There is one thing that every entrepreneur needs to survive: customers.

I used to be fairly active in politics and I’ve run several campaigns – both as candidate and as part of a candidate’s team.  A political campaign is a short, high-intensity sprint to the polls and you spend all of your time promoting, broadcasting, engaging… selling yourself, your candidate, and your ideas.  You can usually count on people to tell you that they like your ideas, like you or your candidate, and plan on voting for you at the polls.  But come election day, all the kind words, promises, and positive press don’t mean anything.  People need to take action and vote.

Starting a business is very similar.  Everyone will encourage you and give you positive feedback, but ultimately you need them to reach for their wallets – which is far more difficult.  Especially when no one’s ever heard of you, you have no track record, and your ideas are untested.

So where do you start?

You need to do the same thing that every other company does – leverage trust with potential customers.

Large brands continue to establish trust by displaying their track record of success, publishing their financials, through celebrity endorsements, and big budget advertising.  All of this effort generates an element of trust in customers when they purchase a product or service.

For most small businesses, your first customers aren’t going to buy your product or service – they’re going to hire you.  YOU have a track record, and people trust that you will do what you say you are going to do.  Sell to enough people who trust you, and you’ll begin building a track record and brand that extends beyond your personal “trust bank”.

Practically speaking, the first thing every entrepreneur (or team of entrepreneurs) should do is make a list of all the people they know that:

• Are potential users / buyers of your product or service
• Are connected to potential users / buyers of your product or service

This is your “trust circle” and should be the basis for all of your hustling in the early days of your business.  In fact, I would recommend selling to these people before you launch your product or service (and get them to pay upfront!).  By landing a couple of contracts or sales with this circle, you begin developing more trust in your bank and can leverage it to solicit recommendations and referrals, establish a track record, and get some publicity.

When we set out to build Network Hippo this was our primary focus – how can we evaluate our network of contacts to determine who was in our circle of trust – and how can we expand it over time.  We broke down all of the contacts you have as an entrepreneur or small business and applied a unique “value” algorithm that was based on how probable it was that someone would buy your product or service (or help you find your next job).  The result looks like this:

Too often entrepreneurs focus on the people least likely to buy – the “general public”.  Small businesses that are starting grow too often neglect the biggest potential for new sales opportunities – existing or past customers.  But these are the people who are the likeliest to buy from you.

So if you’re starting a business, remember that trust is the most valuable asset you have and represents the greatest potential for new sales.  Take time, early in the process, to make your list of high potential people in your network, and people who can connect you to the right people (and will endorse you).  It’s the easiest and fastest way to grow your business!

Last night I attended the Ottawa Startup drinks and met some great people.  As usual, I left the event with a dozen business cards from people who were really interesting and that might lead to some great future collaboration.

So now what?

As usual, I’ll follow-up with everyone today, while our conversation is fresh in my mind, and we’ll probably exchange an email or two.  But now, unlike before, I’ll enter their contact information in Network Hippo – including where I met them, what we discussed, and tag them with keywords that will make it easy for me to find their information in the future.  My email to them will be saved in the system, as will their response, and Hippo will remind me to stay in contact with them over time.

No more business card graveyard – and I’ve got a much better chance to build stronger relationships with interesting people.