As the manager of Web sites that provide direct-to-business apparel, I'm often asked why we decided to pursue the markets we are in, or how we got our foot in the door, so to speak. The answer is that we chose to spend time and effort on customers with potential. There are five ways to find a customer who has the potential to provide a good volume of traditional orders, to be the focus of an individual business-to-business online apparel store, or both:

1. Look for local businesses that are opening new branches. Local restaurants are particularly likely to fall in this category. As a restaurant gains popularity it may open new locations, requiring an entire new wardrobe for staff for each. Moreover, restaurants tend to have a high turnover rate in the waitstaff, and are hard on their garments. If you spend some time creating a complete apparel solution for the restaurant opening its second location, you'll be positioned well to be the consistent choice for its third or fourth, and you may even be able to open a Web site to sell directly to owners and employees, should they go on to become a regional or national franchise. Other businesses in this category include regional banks and grocery stores.

2. Look for a local branch of a national business chain. The trick to this category is to choose a chain that's underserved. You are not likely to get into the biggest fast-food chain in the world or the most popular coffee house, but you may find a mid-tier insurance agency, realty company, restaurant or store that isn't being served by a corporate-approved online supplier, or isn't being saturated by their current suppliers. Getting your foot in the door in this case likely means waiving the first digitizing fee and creating a product line that surpasses the quality or selection they've had from other local salesmen, and should you decide to create a Web site for your customer, you will need to provide a better user experience than their current vendors. In this category you are likely going to have to deal with the control of a corporate entity, and may even have to pay for the rights to become a vendor for the company if you want to take your business national. Do your research before going beyond the local office's order, as the commitments in this category are often a bit pricey.

3. Look for a high rate of employee turnover. As much as no industry wants to deal with training new staff every couple of months, several do. As mentioned in Tip 1, restaurants are particularly prone to having to deal with a steady stream of new trainees. This might be a pain for them, but it's a boon for us! Unless they are using the same uniform, which is highly unlikely (and possibly unsanitary), this means that a business will need new garments often. This can lead either to larger traditional orders if the company is stocking the garments themselves, or an opportunity for utilizing a Web site if the company requires the employees to order their own garments or desires to have a simple way to order individual garments as needed. In the latter example, you certainly will be able to charge more, but you'd be surprised how much that convenience can be worth to a business.

4. Look for a popular local business that also sells apparel to customers, preferably with a more-than-local appeal. Some resorts, microbreweries, restaurants and other businesses have a loyal following of customers and tourists that make them want to get into the garment business themselves. If you can become their traditional supplier of employee garments and on-location garments for sale, you may be able to stretch that commitment into a revenue-sharing deal for an online store where you can offer complete order fulfillment. In this scheme you stand to be able to take over a segment of sales that the business itself is unprepared to handle, sell garments at retail prices, and only have the trouble of some revenue-sharing to the company. This may be especially lucrative if you find a business that has a tourist draw and may engender some national sales. Moreover, running this kind of Web site also tends to build customer loyalty when it comes to their traditional orders. If you provide the complete solution, they are less likely to shop around.

5. Look for an owner who has stake in several businesses. You will often find that the owner of one business may have a stake in other businesses. This can be especially true of the aforementioned restaurant owners, but is often be true of auto dealership owners and franchise holders. If you do a particularly excellent job for one of their businesses, they may bring you into their other operations. This category is not exactly well-suited to Web site marketing in and of itself, but the traditional business, particularly if the individual businesses have a decent rate of employee turnover, is well worth spending time and effort to secure. Should one of the businesses branch out or go national, you are poised to create that end-to-end solution that the owner will need.

Though I never like to suggest that we give away our work, spending a little bit of time and effort, or waiving some initial setup fees when you encounter one of these potentially large clients, may create the goodwill in your customer's eyes that turns them from a one-shot custom apparel client to a perennial revenue engine for your business.