Growing a small business is a topic that any business owner should be
interested in. The difference between growing a small business or just
floundering around comes down to a few different aspects.
How much planning do you do? Growing a small business
takes a lot of planning, A lot of regular planning. The most successful
businesses all take planning very seriously.
What kind of
measuring system do you have in place? Being able to have access to the
vital metrics of your business on a regular basis is how you stay on
track. What metrics to monitor is something that is different for every
business. There are some core items like your P&L and balance sheet
that all businesses should keep an eye on. Others might be profit per
customer, profit per employee, referral rate, complaints per customer
and complaint resolution time. This is a very short list. Start figuring
out what metrics will be most beneficial to your business.
Every
business has finances, expenses, profit margins, and what you need to
do is start monitoring them very carefully. Keep track of how many sales
you make monthly, how many customers return to you, how many customers
don’t return to you, how are customers finding your business, which
advertising methods are getting you the most traffic and so on. If you
keep track of all of these stats, I guarantee you will find many areas
where you are underperforming and where you can maximize your approach
to maximize profits.
Another Tip that brings more traffic is to
search Google keyword tool for all the different keywords phrases and
different combinations your customers may be searching for. Download
them and paste them in the ad along with the zip codes to maximize your
chances of being found. Always post your websites URL in the ad using
the http. This creates a in coming link for your main website which will
help increase your search engine optimization rankings. Always title
your ads with your main keyword in mind. For example if your company is
Joe’s construction and you are looking to find some roof jobs, I would
title my ad Roofing contractor then the name of the city.
One
of the fastest ways to acquire more customers for your business is to
be tracking the ways your business is successfully obtaining customers
currently, and then simply do more of that.
Another good way to
grow your business is to be creating a mailing list of your current
customers, and then mailing to your customer list and giving them
special offers or special promotions. Perhaps even give them limited
time coupons or incentives for making referrals to your business.
Research
has also shown that customers buy based on perceived value and not on
price. So look at ways to increase the value of your products or
services. A quick way to find out what kind of value you should be
offering is to ask your customers. Calling them or asking them to
complete a survey about your products and services will help you to find
out what your customers are wanting, demanding or wishing for. This
information can help you to add value, improve or develop products to
keep your customers happy and buying more.
Every time you finish a
job and have a satisfied customer, give them a few of your company
leaflets or cards with their name written on them. Ask them to give the
leaflets to people who may be interested in your service and tell them
that if you receive one of the leaflets back, which subsequently results
in an order, then you will pay them a commission on the first sale.
Your satisfied customers who are already recommending you will go out of
their way to spread the word.