You signed the lease. The sign is up. Now you need people to walk in, and then walk in again.
This guide is for the owner of a new small shop: a cafe, a bakery, a barbershop, a hair or nail salon, a boutique. It covers the first 90 days, week by week. Every step costs between $0 and $50. You do not need a website, an Instagram account or a marketing budget to start.
The plan has four parts: before you open, opening week, weeks 2 to 4, and months 2 and 3. Each part links a free tool. None of them needs an account.
Before you open: weeks 4 to 0
Put your shop on Google before the door opens
When people want a coffee or a haircut nearby, many of them look on Google or Google Maps first. So this is step one.
A Google Business Profile is free. Google lets you add an opening date up to one year ahead. Once your shop is verified, your profile can show on Google 90 days before that date. Customers cannot leave reviews until you open. (Google's help page on opening dates, checked October 2026.)
What to do:
- Add your shop at business.google.com. Use the exact name on your sign.
- Pick one main category that is true: "Coffee shop", "Barber shop", "Bakery", "Boutique".
- Add the opening date, your hours, and 5 to 10 real photos of the shop.
- Write a short description. Say what you sell and who it is for.
Verification can take a few days, so start early. After Google, list the shop on Apple Maps and Bing too. The free Get found checklist gives you every place, in order, with the steps for your country and trade.
Cost: $0. Time: about 1 hour.
Work out your break-even before you set prices
Break-even is how many customers a day you need before the shop earns anything. Work it out before you copy the prices of the shop down the street. You need three numbers:
- Your fixed costs for a month: rent, insurance, loan, software, and a wage for yourself.
- What an average customer spends.
- What that sale costs you to make: coffee beans and milk, flour and butter, hair color, or the stock on a boutique shelf.
Here is a worked example. Your fixed costs are $6,000 a month and you open 26 days. That is $231 a day. In a cafe, the average customer spends $12, and the food and drink cost $3.60 of that. So each customer leaves you $8.40. $231 ÷ $8.40 is 27.5. You need 28 customers a day just to cover your costs.
A barbershop with the same costs is different. A $30 haircut that uses $2 of product leaves $28. The same $231 needs 9 haircuts a day.
Put your own numbers in the free Break-even calculator. If the answer is too high, raise prices, lower costs, or sell more to each customer. Decide this before you print the menu.
Cost: $0. Time: 20 minutes.
Choose your stamp card now
A loyalty card gives a first-time customer a reason to return, so decide the rules before you open. Keep it simple. "Buy 9 coffees, the 10th is free." "Every 6th haircut is free." "Spend $50 five times, get $10 off."
A free item costs you what it costs to make, which is less than its price. A $5 coffee that costs $1.25 to make, on a 10-stamp card, gives back about 2.5% of what the customer spent. Service shops often use shorter cards, because people visit less often. The free Loyalty card calculator works out the right number of stamps for your prices.
You can print paper cards, or use a digital card. KANJIN's stamp card is free and uses the customer's phone number, so nobody needs an app and nobody loses a card.
Cost: $0 to $30 for printed cards.
Say hello to the neighbors
Walk to every shop within five minutes of yours. Take a small box of what you make, or a card for a free first visit. Say who you are and when you open.
Neighbors send each other customers. The florist is asked "where is good coffee?" every day. The cafe is asked "where can I get a quick haircut?" The person who works in the shop next door may become your first regular.
Cost: $10 to $40 for samples.
Opening week
Start the list on day one
The most valuable thing a new shop builds is a list of its customers. Without it, you cannot tell anyone about a new menu or a quiet day.
At every sale, ask one short question: "Would you like a stamp card? It is just your phone number." Then ask a second one: "May we email you now and then?" Write down the yes. Never email anyone who said no, or who was not asked. That is the law in most countries, and it is also good manners.
A paper sign-up sheet works. A digital stamp card is easier, because the list builds itself.
Ask everyone, every time, in the same words. Give the first stamp on the first visit, so the card feels started. In a salon or barbershop, ask at the register. In a boutique, ask while you wrap the purchase.
