Guides

How small businesses win work through other businesses: who to approach, what they look for, and what to say. Written from the owner’s side, for Australia.

Finding business clients

How to find business clients as a small business

Pick the kinds of business that buy what you do again and again, build a list of real ones near you, get your paperwork ready before you approach, then contact them one by one with a short, specific offer. Win a small first job, do it well, and the regular work follows.

Networking group, BDM or outsourcing: what introductions cost

A referral group costs a few thousand dollars a year and two to three hours a week; a business development manager costs well over $100,000 a year once super is added; agencies publish anything from $1,000 to $15,000 a month; doing it yourself costs your hours. Divide each by what one new client is worth to you and the right choice usually becomes clear.

Referrals

How to get referrals from other businesses

Work out which businesses already talk to your customers just before or just after they need you, pick a handful who work to your standard, and make it easy and safe for them to send people your way. Then handle the first referral so well that they want to do it again.

How wedding suppliers get recommended by venues and planners

Venues and planners recommend the suppliers who make their day easier and their couples happy. Get your paperwork ready, start from a wedding you have already done at the venue, ask the coordinator what they look for, and keep earning the spot once you have it.

Preferred lists and panels

How to get on a preferred supplier list

Find out who keeps the list, get your licence, insurance and safety paperwork in order before you ask, then approach that person with a short, relevant offer and a small first job. Most lists are a person’s judgement written down, so you get on by earning that person’s trust and stay on by never making them regret it.

Cold email done right

Is cold emailing legal in Australia? The Spam Act for B2B

Yes, a first email to another business can be legal, but only within the Spam Act 2003: you need consent (for most cold B2B email, an address the business published itself, used for something relevant to its work), your business name and contact details in the email, and a working unsubscribe you act on within 5 business days. There is no general exemption for business email.

Winning and keeping the work

Your first meeting with a business client: a practical guide

Arrive knowing who they are and why they agreed to meet, bring your licence, insurance and examples of similar work, ask more than you talk, and never quote a real job on the spot. Send a written recap the same day and the quote by the date you promised.

Tenders

How small businesses win council work in Australia

Most council work a small business can win sits below the tender threshold, where councils invite written quotes, or comes through panels and pre-qualified supplier lists. Learn your state’s thresholds, register on the portals your councils use, get to know the officers who buy your kind of work, and have your paperwork ready before the invitation arrives.

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