BEATING THE BUSHES FOR BUSINESS.

Byline: Jan Norman The Orange County Register

In his 40 years as a commercial real estate broker, Wit Muller of San Juan Capistrano has never stopped looking for clients.

He uses every means available: word-of-mouth, faxes, newsletters, fliers, advertising, community service, networking, phone calls, door-to-door visits and more. The effort is never-ending.

We asked where entrepreneurs look for clients and customers. The responses indicate that there's plenty of business out there for most companies - with the possible exception of leisure-suit manufacturers - but finding and capturing it is tricky.

Muller buys databases of Orange County businesses and regularly sends their executives valuable information about the economic climate and real estate. Whenever a retail or industrial space becomes available, Muller faxes information to business owners most likely to be interested. He sends 500 to 800 faxes a month.

Networking: Muller and his 10 employees attend mixers for most south Orange County chambers of commerce. They also regularly visit retailers and industrial owners, sharing real estate news about the area.

``Even if they don't need to move, they always want to know what's available and the cost,'' Muller says.

San Clemente public relations consultant Kathy Barnum and her employees select two or three events in each of the 14 communities in south Orange County.

In addition to talking with others who attend an event, they leave ``an ad specialty item (such as a pen with the company name and phone number) on the sign-in desk,'' she says. Barnum's rep asks to have the items put in the event bags. They may donate an auction item or prize, such as consulting time or a gift certificate with Barnum's logo.

Events: Muller regularly attends Planning Commission meetings to keep track of new construction, who's moving and what properties are vacant. If a client needs a conditional-use permit, Muller helps with the application.

Bob Banka, owner of Scale Model Research in Costa Mesa, finds many customers at trade shows for model-airplane enthusiasts. He decorates his exhibit booth with photo albums showing some of the thousands of airplane photos and drawings in his inventory.

``I also meet with reporters for model-plane magazines; it's a lot of schmoozing,'' he says.

Referrals: One of Banka's best sources of new business is referrals. He estimates that 25 percent of his business comes from referrals made by customers and public agencies.

``The Smithsonian and Air Force museums refer people to me all the time,'' he says. ``I've talked with (museum representatives), sent them my catalogs. When you cooperate with people, they will do things for you.''

Other business owners, even those who might seem like competitors, can provide great referrals for new business.

Dick Seaholm, owner of Rich Mar Custom Heat Transfers, says he's turned competitors into what he calls ``power partners.''

``I knew that screen printers were not always in competition with us, especially when it comes to doing small orders, our specialty,'' Seaholm says. ``So we gathered up all of our fliers and made the rounds of the local screen printers. They were glad to have someone to refer to for those small quantities.''

Current customers: Barnum sends regular mailings to past clients.

``Every three months we send them a motivational poem, marketing tip, Web site information or a public relations tip that would work for their company, is not expensive, and even is something they could do themselves.''

For a fun change of pace, Barnum sends monthly horoscopes to key decision-makers at companies that have used her services in the past.

``If I am a day late with these, we get calls: `Where is my horoscope?' '' she says. ``This has been a wonderful way to get repeat business or a lead from them of someone they know who needs us.''

Advertising: Banka gets 5 percent to 8 percent of his sales from his Web site, which customers find through search engines, such as Yahoo. The site has had 43,000 visitors in the past six months, he said.

Even more important to Banka's sales is his 203-page, four-color catalog, which has 70 advertisers and is sold to potential customers for $8.