Generating Business Fast! When customers are nowhere to be found and your company's on the brink of disaster, use this smart three-step strategy to get business in the door.

How's business these days? Is everything going alongswimmingly--or have you recently thought to yourself "Help! Idon't have any customers!"? Don't laugh--even ifyou've never felt that way, other business owners know thefeeling all too well. In fact, I've come across clients in thissituation more times that I could count.

What generally happens is that the business runs along fine fora long period of time and then suddenly, everything goes"haywire." The reasons behind the haywire can bediscussed another time, but for now, because you need to get out ofthat type of situation as quickly as possible, let's look athow can you can turn this around quick!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a few moreassumptions. First, I'm going to assume that a lack ofcustomers means you have a bank account that's near zero, soyou don't have a lot of money to spend on marketingefforts.

Next, I'm going to assume that you aren't a wiz-bangwhen it comes to marketing. You barely understand it, and you hatemost of it because it costs you money and you never get a returnfrom it, at least in your opinion.

The third thing I'm going to assume is that whatever type ofbusiness you have, for one reason or another, you haven't beenmaintaining a customer database. Now if you had a customer databaseof some kind, our job of turning this mess around would be mucheasier. But in this case, no database.

The fourth assumption I'm going to make is that yourbusiness depends on local traffic to keep the doors open. You couldbe in retail or food service or maybe you're a contractor ofsome sort, but your company needs to draw people in from thesurrounding areas in order to make a go of it.

Finally, I'm going to assume you can turn your negativeattitude around--at least for a month while we try to infuse somecash into your operation. And don't say you don't have one.Just as a lack of customers means no money in your bank account,the same can be said about what having no customers does to youroutlook: It sends it right into the pits.

But the last thing we can allow is for any new influx ofcustomers coming through your door or calling on the phone to comein contact with a bitter person who, in many instances,blames--inaccurately, of course--their putrid business situation onthe very patrons that have the power of digging them out of theirfinancial mess.

The bottom line is, you've got to change your attitude, orleast be able to fake it, or you're not going to be able topull this recovery off. So let's get started saving thisbusiness...

First thing you're going to do is get one of those small,portable, sandwich board signs that can be placed outside yourbusiness during normal operating hours. You would then put acaptivating marketing message on each side of the sign. Pleasedon't put something lame on it like "Open" or"Mike's Auto Repair." Instead, go with "Burger,Fries $3.99 and Get a Free Drink!" or "Free estimates onair conditioning repairs."

Don't leave the same message on the sign for days on endeither. If you can muster up enough creativity to come up with adifferent daily special, then so much the better. And don'tforget to bring the sign in at night. I'm still looking for oneof mine!

This sign with plastic letters shouldn't cost you much morethan $150, and it may just be the best marketing investmentyou'll ever make. Obviously the sign will only be as effectiveas the marketing message on it. But you can be sure about onething: This sign will bring in business.

As a side note, let me just say that at some point, you'regoing to need to learn more about marketing. Any poor-performingbusiness has marketing issues, and to survive long term, you needto either figure this marketing thing out or get someone who can doit for you.

Some great authors have written books the "nonmarketing" business owner can read, understand and apply. JayConrad Levinson's "Guerilla Marketing" books aregolden. Dan Kennedy's The Ultimate Market Plan and The Ultimate Sales Letter are wonderful books for abeginner. And my book, Killer Techniques to Succeed with Newspaper, Magazine and YellowPage Advertising was written specifically for the personwho doesn't have a background in marketing.

Hiring a marketing mentor isn't a bad idea either. And whilethere are thousands of consultants criss-crossing the country atany one time, if you choose to hook up with one, please make sureyou get one who has a lot of experience with small businesses. Manymarketing consultants have experience with larger firms, thosecompanies employing hundreds if not thousands of people, butI've found the consultants who really specialize in smallbusinesses to number much fewer.

The second thing you're going to do is start a "doorhanger" campaign. You know what door hangers are, right?They're those small sheets of cardstock you hang on thedoorknob of an outside door. And they're one of the cheapestand best marketing tools you could ever use. You can get 1,000blank door hangers for about $20 plus shipping. I did a quicksearch on the Internet and found many companies that supplythem.

Once you get them, you can create an offer or special of sometype using simple word processing software and then print them offusing your own printer. The fly in the ointment with door hangersis getting them hung. If I were you, I'd either save the moneyand do it myself or hire a local kid or two to do it for you. Do asmany as you can every week. Door hangers are great because in manyparts of the country, no one's using them and they do attractattention.

The final thing to do is create an inexpensive black and white,two-sided business card. Just have your typical business cardinformation on one side, and on the other, put a compelling offerto visit your store or call on you for the service you provide."Free" still works, so don't ignore the potential ofusing that word in your offer.

One thousand, two-sided black and white business cardsshouldn't cost you more than $40. And then you know whatyou're going to do with them? You and your relatives andfriends are going to pass them out to anyone and everyone. And oncethose are gone, you're going to print more. Got it?

There you go, a complete mini-marketing campaign that should notcost you more than $250 to get started. And you'll seemeasurable results in a matter of days. Just keep repeating theprocess over and over until you reach a point where other and morecostly marketing tools can be brought into play.

Michael Winicki, the owner of Big Noise Marketing, has workedwith more than 2,000 small businesses over the past 20 yearshelping them become more profitable. Visit his website tofind out how to get a free ad critique or a free over-the-phonebusiness evaluation.