Ask for your first Google reviews
A new shop with no reviews looks risky to a stranger. Your first goal is 20 honest reviews. You can do it in about four weeks without spending anything.
Google's rules are simple: ask everyone, and offer nothing in return. You must not offer a discount or a free item for a review. You must not ask only the customers you think liked their visit. Google's policy calls that selective asking, and it is not allowed. (Google's policy page, checked October 2026.)
Ask in person, as the customer pays, with the same words for everyone: "We just opened. A Google review would really help us. Here is the link." Put a card with a QR code on the counter, so the customer can scan it. Reply to every review within a day or two.
The free Google review QR code maker prints a counter card and a table card with your own review link. Print it on card at a copy shop for a few dollars.
If you want to see how a few reviews move your rating, read how many Google reviews you need to raise your rating.
Cost: $0 to $10 for printing.
Write down your numbers every day
From the first day, write down three numbers at closing:
- Total sales for the day.
- How many customers you served.
- Anything unusual: rain, a street fair, a staff member off sick.
Also note the day's supplier bills. It takes two minutes. After two weeks, you will see which days are strong and which are weak. It is easy to guess wrong: a loud Saturday feels busy, and a quiet Wednesday can lose money every week.
Weeks 2 to 4
Keep asking for reviews
Many shops ask hard in opening week and then stop. Keep asking every customer until you pass 20 reviews, and then keep going. If a review is unfair, reply calmly and briefly. Thank them, and say what you will do.
Invite one local creator for a free visit
Local creators post about food, haircuts, nails and shops in your town. Small local accounts often read their own messages, and many of their followers live nearby.
Do not pay them. Invite them. A short, friendly message works:
Hi, I run [shop name] on [street]. We opened two weeks ago. I like your posts about [their topic]. Would you like to visit as our guest, any weekday afternoon? No post is required.
- Search your town's name with your trade on Instagram or TikTok: "Austin coffee", "Leeds barber", "Melbourne nails".
- Check that they post about your area, and that real people comment.
- Invite them on a quiet weekday, when you have time to talk.
- If they post, the post must say it was a gift or an ad. In the US the FTC's guide for influencers explains this. Other countries have similar rules. Mention it kindly when you invite them.
You do not need your own Instagram account for this. The creator brings the audience.
A free visit costs you what it costs to make. A $12 lunch that costs you $3.60 to make is a $3.60 gift. Ten free visits cost $36. A 20% discount on $1,000 of sales costs $200, because every customer gets it, including those who were coming anyway. The free Discount ROI calculator shows both numbers for your own prices.
Cost: $0 to $50 in food or services.
Make one neighbor partnership
Pick the one neighbor whose customers are most like yours. Agree on one simple thing for a month. Some examples:
- A cafe and a barbershop: the barber offers coffee from the cafe to waiting customers, and the cafe keeps the barber's cards on the counter.
- A bakery and a florist: a small "flowers and a cake" pairing for birthdays.
- A boutique and a nail studio: a shared evening with drinks, once a month.
Keep it small and clear. Write down how many customers mention the other shop. If nobody does after a month, try a different neighbor.
Look at your daily numbers every week
Once a week, read the last seven days. Which day was weakest? Did the average sale go up or down? Are supplier bills growing faster than sales? Pick one thing to change next week.
Months 2 and 3
Make a slow-day plan
By now you know your weakest day or time. Do not reach for a discount first. Try these instead:
- Send one email to your list the evening before. Keep it short: we are open tomorrow, it is quiet, here is what is fresh or who has free chairs. Only send it to customers who said yes to email.
- Host a small group. A knitting group, a book club, a language exchange. They need a quiet room, and you have one.
- Sell to nearby offices. Offer a lunch order or a coffee run they can call in.
- Use the quiet hours for reviews. Staff have time to ask every customer.
More ideas are in 15 ways to increase sales on slow days.
Check your prices again
After two months, you have real numbers. Go back to the Break-even calculator with your actual average sale and your actual costs.
If you need more customers than you get, look at what each customer spends. Train one line for every sale: "Would you like a pastry with that?" or "Shall I book your next cut now?" Or raise the price of your best seller by 25 or 50 cents, and watch your numbers for two weeks.
