Later
At the end of the day, there’s no magic button to make your phone ring off the hook with people who want to give you money. But there are moves you can make to acquire customers in two ways:
Quick actions that give you a short-term boost
Sustainable growth thanks to building systems that work on repeat.
That’s the Big Bad way: take action, build the foundation, and keep it real with your audience. You don’t need gimmicks—just a solid plan and a little hustle. Ready to level up? Book a call with us and let’s get your strategy in motion.
