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First Customers · Get to market

Find Your First Customers

Reach out to real people, one at a time, and land your first paying customers.

  • Workbook
  • 10 pages
  • About 2 hours to fill in
  • Google Docs · Word · PDF

Making this yourself would take about 10 hours: working out the steps, writing the examples and setting it up in Google, Microsoft and PDF. It's done for you.

This document
Find Your First Customers, all three formats
$7
First Customers pack
This one plus 3 more First Customers documents
$20

The voice in this video is George's, made with AI.

What it's for

Your offer is clear enough to describe in two sentences, and you could deliver it next week if someone said yes. Use it to find your first few paying customers, one real person at a time.

What you'll need: About 2 hours to set up, then 20 to 30 minutes a day for a week or two. Your offer and price, your phone contacts and any groups you belong to. Your phone and a free spreadsheet are enough. Nothing to buy.

Pairs well with

What you'll leave with

  • A first-customer list of about 20 real people and places.
  • A short, ready-to-send message, a way to ask for introductions, and one polite follow-up.
  • A reusable Outreach Tracker page you can copy each week.
  • An honest read of the responses, and a decision on what to change next: who, where, the message, or the offer.

Look inside

Sample page from Find Your First Customers. Page 2: Find Where They Already Gather.
Page 2: Find Where They Already Gather.
Sample page from Find Your First Customers. Page 3: Build Your First List of About 20.
Page 3: Build Your First List of About 20.

How to use it

Work through the steps in order. Each one has a worked example and space to write your own answer.

  1. Picture the Person You Are Looking ForDescribe one specific person in one specific moment.
  2. Find Where They Already GatherList the places these people already are.
  3. Build Your First List of About 20Write real names and real places.
  4. Write a Message a Busy Person Would AnswerKeep it short, honest and easy to say no to, and learn how to ask for an introduction.
  5. Follow Up Without PesteringSend one kind nudge, then let it go.
  6. Track Every AttemptCopy the Outreach Tracker page for every round.
  7. Read the Responses HonestlyLook at what people did, then change one thing at a time, with a worked example.
  8. Tools That Help HereSee the free tools that help.
  9. Do It With AIUse the prompts to draft messages that sound like you.
  10. Your First-Round ResultFill it in after your first round and keep it with your tracker copies.

Tips

  • Wait until you've contacted most of your list before you judge the results.
  • Most people who don't reply aren't saying no. They're busy.
  • Change one thing per round, so you know what made the difference.

Three formats, one purchase

  • Google DocsMake a copy in your Google Drive and type straight into it.
  • Microsoft WordDownload and fill it in on your computer.
  • PDFPrint it and fill it in with a pen.

First Customers pack

Also in the First Customers pack

4 documents in all

Ready to start?

Pay once, keep it, and download it as often as you like.

How to Find Your First Customers — Bootstrap Your Business