Bring your regulars back
By month three, some early customers will have stopped coming. Usually they simply forgot.
Know your trade's normal gap between visits. A daily coffee drinker who has not been in for three weeks has probably found another cafe. A salon client who has not been in for three weeks is right on time. Look at your list once a week. Find anyone past their usual gap.
Send one short, personal message to your list. "We have not seen you for a while. The fall menu is out. Hope to see you soon." Sign it with your first name. Usually, no offer is needed. Being remembered is enough.
One regular is worth more than one sale. A cafe regular who spends $10 twice a week brings in about $1,040 a year. The free Customer lifetime value calculator works this out for your own shop. Read why customers stop coming back for how to notice early.
Where KANJIN helps, for free
KANJIN is loyalty and back-office software for small shops. We make it, so read this part knowing that. Everything above works with paper and a notebook. KANJIN does the same steps on a phone or tablet at your counter, free, with no time limit and no credit card.
- A digital stamp card by phone number. The customer types their number and gets the stamp. They install no app. Customers can also scan the QR code on a free printable poster and join from their own phone. There is no limit on how many customers join.
- The list builds itself, with consent. When a customer joins, the screen can ask once for a name, an email and a yes to email. Every question can be skipped.
- 20 Google review requests a month. KANJIN emails a review request one hour after a stamp. Everyone is asked the same way. Nothing is offered for a review. Every customer's card page also has a "Leave a Google review" button, with no limit.
- One email a month to up to 150 regulars. That is enough for the slow-day note or the "we have not seen you" note above.
- See who is slipping away. The customer list shows your regulars, and who has not been in for longer than your trade's usual gap. For a cafe that is 21 days. For a barber it is 45. For a salon it is 70.
- Sales & costs. Type the day's sales total and supplier bills at closing. The chart shows your strong and weak days.
- Using Square? Connect it free in Settings. When a customer on the card pays with Square, the card gets the stamp.
Your customers' data is yours. It is stored on KANJIN's servers, and you can download the whole list as a spreadsheet from Settings at any time. Email works in every country.
Square is a trademark of Block, Inc. KANJIN is not affiliated with Square.
Your 90-day checklist
Before you open
- Google Business Profile with opening date, hours and photos
- Apple Maps and Bing listings, from the Get found checklist
- Break-even worked out, prices set
- Stamp card rules chosen
- Every shop within five minutes visited
Opening week
- Stamp card offered to every customer
- "May we email you?" asked, and every yes written down
- Review QR card on the counter, everyone asked the same way
- Sales and customer count written down every night
Weeks 2 to 4
- 20 Google reviews, every one answered
- One local creator invited as a guest
- One neighbor partnership started
- A weekly look at the numbers
Months 2 and 3
- Slow-day plan for your weakest day
- Prices checked against real numbers
- A short note to regulars who have not been in
Frequently asked questions
How do I get customers for a new shop with no money for marketing? Start with the free steps. Put your shop on Google before you open, ask every customer for a review, and offer a stamp card from day one. Visit the neighbors and invite one local creator as a guest. Together these cost less than $50.
How long does it take for a new shop to get regular customers? It depends on the trade. A cafe can see the same faces within two or three weeks. A salon or barbershop needs two or three visits, which can take three to six months. A stamp card from the first day gives people a reason to return sooner.
Can I give a discount or a free coffee for a Google review? No. Google does not allow any reward for a review. Ask every customer in the same way, and offer nothing in return.
Do I need Instagram or a website to get customers? No. Google, Apple Maps and Bing list shops with no website. Local creators bring their own audience. A stamp card and a list of customers who said yes to email let you reach your regulars without social media.
Should I offer an opening discount? A small opening event can help. A long discount usually hurts, because it teaches people your real price is lower. A free first visit for a few local creators or neighbors costs much less than a discount for everyone.
Your next step
Start with the two things that cost nothing and take minutes. Put your shop on Google with the free Get found checklist. Then set up the free stamp card, so your list starts with your very first customer. Create your free KANJIN account: no card, no time limit, and no app for your customers.