The most important thing for a business owner, manager, entrepreneur or professional to realise is there are four principal ways to grow a business – any business.  There are many other ways, but we are focusing on the primary things.

 

The truth is some administrative functions are not all under your control, but nearly everything you do to build or grow your business can be classified under one of the four different and distinct areas and if you learn this, believe me, your competition won’t stand a chance.

 

The first way is simply …

 

             GET MORE CUSTOMERS                                    

 

 That’s it!  Build your data base.  Get more prospects to buy from you and become your customers.  When more people buy from you, you take in more gross dollars, and as a result (depending on your margins and overhead), you make more bottom line profits.

 

The bigger the customer base the more opportunity you will have to gain additional sales and not forgetting the referrals they’re capable of providing you.

 

It’s in the one single area where most business owners (including your competition, and probably, you, too) spend most of their time, effort and money.

 

Whether it be by telephone, advertising on television, delivery drops of a card or flyer each business, industry or profession has their own methods and timing to make contact with prospects.  What works for some business may not work for other businesses in the same of different industry.

 

The chances are that you are using the same method as everyone else.  It’s called the ‘That’s how things are done in our industry…or profession method’.

 

Typically when a person chooses to go into business they look around at whatever everyone is doing and they either layout their office, shop or place of business the same as what they have seen.

 

They then look at what everyone else is doing to market or promote their businesses, products or services, and adopt the same methods to market or promote their business.

 

I’d say that nearly every business in nearly every industry or profession is guilty!

 

Some of the best, most productive and cost-effective methods you can use, can be adapted from what others are doing in totally unrelated businesses.

 

So let me ask you how observant are you? What others who are in the same business that you’re in doing? And, how effective are they?

 

Next look around at what other unrelated businesses, industries or professions are doing.  What’s working for them?  Is there one business that stands out by doing something different or are they all pretty much use the same marketing methods?

 

How creative are you?  Can you modify what some of the other businesses are doing and adapt (with a few minor changes), their methods to your business. 

 

In other words, if you were brand new, just starting in business, and had no idea of what anyone before you had done to attract new customers, what would you do?  How would you go about getting new customers?  Would you use the same methods you use now, or would you do something completely different?

 

Marketing Options:

 

 

 

       Put together effect direct-mail programs
     Have an effective referral-generating system
     Set up some joint ventures
      Establish some strategic alliances with other businesses

 

It is citical to have multiple systems in place to ensure your business continues running, and growing uninterrupted

 

 

 

  1.    Get Your Customers To Make Larger Average Purchases                  

 

 In other words increase the average transactional value of their purchases.  Or more simply, get them to spend more money when they buy something from you.  This just happens to be the quickest and easiest way there is to increase your profits.  One of the things that continually amazes me is many businesses have extensive and expensive plans in place to acquire more customers, yet very few have paid much attention to the highly profitable leveraged step of increasing the size of the order…getting more money from each of your customers every time they buy from you.  This is why upselling and cross-selling must be understood and used.  Remember the best time to sell to a customer is when they have their credit card already out!

 

A new marketing method which is highly effective for this is Clickfunnels.  By using Clickfunnels you have the ability to draw in on a extremely targeted audience and at the appropriate time you can upsell, cross-sell or down-sell your product extremely effectively.

 

Upselling, cross-selling and bundling – these are on 3 of more than a dozen immediate, profit producing methods you can use to skyrocket your business to the next level.

 

Trust plays a very big part in this.  You must provide your customers with good quality products and services, give them sound advice and make sure they get the very best value, the best use and the most enjoyment from their original purchase.  So if you have additional items, either products or services, that can enhance their value, then your obligation is to do everything that’s reasonable and ethical, to see that they at least have the option of taking advantage of those items.

 

   2.    Get Your Customers To Buy From You More Often                  

 

In other words increase the frequency of their purchases.  Get them to come back, Give them reasons to WANT to come back and to continue doing business with you.  The longer your customers go between buying from you, the greater it is that they will buy from your competition.

 

 It’s like “out of sight, out of mind”.  You need to constantly stay in front of your customers with education information, notices of changes in your environment, updates on products or services.  You need to tell them if new products, product lines, special incentives might benefit them.

 

 The idea is 2 fold:  One to “lock” your customers in so they don’t want to do business with anyone else, and secondly, to make it so attractive to do business with you, they wouldn’t even consider going anywhere else.

 

 Ideas:

 

 

 

Website that keeps them informed of new items and promotions.
Educational newsletters,
Special informative reports,
Sending out postcards

 

 

 

 In our coaching programs we go into great detail, and discuss more than two-dozen very specific strategies that create an almost magnetic effect, that keeps your customers returning time and time again.

 

 We will lead you by the hand and help you develop personalised and effective strategies that keep them saying “I’ll be back”… strategies that keep them “insulated” from, and locked out your competition. 

 

  3.    Extend Your Customers’ “Average Buying Lifetime”                                   

 

We call this “Customer Retention”.  What I mean is… how long, on average, do the people who buy from you, your customers, remain your customers?

 

In other words, how long do they continue doing business with you before they move on?  Are they one-time buyers?  Do they stay with you for a year, five years, or ten years?  Have you ever stopped to figure it out? 

 

Next, what are you doing in your business right now, to make sure your customers continue doing business with you?  If you don’t have a strategic plan, a working system in place, you are going to lose a certain percent of your current customers to the competition.

 

There is no question about it.  Your competition… right now… right this very minute is making plans and taking steps to take your customers away from you.

 

The questions for you is not, “What are you going to do about it?

 

The real question is “What are you currently doing about it”?

 

“What are you doing about it RIGHT NOW?”

 

 What plans…what systems do you have in place to keep your customers from defecting to the competition?

 

 

 

Fact:  80% of customers leave their suppliers due to perceived indifference.  You need to be consistently  in constant contact with your customers.

 

  

 

Ideas:

 

Do you know who are your customers…those buying from you now?
Who are their family members?
Do you know their names and ages?
Do you know where they work?
Hobbies or interests?
Why do they purchase specific products or services?

 

 

 

In Summary:

 

Get more customers: This is most vital step;

 

Get your customers to spend more money with you… increase the average transactional value of each sale.  This is the easiest  way to add          immediate profits to your bottom line;

 

Get your customers coming back to buy from you more often;

 

 Extend your customer’s buying lifetime.  Find ways to retain them, keep them as customers to keep them coming back as long as you possibly  can.

 

 

 

 

 

For any coaching and mentoring requirements – whether it be Entrepreneurs, Startups, Small to Medium Size Business Owners, reach out now to Strategic Business Coaching & Marketing on  1300 366 710  and we will help transform your business into an extremely profitable one.